The Sound of It by Alison Jean Lester - #bookreview

 

"Shall we sell both houses, then?" Jeremy Markwick-Low asked his girlfriend, Su Watkins, at her kitchen table. "Or just one?"

Only four months into their relationship, things were moving quickly, and neither of them had found any reason to put on the brakes. They were talking about building a house together.

"Show me the spreadsheets again?" said Su.

Jeremy loved how much Su enjoyed being shown his spreadsheets. There were two for planning - land purchase and house build - and one for financing both. She said they looked like scaffolding to her. A grid to build a dream on. She said that when he typed things in it sounded like tiny hammer blows, "nailing things in place for us."

***

When sound designer Su, a divorced mother of one daughter, falls in love with Jeremy, a widowed father of two sons, they want to build a new life together. As neither of their houses in Worcester is big enough for a family of five, they decide to build a dream home in farmland outside the city.

For Su, it's an opportunity to heal the past wounds of betrayal and loss, while failed entrepreneur Jeremy sees a chance to finally impress his overbearing father. But with financial misjudgements, secret transgressions and lies creating cracks where this new family attempt to blend into one, will they ever be able to cement their 'happily ever after'?

A sharp, addictive psychological drama, The Sound of It explores the complexities of parenting in a blended family - especially when expectations are high, dreams are big, and the Internet is a very dangerous place indeed.

***

I enjoyed reading this book very much. It is an excellent portrayal of a modern, blended family, and the author demonstrates this family with sensitivity and insight.

Additionally, the relationship between the two main characters, Su and Jeremy, is very believable. It is second time around for them both, having met later in life, accompanied by the difficulties that follow divorce and bereavement.

As the reader, watching their relationship develop we can detect upcoming problems long before the characters themselves can. I literally wanted to shout a warning to one of the characters and shake some sense into the other as I could detect a situation that was fast hurtling out of control.

It is a compelling story which carries the reader along with it. Perfectly paced with a spare narrative which makes every word count, it forces the reader to focus on the underlying issues rather than the surface story.

Bravo, Ms. Lester for such an honest and highly readable novel. I shall definitely be seeking out more titles by this author.

ISBN:  978 1838112455

Publisher: Bench Press

Formats: e-book, paperback

No. of Pages: 214 (paperback)

About the Author:

Alison Jean Lester was born in the US and has also lived for years in the UK, Singapore and Japan. She worked as an editor, journalist and voice over artist before moving to Singapore, where she developed a successful coaching and training business and continued to write. She is the author of novels Yuki Means Happiness, Lillian on Life, Glide, poetry, short stories, plays, and non-fiction books on communication. She currently lives in Worcestershire, England.