Lulu Allison

Anna’s daughter Catlin was killed by her boyfriend who in a heated argument that became physical ended up resulting in her death and his incarceration for manslaughter. He received a sentence of 10 years. Now, neither women can move on, Anna in this life and Catlin in the afterlife, both trapped by the events of that night.

The story is told by both Anna and her daughter which gives gives the plot depth as well as twice the emotions!

For Anna life stopped on that day and grief threatens to pull her under, a grief that knows no bounds. How can life carry on without Catlin in it? How can the world keep turning? How can time keep ticking by when all she wants is for it to stop. She is angry at the world, at all those people that are carrying on with life as if nothing has happened. Her daughter was murdered, why does no one else seem to care? How can her death be ruled as an accident, not murder but manslaughter? The only coping strategy Anna finds is in writing about other peoples deaths, people from the news, strangers, people she has never met, giving them names and faces, giving them a voice to tell their tales, ones that she imagines for them.

Catlin’s tale is one of young love, of forgiving things that she never should have, of being blinded by that love as she tells her story, the story of how she came to be telling her tale from belong the grave. And maybe, just maybe, by telling her tale will finally let her move on. But fate has not finished with them yet as Anna comes face to face with Ryan, her daughters killer after he is released from prison.

The whole book is written very lyrical, using the English language at its full potential. It is probably one of the most emotionally charged books that I have ever read. Heartbreaking at times, others you could feel some of the anger burning the pages, but somewhat comforting as well at times. You can’t help but put yourself in Anna’s shoes and it just doesn’t bear thinking about, I even ended up going into my daughters bedroom to make sure she was ok!

Grab a copy now to find out for yourself just how good and heartwarming this book is for yourself.
… (altro)

Speculative fiction set in a near future England. There is massive flooding due to climate change, and two pandemics have ravaged the population. London has attracted many due to availability of resources and food is almost exclusively imported. As the story opens, Jesse is a child living with his parents in a rural village that tries to sustain itself by growing its own food. Isolde is a young woman living in London. Her mother was killed in a bombing when she was a child. Isolde tries to find out more about her mother’s death and travels to the country to discover answers. Her travels eventually lead to an agrarian community.

The plotline moves back and forth among the characters to reveal the ways they are interconnected. It is beautifully written (in present tense). The author depicts many poignant scenes of emotional impact. Her descriptive writing is strong. I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Jesse and his dog. I should probably mention the Greek Chorus of cows (not quite sure what to make of the cows but they provide a creative diversion.) I think the first half is more powerful than the second. The characters are well crafted, and I became invested in finding out what would happen to them. I am generally a fan of speculative fiction, and I think this one is a solid contribution to the category. I would definitely read another book by this author.… (altro)

I love good dystopian novels, so I had high expectations for this one, on the long list for the Women's Prize for Fiction. The addition of a cow chorus further whetted my interest.

The novel is set in England after a pandemic and after severe flooding of a big part of the island. Most people have moved to London, where the majority of the resources are concentrated, especially after the huge population loss of the pandemic. The story follows Jesse, a young boy growing up in a village at the start of the novel, and Isolde, a young woman who grows up in London in a children's home after her mother is killed in a bombing. When Isolde visits the man responsible for the bombing in prison, she discovers she doesn't know the whole story and leaves London in search of answers.

The novel started slow for me, and I didn't really see what the cows added to the book. But Allison writes beautifully, and her bleak view of the world is compelling. There are also some big surprises as we read. One of her descriptions of a deserted village: "But the absence of people hangs uncomfortably, like the unhinged and broken doors a few feet into the trees. This place is home to new souls the little lives of birds and rodents who don't feel alarm at the sightless squares of dark windows. They don't feel the absence of the people behind the broken glass, or the memories that drift, indestructible, fragile waste, like tattered plastic bags in trees." Her descriptions are wonderful and give us a vivid view of the world.

In the end, I loved this novel, even if the cows were a little disappointing.… (altro)