Daisy White

Before I Left is quite an atmospheric story. It's the 1960s and the party scene in Brighton is in full swing. The era comes through quite strongly with a real sense of the carefree times that young people were experiencing, possibly for the first time. We meet Ruby Baker and her best friend, Mary Evans. They're new to Brighton after running away from home in Croydon and a life of domestic violence.

Ruby and Mary instantly fit in with a group of existing friends and find themselves with jobs and a place to live almost instantaneously which is ever so slightly implausible. But even if this is a little hard to believe, I think one of the strongest elements in this book is the friendships. Not just Ruby and Mary, who are incredibly close, but also the other members of their group. I particularly liked Johnnie, the hairdresser, who I thought was a really interesting character and sort of a fairy godfather to the girls. All the friends looked out for each other which I thought was a lovely aspect to the story.

There are two strands running through the story. One is that a mysterious man is watching Ruby. What does he know about her reasons for running away from home? The other strand is a series of what appear to be sacrificial murders. I must admit that whilst one is wound up quite well, I wasn't entirely sure what the point of the other strand was. Apparently this is the first in a series featuring Ruby so perhaps it's explained in the second book.

Before I Left is an easy book to read with some very engaging characters and a storyline that is fairly unique and not quite what I was expecting.… (más)

The story is definitely a breath of fresh air. White's travelling seems to have given her access to cultures and traditions which are outside my usual reading, while staying on this planet and in this time zone. It was a very welcome change for me.

The book blurb at the back gave everything away, while giving nothing away; if you know what I mean. The way things were panning out, I thought I had the whole thing stitched up by the end of chapter two and was getting a little blasé; so when the sucker punch came, I was completely unprepared. White took me on a journey that I wasn't expecting, with flashes of education and mysticism that were mostly wrapped up at the end.

So, where was the star lost? Time. You know when a story gets to those all important moments, when the skin of the ripe fruit is peeled back and you want time to slow down so that you can savour all the sweet juices and embed them in to your memory ... unfortunately, it doesn't happen here. In fact, it sometimes speeds up. Near the beginning when the two protagonists have an emotional argument, it seems that flips are done from one sentence to the next and the juicy bits are dried up in one quick suck of the fruit. There were also time slips. For example, on page 53, the protagonist is facing the day turning in to night and had a flash back to her mother teaching her survival skills. Then, the sun is beating down on her bare head as if it was suddenly mid day. I found myself asking questions of what happened during the night? How did her training help her with this? I was knocked out of my comfortable groove.

Conclusion; a refreshingly different read. White missed some opportunities to wow me, but it was a story with twists that I didn't see coming.… (más)