I have the good fortune to be a reviewer for NetGalley, a website which distributes advance reader copies of books to hundreds of thousands of members in exchange for honest reviews.
I was introduced to it by a friend in Lush Places, who insisted it would be for me after we started reviewing books from the village phone box library during lockdown.
It was too much hassle at first, but she kept on at me until I signed up and requested my first book. Thank you, Vikki!
Several years on, I’m now getting some amazing (free) downloads for my Kindle. The more books you review online, the more likely you’ll be approved for books in your favourite genres.
I share my reviews on the Goodreads platform or here on this blog.
I don’t very often award five stars but I’ve had some absolute corkers recently. Here are a couple of novels to look out for (both books are available to pre-order):
You Are Here by David Nicholls (due to be published by Sceptre 23 April 2024).
I was very excited to be approved for the latest David Nicholls novel. It didn’t disappoint. I didn’t want it to end, although I did, to find out what happened.
Michael and Marnie are two single strangers approaching middle age, living lonely, separate lives, north and south of the country. Michael is a geography teacher, obsessed with geology and his broken relationship with his beloved ex. Marnie is a self-employed, self-taught book editor who is finding her way after divorcing her entirely unsuitable husband She is anchored to her work, her ‘cosmopolitan’ life in London and, most of all, the joys of the English language.
The two are thrown together by a mutual friend on an arduous walk across luscious countryside in the Lake District and Yorkshire Moors. As the walk progresses, and as other walkers fall by the wayside, the reader learns more about the two of them and their problematic love lives. We are willing them to get together, to reach some kind of understanding that will see them triumph, ultimately, as a couple. But the course of true love, just like a coast-to-coast walk, does not run smoothly.
Romance isn’t really my thing but I loved this novel. I loved the characters of Michael and Marnie (and most of all, Marnie, who has a kick-ass sense of humour and pedantic eye for detail).
Nicholls’ writing is seemingly effortless and a joy to read. Tender moments are captured with humour and clarity. There are laugh out loud moments and I imagined myself picturing who might play the roles when it’s adapted into a television series like his best-known novel, One Day.
The new novel has so much hope at its core, following the desperation and isolation of the covid lockdowns. I thoroughly recommend it.
The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins (expected publication by The Borough Press, May 2024).
In 1870s London, widower Henry Latimer is working in his father-in-law’s shop selling hearing aids. A mysterious customer, who owns a silk factory in the Devon town of Telverton, asks Henry to help his young daughter who has been deaf since birth. Intrigued, Henry takes up his invitation. He travels to the man’s big house in Telverton and ends up getting caught in a web of deceit, greed and enchantment.
Henry’s story is interspersed with the first person journal of a previous lady of the house, whose sojourn on a Greek island results in the discovery of spiders which spin the most incredible silk. When worked into fabric, the spider silk has a unique property that can bring calming silence or excruciating madness to those exposed to it.
I was spellbound by this novel – more so because I wasn’t expecting to like it. I had read one of Collins’ previous novels, The Binding, which I was enjoying before it started to get weird. The Silence Factory, however, is streets ahead in its storytelling, quality of writing and characterisation. If you like gothic novels, you will love this. Prepare yourself for an immersive ride. It’s definitely got big screen potential written all over it, either as a film or television series. Highly recommended.
Maddie Grigg 