Review - Everything You Told Me by Lucy Dawson

Published by : Corvus

5 January2017

Copy - ARC received from publisher

The Blurb

You went to bed at home, just like every other night.

You woke up in the back of a taxi, 300 miles away.

You have no memory of the last ten hours.

You have a suicide note in your coat pocket, in your own writing.

You know you weren’t planning to kill yourself.

Your family and friends think you are lying.

Someone knows exactly what happened to you.

But they’re not telling…

The Very Pink Notebook Review

Lucy Dawson has a very distinctive writing style and her new novel, Everything You Told Me, sticks to this successful formula.  Earlier this year I read, The Letter You Sent, and spent my reading time with my heart beating that little bit faster, my eyes scanning the words and paragraphs and pages quickly as I tried to get to the bottom of the complete and utter muddle the protagonist found herself in - and I did exactly the same with this novel.

The protagonist is this novel is Sally.  An exhausted mother of two to Chloe and Theo and wife to Matthew.  Sally is happy with her life but with a pre-schooler and a six month old who refuses to sleep, combined with a stressed-out-with-work husband, sometimes she finds it testing.  However, Sally refuses to believe she tried to kill herself which is where the novel starts.

We are taken on the journey directly through the eyes of Sally via a first person narrative.  Whether she is a reliable narrator or not, is for the reader to decide themselves, but I decided she was, because although everything could been seen as very clear and straight-forward I did believe her version of events and her justifications for certain things.  Again, like the previous novel of Dawson's, events happen over a fairly short timescale and so are quite intense and although there is not a lot of action as such - Sally is just trying to make and keep everything 'normal' for the sake of the children - our protagonist is forced to try and investigate matters herself when no one seems to want to listen to a word she says.

Sally is surrounded by 'helpful' family members, all saying they want the best for her.  Who does really want this is anybody's guess as they all seem to have their own agenda.  Sally finds herself in a complete muddle, as does the reader, and ends up questioning everyone, including herself.  Sometimes I wished more information would come to light sooner, I found a few chapters a little repetitive but, having said that, they were quite helpful in reiterating / clarifying what had happened so far.

I did work out part of the ending fairly early on, but by all means not the entirety and depth of it.  I liked the character of Sally and Matthew, particularly given their stressful and quite common lifestyle, some of the other characters I found a little unrealistic but not so much to the point that it spoiled the book for me. 

If you like a muddling, nail-biter then you will enjoy this latest offering from Lucy Dawson.

The Very Pink Notebook gives Everything You Told Me :

Guest Post by Author Lucy Dawson - Being Popular

As part of The Very Pink Notebook Feature Week, I Sent You a Letter author, Lucy Dawson, guest posts on the need, or not, for likeable characters in novels.

I’m wrestling with a character at the moment. She’s the lead in my next book and I’ve deliberately made her not entirely likeable. Sally has moments where she’s nice, and (I hope) the reader feels sympathy for her, and moments where she’s frankly, a bit of a cow. I did this because something happens to her in the book that I felt would have more power, if the reader felt Sally at least slightly deserved it. Plus, it makes her more interesting to write. But, and it’s a big but: are readers more likely to be swept along by the tale of someone they really like – or really hate – rather than someone who is just ‘normal’ and realistically flawed?

 

It’s certainly true that as a reader you’ve got to care about what happens to the characters in a book. No one is going to invest their time in the story of people they feel nothing for. It’s also less of a risk as a writer to make a character sympathetic, someone your reader can empathise with, and so imagines the events happening to them. In my current book You Sent Me A Letter, Sophie – the lead – is a kind girl who has made a terrible mistake. That turned out to be a fun challenge; creating someone readers identified with, even though she’d done something very unlikable indeed. That’s still different to having a character who is just… not very pleasant, however. Of course, behaving badly didn’t seem to do Amy Dunne any harm, and Hugh Laurie’s Richard Roper in the BBC’s The Night Manager is completely mesmeric. You really can believe that he is ‘the worst man in the world’ – but equally, do you want to know what he does next? Absolutely.

 

Perhaps that means lead characters only really work when they sit definably at either end of the scale. So what do I do with poor Sally? Take the safe option and make her softer, less prone to snappy and arsey comments? Make the reader have no choice but to feel sorry for her? Or do I tough it, and her, out? Some writers would argue that having a likeable character shouldn’t be a conscious consideration at all. The Sunday Times yesterday quoted Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter of Adaption, Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as saying “I’m trying to explore a character and maybe, in that process make the character understandable. That’s the goal of dramatic writing. Not to make people likeable. Maybe it doesn’t serve the box office. I don’t know. I can’t think of things that way, so I don’t choose to. It feels like pandering.”

 

In an ideal world, maybe he’s right. But I think perhaps I am going to have to soap Sally’s mouth out a little, because in the world of fiction at least, the nice girls don’t finish last.

Review : You Sent Me a Letter by Lucy Dawson

 

Published by : Corvus Books

3 March 2016

Copy : Paperback - Received from publisher

 

The Blurb

At 2 a.m. on the morning of her fortieth birthday, Sophie wakes to find an intruder in her bedroom.  The stranger hands Sophie a letter and issues a threat: open the letter at her party that evening, in front of gathered family and friends, at precisely 8 p.m., or those she loves will be in grave danger.

What can the letter possibly contain?

This will be no ordinary party; Sophie is not the only person keeping a secret about the evening ahead.  When the clock strikes eight, the course of several people's lives will be altered forever.

The Very Pink Notebook Review

 

 

This was the first book I have read by Lucy Dawson and most certainly will not be the last.  This novel has the most fantastic opening chapter, if you want a story that hits the ground running you will not be disappointed.  Lucy Dawson manages to continue the fast paced action throughout, which considering the span of time the bulk of the book covers - less than a day - is quite impressive.

 

I was immediately absorbed into protagonist Sophie's mind, and could feel my own stomach tensing with the choices she was faced with.  I could feel her fear and frustrations, the psychic distance being quite close throughout, so it was an intense read but one I could not put down.  I did guess fairly early on who 'the client' was, although twice I did waiver and think 'oh maybe I am wrong...' so although I was proved right in the end, it did not spoil my enjoyment of the book at all. 

 

The plot does not really have any secondary stories running alongside it, but because of the short amount of time it covers it does not need it.  Even though I knew all was not well, I couldn't help but really wish that it was and that all the preparations and lead up for the party could be enjoyable for Sophie.  I got on well with the characters and the relationship between Sophie and her sisters and mother did, quite literally, make me laugh out loud on occasion.  Sophie, I felt, was very relatable, she makes a terrible decision yet I didn't dislike her for it.  However, I could understand why it came back round to haunt her so terribly.

 

This is a gripping psychological thriller, but in the end actually has a very basic, fundamental message; if you make a decision to do something you know is wrong then you must be prepared to live with the consequences.  I thought the ending to this book was fitting and felt content as I closed the back page.

 

Overall I love this book and highly recommend it.  But, be warned : You won't want to put it down!

 

Therefore I give this book.. five pink notebooks

 

 

I was very kindly sent an advance copy of this book by Corvus Books and in turn have provided an honest review.

 

 

 

Feature Week : New Book Special - I Sent You a Letter by Lucy Dawson

I am thrilled, here at The Very Pink Notebook, to be running my first Feature Week.  This is where the spotlight falls onto one author for the whole week. 

The book and author in question is the very talented Lucy Dawson with her fantastic new novel - I Sent You a Letter, published by Corvus Books.  The book, available from 3rd March 2016, has proven to be a firm favourite of mine so far this year, so I am excited to be able to dedicate this blog to its publication date this week.

Visit back, or sign up by email for special posts throughout the week, including a guest post from Lucy Dawson herself.

 

If you want to find out more about Lucy or Corvus Books you can find them :

 

@lucydawsonbooks / www.lucydawsonbooks.co.uk

@CorvusBooks / www.corvus-books.co.uk

And if you are dying to know more about I Sent You a Letter, here is a little teaser for you :

Published by : Corvus Books

3 March 2016

The Blurb

At 2 a.m. on the morning of her fortieth birthday, Sophie wakes to find an intruder in her bedroom.  The stranger hands Sophie a letter and issues a threat: open the letter at her party that evening, in front of gathered family and friends, at precisely 8 p.m., or those she loves will be in grave danger.

What can the letter possibly contain?

This will be no ordinary party; Sophie is not the only person keeping a secret about the evening ahead.  When the clock strikes eight, the course of several people's lives will be altered forever.