Patience - Victoria Scott

Genre: Adult Fiction | General Fiction

Release Date: Expected 5th August 2021

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Patience Willow has the perfect name - not as though she's had a choice to be anything other than patient. She's been content with her life quietly watching the world go by for the last three decades. Watching her Mum dutifully take care of her, her Dad constantly travelling and working to provide for her, and sister Eliza living the most perfect life trying to win her parents approval.

Patience is happy, sometimes. But the one thing she's wanted more than anything (besides meeting Take That and trying some Gin) is to have a voice - so when her Mum stumbles across an experimental gene therapy treatment for Rett Syndrome all she can do is pray that her family won't fall apart making an impossible decision.

Could the one thing she's waited patiently for her whole life really happen? And is it really worth the risks?

And what would she say if she could?

"When you can't be the main actor in what's happening to you, your memories form a parade in your head, as if you're a film director assembling a storyboard."

I connected with the Willow family instantly - each of them with their own struggles and their own voice, but united under the fact they love each other. They each deal with their problems in such different ways that I'm sure many of us can relate to when dealing with something we don't know how to respond to - depression, anger, cruelty, denial.

Patience as our leading lady was one the most funny, real characters I've read in a long time - she educated us on the lives of people struggling with Rett Syndrome while providing amazing commentary on life itself along the way. She was written beautifully, managing to provide disabled representation without condescention or implying a character isn't fully 'whole' unless they can find a miracle cure. It shows the beauty of life even when living with a disability rather than focusing only on the struggles and the problems - dealing with the latter respectfully and insightfully,

Dryly funny, wickedly witty and full to the brim of heart - this was a beautiful novel about family, life and loss that I can definitely recommend.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Victoria Scott, Head of Zeus and Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

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