The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers – Samuel Burr

Published By: Orion
Pages: 368
Released On: 09/05/2024

Sometimes finding your place in the world is the greatest puzzle of all…

Clayton Stumper is an enigma.

He might be twenty-five years old, but he dresses like your grandad and drinks sherry like your aunt.

Abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by the sharpest minds in the British Isles and finds himself amongst the last survivors of a fading institution.

When the esteemed crossword compiler, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle to him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for his future.

Yet as Clay begins to unpick the clues, he uncovers something even the Fellowship have never been able to solve – and it’s a secret that will change everything…

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and Orion for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I had been so desperate to read this book that I was tempted to skip all of my earlier ARCs to get to it. But I held off. And now it’s go-time!

This was instant joy from the first page. I might be a bit biased, seeing as I have Samuel on Twitter and have followed all the praise he’s been getting, and so I expected to love it, but it’s always gratifying when your initial opinions are proven. It was familiar, like a hot tea in your favourite mug, sat in your favourite armchair, in your favourite slippers, with your favourite radio station on, next to your favourite person. And it is this familiarity that made it so cosy and warm and gorgeous.

I like a puzzle as much as the next person – a good crossword or codebreaker – but who knew there was so much interesting about them to form the basis of a novel?!

There’s many characters, and I don’t have the time to go through them all and so I will pick Clayton, our protagonist, to talk about. He’s an old soul in a young body, much like I have described myself over the years. He is such a perfect creation. There was something clearly going on with him; he was abandoned, and so, we assume, unwanted, and yet he is brought up and wanted so much by the residents of the fellowship. He is only in his 20s and yet appears the same as those in their 80s. He’s shy and quiet and a bit awkward, and yet he shines off the page like a star. He is a very conflicting character in himself, and I think Samuel has written him brilliantly.

It flits between the present day, and the time where the fellowship was founded. This could have been complicated and jarring, but it flows so well. The present scenes are almost finished with a hint of the past scenes – although it’s not as obvious as that. It’s like…you read the past scene, and then you realise the goings on, the conversation, the emotions, the characters…that had been mentioned in the previous present scene. I hope that makes sense. I know what I mean anyway. But I found both time periods fascinating to read.

I found myself totally absorbed in it. I wanted to slow down so I could savour it, as I’d waited so long to read it, but it was so good that I wanted to rush through it, to read more, and I ended up finishing it in less than 24 hours. It was torture having to put it down.

It is a beautiful book. Full of joy and hope, and it is very uplifting. I read it with a smile on my face. And yet it doesn’t hide from the more difficult topics, such as old age, death, grief, loneliness, abandonment, relationship difficulties, the idea of family, the loss of dreams, financial problems, sexuality. All things that the average reader will experience at some point in their life, and it is this realism that backs up the magic in this story.

It is rare to get a book that is so warming and uplifting, that is such a happy book (not all the way through, but mostly), and yet still manage to be interesting, entertaining, and well-written, not too sugary sweet or sappy. It is, quite simply, a triumph, and I look forward to what Samuel writes next.