Skip to main content

Victoria Park - Gemma Reeves

 



So pleased to be on the Blog Tour for this book today. 


Description 

A playful, lyrical novel about otherness, change, and the gap between generations in a London community. 

Mona and Wolfie have lived on Victoria Park for over fifty years. Now, on the eve of their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary, they must decide how to navigate Mona's declining health. Bookended by the touching exploration of their love, Victoria Park follows the disparate lives of twelve people over the course of a single year.  

Told from their multiple perspectives in episodes which capture feelings of alienation and connection, the lingering memory of an acid attack in the park sends ripples of unease through the community. By the end of the novel, their carefully interwoven tales create a rich tapestry of resilience, love and loss. 
 
With sharply observed insight into contemporary urban life, and characters we take to our hearts, Gemma Reeves has written a moving, uplifting debut which reflects those universal experiences that connect us all. 


Review

This book drew me in with the writing, which is almost poetic at times. It's not a chick lit view of the world, you need to take time to read and savour what goes on.

This is a book about diverse lives - nothing out of the ordinary happens - except everyday life. It's the way it's written that is special. It documents a life before the pandemic, a masterpiece of observation of life that goes on everyday somewhere. It's a social commentary that needs to be preserved and read again from time to time.

The book goes through each month of the year and begins with the lives of Wolfie and Mona. It becomes obvious fairly quickly that Mona has dementia, unfortunately she isn't with Wolfie, she's out and about oblivious to the modern day world. 

Each month of the book we meet new people and some of the people we've met before reappear in the story. Overlaps and connections are made by the reader as we realise how everyone in the book fits together. 

The end of the book was bittersweet for me. This story is a powerful one and you need to be prepared for some realistic writing about acid attacks, comas, dementia and life.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Random Tour Things for a copy of the book to review.




Gemma Reeves is a writer and teacher who lives and works in London. 





Labels:

Comments

  1. Anne7 January 2021 at 09:22

    Thanks so much for the blog tour support Lyn. Happy New Year x

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Those leaving a comment on any post on this blog do so in the knowledge that their name and blog link are visible to all who visit this blog and by providing their comment they have published their own personal details on this blog and also consented to our use of that personal information for that specific purpose.

Popular posts from this blog

No One Would Do What The Lamberts Have Done - Sophie Hannah

  Description The twistiest murder mystery you are ever likely to read? A story about a family that does the unthinkable in order to save the life of one of its beloved members? Both? Or something else altogether? You'll have to read until the very last word in order to find out… You think it will never happen to you: the ring of the bell, the policeman on the doorstep. What he says traps you in a nightmare that starts with the words, 'I'm afraid…' Sally Lambert is also afraid, and desperate enough to consider the unthinkable. Is it really, definitely, impossible to escape from this horror? Maybe not. There's always something you can do, right? Of course, no one would ever do this particular something – except the Lamberts, who might have to. No one has ever gone this far. Until Sally decides that the Lamberts will… 'An incident involving a dog in a small village escalates to an all-out conflict, turning neighbour against neighbour, and culminating in murder. Bu...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Dilemmas of Work Women - Fumio Yamamoto

  Description The classic Japanese bestseller published in English for the very first time -  a darkly funny and relatable book portraying the lives of five women 'Witty, wise and thought-provoking' Cecelia Ahern 'Crackles and pops with humour, empathy and intelligence' Lisa Owens, author of  Not Working 'So brilliantly written that I kept trying to memorise sentences in order to repeat them to people later' Roxy Dunn, author of  As Young as This Izumi  needs to get a job. Haruka  needs to stop talking about how she once had cancer. Katō  needs to get through a shift at the convenience store without being harassed. Mito  needs to break up with her boyfriend - or marry him. Sumie  just needs somewhere to live. In this classic Japanese bestseller, published in English twenty-five years after it took Japan by storm, the lives of five ordinary women are depicted with irresistible humour and searing emotional insight. Review A collection of short ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

Description THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER. YOU DON'T KNOW HER. BUT SHE KNOWS YOU. Rear Window  meets  Gone Girl , in this exceptional and startling psychological thriller Review I must be one of the last people to read this book. I did apply for a review copy but unfortunately wasn't successful. I then waited for the book to come down in price which it didn't - so I decided I would buy it and read it straight away! I'm sure it will be a film and before anyone gives away what happens I felt I really needed to get it read, so it jumped the TBR queue. There is not much plot outline from the publisher as you can see in the description above, so there wasn't a lot to go on when I began to read the book. First of all the book jumps around date wise - past and present and also between the main characters. I did have a little trouble remembering who was who and which time frame we were in - but that soon settled down. I also had to re-read the beginning because I th...
3 comments
Read more