Many twists and turns as Opal Jones returns to her childhood home and neighbors. She has changed and so has the neighborhood, but mysteries abound. Secret messages in her second hand bed, a missing child in the neighborhood, a dying friend separated from his family. She assigns herself the solutions to these mysteries, but misunderstandings pile up. ( )

Opal escaped from her drinking Mother and went to live with her father when she was twelve, but ten years later, after her Mother died, she returned to the house on Mote Street in Leeds. She was surprised to find most of the same people still living there, and that nothing much had changed. But she was mistaken in that, some things had changed and some very important things had happened. First among them, was the disappearance of her favourite neighbour’s grandson. Opal remembered him as a baby, but at three years of age, he wandered off from his grandmother’s house and was never seen again.

In furnishing her new place, she buys a second-hand bed. Inside one of the bed knobs she finds a message. A message from a lost girl that Opal feels she must follow up on. Then there is her old music teacher and neighbour, who goes by the nickname of Fishbo. He is failing in health and says he can never go home again, Opal resolves to help him find some family to ease his last years. Opal hopes that these three quests, plus her new job at the local Tesco grocery store will keep her so busy that she doesn’t have time to dwell on her own clouded past. But as she discovers, secrets have a way of coming to the surface.

I really enjoyed As She Left It. This a different, unpredictable story that has been excellently plotted. The author delivers a compelling story that is full of unique and engaging characters and the working class setting helps to shape and give substance to the story, As She Left It was both a mystery and a compelling personal journey and I will be looking for more by this author. ( )

Labyrinthine with lots of twists. ( )

More reviews on my blog

This is an astonishing work of fiction.

It's so good it's almost impossible to talk about it without reverting to advertising-type nonsense. Spellbinding, disturbing, emotionall devastating. There, that's my urges in that direction dealt with.

It's the prose that really gets you. It is perfect for the book - imaginative and descriptive, using the language that the main character would have available to use. Good prose is very difficult to talk about - it can be tricky to describe exactly why it had the effect it did, because it is so perfect for the story that you barely notice the spell its weaving.

I believed utterly in the world. The grim council estates of Leeds felt familiar enough to the grim council estate I grew up in to believe it utterly. The lagnuage the characters used was spot-on, and the way McPherson wrote around the secrets and tragedies clearly showed that she knows her craft.

The plot does rely a little over-much on coincidence to help the main character along- a number of useful things just happen around her and it almost destroys the suspension of disbelief you've got going on. But that's a minor flaw in a book I found so engrossing I read it in one sitting.

another 5, people.

Provided free by Midnight Ink through NetGalley. ( )

More reviews on my blog

This is an astonishing work of fiction.

It's so good it's almost impossible to talk about it without reverting to advertising-type nonsense. Spellbinding, disturbing, emotionall devastating. There, that's my urges in that direction dealt with.

It's the prose that really gets you. It is perfect for the book - imaginative and descriptive, using the language that the main character would have available to use. Good prose is very difficult to talk about - it can be tricky to describe exactly why it had the effect it did, because it is so perfect for the story that you barely notice the spell its weaving.

I believed utterly in the world. The grim council estates of Leeds felt familiar enough to the grim council estate I grew up in to believe it utterly. The lagnuage the characters used was spot-on, and the way McPherson wrote around the secrets and tragedies clearly showed that she knows her craft.

The plot does rely a little over-much on coincidence to help the main character along- a number of useful things just happen around her and it almost destroys the suspension of disbelief you've got going on. But that's a minor flaw in a book I found so engrossing I read it in one sitting.

another 5, people.

Provided free by Midnight Ink through NetGalley. ( )