REVIEW: Fourteen Days - A Collaborative Novel

This unique collaborative story brings 14 distinct voices, different characters together each with their own story but slowly each one weaves together to create one tale of neighbours, friends and people living through a crisis.

Some people really don’t like references to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns in literature, but it is a part of our history now and something that changed so many of us that it can’t be ignored - and this is done with grace and care.

It is a story of survival but so much more, it’s about the intrinsic need we have for connection, for the love we can give to strangers and the strength we can find in others. Although told in a time of great loss and suffering, it finds those beautiful human inclinations that allow us to survive and live through the hardest times. And of course, it is a love letter to the timeless power of storytelling.

The storytelling was dynamic, changing and evolving from each character but with an overarching theme that flowed throughout. It was quiet, focused on the minutiae of life, all set within a single isolated building but instead of a linear, busy plot it offers a subtle and evocative snapshot into a moment in time that all the people found hope and comfort in strangers. We watch relationships grow and change, people learn and evolve, stories being shared, and life moving forwards. Of course the mixed voices give a delicate and multi-dimensional aspect to the storytelling, some chapters reeling me in and some leaving me unsure if I’ve fully connected with the character.

And in the spirit of the story, this book comes from thirty six of the greatest modern writers including Margaret Atwood, Celeste Ng and John Grisham - all of them lending their voices and raising each others, not giving away who created what and bringing a new perspective of life, fresh eyes and different life experiences this is a dazzlingly warm, tender and surprising story of being human.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review. Fourteen Days is available from February 6th 2024 with Random House UK.

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