Month: Jul 2024

Review: Second Self by Chloe Ashby (2023)

Blurb

When Cathy and Noah first got together neither saw children in their future. Eight years later, they’re happily married – and Cathy isn’t so sure. With Noah’s tolerance for his wife’s ambivalence waning, her widowed mother in a world of her own and her best friend yearning for a second baby, Cathy feels increasingly adrift.

Escaping into her work in the conservation studios of the National Gallery, she chips away at the layers of overpaint on a canvas from the collection. Will the discovery of an unexpected truth help her find the clarity she craves?

Second Self is a novel about confronting expectations, and learning to cope with the nagging, complex questions that shape a life. It’s about minds and bodies at the mercy of natural forces and social pressure. Above all, it’s an ode to big decisions, small, tender moments, and how we choose to be.

This poignant second novel from the author of Wet Paint is perfect for fans of Expectation and Sorrow and Bliss.

Review

Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a finished copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. I read this last year – apologies for the delay in sharing my thoughts! It is now out in paperback (I know, I know – I’ve been all over the place with blogging, but I’m back!)

I really enjoyed the author’s debut novel Wet Paint, so I was looking forward to reading Second Self. Chloe Ashby’s prose style is gorgeous and understated. She writes with a painterly eye, and the descriptions are always so vivid and evocative. In her first novel, I really admired the way she captured that 20-something hazy stage of life – here, with 35-year-old Cathy as the narrator, we’re onto a new set of questions and decisions, as Cathy reckons with her and her partner’s choice not to have children.

The story itself is subtle and delicate, fine brushwork rather than broad strokes, and it’s always absorbing to read. Cathy’s job as an art conservationist provides opportunities for some beautiful, meditative writing, and there’s a kind of excitement as she cleans away the layers on the canvas she’s restoring that’s very cleverly done, matching the inner work the character is doing, but without laying on the symbolism too thickly.

The writing carries you along, and while the story unfurls rather than hurtles towards a dramatic conclusion, somehow it’s as compelling as a thriller, as we get so deeply enmeshed in Cathy’s thoughts and life. Ashby is a writer who really understands human nature, and who isn’t afraid to delve into the psyche of her characters, illuminating all the parts of ourselves that we might shy away from. For me, that’s what the novel form is all about, and Second Self is a second novel that shows how skilled this author is in her chosen medium. If you like your books on the literary side, and your characters nuanced and deeply felt, her novels are definitely for you. I’m a big fan, and Chloe Ashby is firmly on my go-to author list now.

Second Self by Chloe Ashby is published by Trapeze Books and is available to purchase here.

Review: The New Girl by Alison Stockham (2024)

Blurb

The letterbox clatters and sitting on the mat is a piece of paper, in black and white, with everything needed to blow Anna’s perfect life apart.

A baby scan photo.

Anna and Jon have been trying for a baby with no success, so after years of disappointment, this feels like a kick in the teeth.

Who sent it? And why?

Anna’s thoughts fall on Grace – the keen young woman Jon hired at their printing business. Something about Grace isn’t quite right. She asks too many questions and makes Anna nervous but she can’t work out why.

And she can’t deny she sees the way her husband looks at her.

All she knows is this baby scan might tear her marriage apart…

Review

I loved Alison Stockham’s debut novel The Cuckoo Sister, which I reviewed when it came out last year, and although she’s writing them faster than I can read them and this is in fact her third book (I need to catch up with The Silent Friend, which also sounds fabulous!), I jumped at the chance to read The New Girl. Many thanks to the author for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

As I found with her first novel, this book is much more than a straightforward thriller – it’s all about the psychological aspect, and we delve deep inside the protagonist, Anna’s, complex mind. She’s a fascinating character to spend time with as she’s full of flaws – she longs for the stability and love that she was denied in childhood, but that same childhood has left her suspicious and distrustful, easily led to the wrong conclusion – all traits which make for some twisty garden paths as we follow her attempts to make sense of the strange appearance of a baby scan on her doormat. I really liked the way the scan, usually something to be celebrated, here becomes almost threatening – it is very clever.

I can’t go into details about the plot, of course, because it’s a thriller of twists and turns, but I will say there are a lot of aspects that feel very fresh. I think having a religious background for the characters adds a new dimension – there’s a whole series of dilemmas that become heightened by the church’s involvement. It adds that aspect of the whole community watching, which pours pressure onto an already tense situation.

For me, Anna is the main draw of this plot – she borders on unlikeable, and I am a big believer in the unlikeable female protagonist! And yet, as the story unfolds, we come to know and understand her so much better, and our sympathy for her transcends her sometimes erratic, often self-destructive, behaviour. She’ll annoy you frequently, surprise you sometimes, and, occasionally, endear herself to you with her more vulnerable moments. It is a real experience getting to know her as a character.

As a writer, Alison Stockham never goes for the easy answer – she truly understands the messiness of being human, and this keeps her books full of tension and surprises. If you enjoyed her other work, this will continue to delight, and if you’re new to her writing, well, then, like me, you’ve got some catching up to do! Book Four will be out soon, and I expect it will be another deliciously twisty dive into the glorious complexities of life!

The New Girl by Alison Stockham is published by Boldwood and is available to purchase here.