BOOK REVIEW: Writing The Town Read

TITLE: Writing The Town Read
AUTHOR: Katherine E Smith
PUBLISHED BY: Heddon Publishing

This debut novel is set in London in July 2005, centred on real life when London was hit by a series of bombs. Jamie’s boyfriend has disappeared without a trace. She is in Cornwall, hundreds of miles away and wants to find out what has happened to him. Her settled and secure life prior to that terrible day has fallen apart and the following months demonstrate to her that life doesn’t always run to plan and that things are not always as they may first seem. Whilst Jamie is learning to deal with life without her boyfriend, she also finds she has to face a betrayal by her best friend and the prospect of losing her job.

This story focuses strongly on it's characters and their relationships; it is basically a coming-of-age novel, in that the heroine is growing into the person she will become and gaining confidence in her career and in herself, despite some pretty hard knocks along the way.

Readers who enjoy psychological, contemporary fiction with a twist of intrigue will enjoy this book along with those with a love for, or who live in Cornwall. Additionally, those who remember when London was hit by a number of terrorist attacks on 7th July 2005 and was high on the success of winning the 2012 Olympics bid will be interested in how the author has spun a story surrounding these events.

The story contains excitement, intrigue and humour, and alongside the main mystery of what has happened to Jamie’s boyfriend there run other aspects dealing with sexism, newspaper closures, animal rights and the pressures of friendship. All these aspects are competently written and make for an interesting read. The story also has a sensitive manner about it that I found appealing.  

I read the book over only a few hours. I couldn't put it down; it was not at all the storyline I expected, given the description of it being set with the 7th of July 2005 bombings in the background. 

The characters are well-formed and realistic, everyone is so well described that I felt I knew them. The twists in the tale kept my attention although I think more could have been made of Jamie’s boyfriend’s story, I found myself wanting to know more, with lots of questions about him. 

The author has a smooth, flowing writing style and has created very realistic characters; there were several times I had to remind myself that this is fiction and not a memoire as it reads rather like one, the story played out very much like real life.

This is a pleasant story with laughs, tears, and a series of conundrums; it is the story of a young girl whose usual orderly, fairly predictable life has been turned on its head; she is concerned about keeping her job as there is a merger in the works, her boyfriend has disappeared, her dog has died and she is estranged from her best friend of many years. She is a resilient girl but there is a lot happening at the same time and there are many life challenging scenarios to face and overcome, maybe realistically a few too many but it is a speedy read and an enjoyable story.

Reviewer - Anne Pritchard