Published By: HarperCollins
Pages: 384
Released On: 26/09/2024
Old friends Renée and Flo couldn’t be more different. Flo wants to be invisible, Renée wants to be a somebody. But old friendships are magnetic. In their early twenties, and on the cusp of the rest of their lives, Renée and Flo both fly home to Guernsey: to the island where it all began.
Back in the place of their youth, yet spreading their wings into adulthood, will they flail and fall? Or will growing up be the making of them?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I love, love, LOVE Dawn’s books and was thrilled to be sent an early copy of her newest title. And I hate to say it but it wasn’t my favourite. But, the positive things first.
The main story starts in 2001 and whilst Renee is 22 years old and I am almost a decade older, I truly resonated and related to her from the off. I didn’t like Flo as much but can’t really say why. She just fell in the background.
It is very real, this idea of having your life mapped out and then realising none of it is happening. This idea that women should have a house, a job, a husband, and children by the time they reach their 30s, we see it time and time again, both in fiction and in real life. She has infused a sense of nostalgia in the book, directly for the characters, but also for the reader, looking back at school times, Uni times, travelling, friendships, relationships etc.
Dawn reminds me, in a way, of how Julie Owen Moylan writes women. Whereas Julie’s are generally historical, Dawn’s are modern, but they’re both imperfect, rough, and often running from something or running towards something.
You can tell Dawn has a connection to Guernsey – an island that I so long to visit – because the way she’s written about it in this book, you can feel her love for it constantly.
This isn’t as fun as her other books. I don’t necessarily mean it in a bad way. Whilst there were serious elements in her previous books, this felt more serious, more grown up. It dealt with very difficult topics. It’s a different tone to what I am used to from her books.
However.
I didn’t particularly gel with the characters. I initially liked Renee, but if I’m honest, I didn’t particularly care for either of them. I didn’t like them but I didn’t dislike them. They had their plus points and their flaws. I just felt a bit…vanilla about them, unbothered. They didn’t excite me, but nor did they enrage me. I’d have preferred one or the other, some sort of feeling towards them.
I also found the plot, whilst it did have good points, nostalgia and whatnot, I just found it a bit boring. I felt nothing really happened and I found my mind drifting off and not really focussing on the story.
Overall it’s a decent book with some good points, but I just felt it wasn’t as polished as her other books. I’m glad I’ve read her others because I know just how great her writing can be. But if this was my first of hers, I’d have been disappointed. And that pains me so much to say because I adore her so much.
Books By Your Bedside 