A charming novel from a promising author - definitely someone to look out for again. This was a lovely, gentle book (although the plot could be somewhat vague in parts) and yet packed full of all the dark secrets of village life, plus everyday family drama. A lot happens, almost without you realising it - a mysterious disappearance, a murder, a suicide..! Keeps you turning page after page, yet without theatrics. As a side note, I really love the names that they give their pets! There's an inexorable slowness about this book, which is really good. Set in a small 1950s Welsh town, it tells the story of Gwenni (the narrator) and her family, as events bring out secrets long hidden, dating back to the second world war and beyond. Gwenni is a fantasist, who dreams of flying, of being a detective, of many things. But she's still a young girl, in her early teens, so her life is constrained by her family, by school and by the local church. When a man goes missing, the husband of a woman Gwenni babysits for, her passion for detectives comes to the fore, but what she uncovers leads back to her own mother, whose own mental health is rapidly deteriorating. From there, Gwenni's whole life unravels faster and faster.Mari Strachan writes well, with more than a hint of Dylan Thomas' "Under Milkwood" in her characters and her lyrical voicing of Gwenni's narration. The story starts slow and gathers pace, right through to the awful inevitability of the sombre ending. A fine book, an astonishing debut novel and a wonderfully realised central character in Gwenni.
Do You like book La Musica Segreta Della Terra (2009)?
This is an okay book. It was nice relaxing while reading, but didn't gain much from it's content.
—Cathy
very quirky story about a small town in Wales. Not sure if I really got the point of it.
—Meramon27
a different kind of book - so sad, but worth reading
—marts13
Interesting book, easy to read! Very original.
—jeev
