Genre: Domestic Drama | Fiction
Release Date: Expected 9th February 2023
Publisher: Random House UK | Vintage
July Hooper only knows 18 things about her Mum. She keeps them all written down in a list so she never forgets them, hidden along with her big list of questions - questions she's not sure she'll ever get an answer to because her Father won't let her talk about Mum or else he'll get angry, and that's never good for July.
She knows Mum died in a car accident. She knows her face was covered in freckles. She knows she liked diet coke. She used to dance on the table when she was happy. She used to live on Almond Drive and could make her own clothes.
But then, on Julys tenth birthday, she receives a note from a stranger, slipped into her bag and it changes everything. All she thought she knew about her Mum, her life and her death, could all be wrong. As the summer holiday starts and finds herself being given a homework project to research a relative, she takes it as a sign she has to investigate. Armed with just her own curiosity, she sets about finding out why her family have been lying to her and finding the people and places that could hold the truth. But once she finds out, nothing will be the same again.
"Nobody ever talked about Maggie Hoopers life, or the awful way it had ended. But this rare ribbon could not woven back into the secrets, re-threaded into silences, or even fixed into place with an embroidery of deceits."
It's hard to write a story from the perspective of a ten-year old girl that an adult audience can connect with, but this is so well done. July didn't end up falling victim to the bad writing that leaves a child being written as an adult or completely infantizing her. Instead we get a character who is undeniably real and reminds any reader of what being a child was like, trying to understand a world you don't really know and work out what your place in it is.
July was precocious, curious, and confused. She didn't understand how badly she was being treated or lied to, but she knew something was wrong. Reading this as an adult who has children in my life, this destroyed me, it was so painful to watch on and see the damage when July couldn't see it herself. The story reads almost like a thriller in places, all the clues falling into place as July solves the mystery that's been hanging over her since she was a baby. The development of her character even in the short time we know is is astounding - and we get to know the supporting cast from the good to bad. At times, it felt like the adults in this story were taken from a different story and larger than life, which felt jarring at first but then when you consider you're looking at this from the perspective of a child it actually makes perfect sense.
The story had a strange cerebral atmosphere, with a suffocating air (and not just because of the visceral hot summer heat) that lasted through every page. While this is a difficult read, with a lot of hard topics to read, it's all handled sensitively and thoughtfully with lots of care and authenticity. It makes a searing statement about the many faces of abuse and the signs that often remain hidden until it's too late.
A beautifully tender story about identity and family, invoking not only a vivid nostalgia for our formative years but a reflection about how our early moments shaped the person we are now.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.
CW: death, neglect, child abuse and endangerment, car accidents, swearing, mentions of suicide, animal cruelty, violence
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