Genre:
Women's Fiction/Coming of Age
Description:
“Beverly
sidesteps the need to interact with co-workers by working from home.
When she must venture outside, she wears earphones so no one will
bother her. Social niceties are designated to her best friend and
flatmate, Ella.
Beverly
would be jealous of Ella's gregarious charm and high-life, if she
didn't have the security of her long-term boyfriend, Roland, who
spared Beverly from the dating scene and gave her a future. Beverly
won't speak for herself because she has a stutter. This is how she
carefully arranges her life, until Roland breaks up with her...to
date Ella.”
Author:
An Irish
software developer, this is Fiona Pearse's second novel. Her first,
Orla's Code,
was a Books and Pals Readers' Choice Award nominee. For more,
check out Pearse's website.
Appraisal:
This is the
story of two roommates. Ella, the social butterfly and Beverly, the
wallflower-by-choice. Beverly tries to avoid too much interaction
with people due to her stutter, not only in social situations, but
also in her work life. She's arranged to work from home to avoid
interaction with co-workers. While Beverly's stutter at times makes
her dialogue harder than usual to read, it also keeps her
difficulties front and center in the reader's mind.
How Beverly
is pushed to deal better with her stuttering problem is central to
the story. But there are also a few good themes running throughout
including some points made about setting boundaries between friends
and the nature of friendship.
FYI:
Some adult
language and situations.
Uses UK
spelling and word usage. None of this should cause problems although
I was momentarily confused when I realized that a “pot plant” was
a plant in a pot. Not … you know.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No
significant issues.
Rating:
**** Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 50-55,000 words
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