LouiseBeech

#ThisIsHowWeAreHuman #blogtour @OrendaBooks @LouiseWriter #BookReview

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I’m delighted to be a part of Orenda Books blog tour for ‘this is how we are human’ by Louise Beech – thank you Anne, as always, for the invite. I’d previously read Beech’s ‘I am Dust’ and loved it, so couldn’t wait to read this new release. Do keep reading for the blurb and some bookish chat 🙂

THE BLURB

Sebastian James Murphy is twenty years, six months and two days old. He loves swimming, fried eggs and Billy Ocean. Sebastian is autistic. And lonely.

Veronica wants her son Sebastian to be happy … she wants the world to accept him for who he is. She is also thinking about paying a professional to give him what he desperately wants.

Violetta is a high-class escort, who steps out into the night thinking only of money. Of her nursing degree. Paying for her dad’s care. Getting through the dark.

When these three lives collide – intertwine in unexpected ways – everything changes. For everyone.

My thoughts…

‘THIS IS HOW WE ARE HUMAN’ caught my eye due to the subject matter of autism in early adulthood. We often hear about autism in much younger people, where there is a lot of support in place, however once a young person hits a certain age then this support can become much less visible, and the demands on the families much more complex. This book highlights the ongoing needs of a young autistic man called Sebastian, who loves ‘fried eggs’ and ‘swimming’ but is lonely. He’s also a young man who desperately wants to have sex.

At the heart of this book is struggle. The struggle to connect; the struggle to understand and the struggle to heal. Beech tells her story through three narrative perspectives, these fuse together with an emotive clarity as we follow the journeys of Sebastian, his mother Veronica and Isabelle AKA Violetta. The women’s stories for me added some really important depth to this story; I was fully immersed from the onset in the lives of this entwined trio.

Beech doesn’t hold back, and it’s right that the story is told openly, honestly and often brutally. This is difficult material but it’s successful because the characters are crafted with such care and openness you simply cannot fail to be ensnared by their stories. In particular, the voice of Sebastian dominants the novel and this turns the book into something special. Sebastian’s voice represents so many people with autism and reading this book provides a glimpse through his eyes: be prepared to laugh and cry as Beech juxtaposes beautifully so many aspects of the autistic world. This is a human story, with all its foibles. There’s devastation, adoration, deep love, brutal realities and harsh truths.

Insightful, thought-provoking and beautifully empathic writing from Louise Beech.

PS: Louise – this would make a great stage play!!!

BLOG TOUR

I AM DUST by @LouiseWriter published by @OrendaBooks #BlogTour

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I’m super pleased to be on the blog tour for Louise Beech’s ‘I Am Dust’ – with thanks to Karen Sullivan/Orenda Books and Anne Cater for the lovely invite.

Blurb

When iconic musical Dust is revived twenty years after the
leading actress was murdered in her dressing room, a series of
eerie events haunts the new cast…
The Dean Wilson Theatre is believed to be haunted by a long-dead
actress, singing her last song, waiting for her final cue, looking for
her killer…
Now Dust, the iconic musical, is returning after twenty years. But
who will be brave enough to take on the role of ghostly goddess
Esme Black, last played by Morgan Miller, who was murdered in
her dressing room?
Theatre usher Chloe Dee is caught up in the spectacle. As the
new actors arrive, including an unexpected face from her past,
everything changes. Are the eerie sounds and sightings backstage
real or just her imagination? Is someone playing games?
Not all the drama takes place onstage. Sometimes murder, magic,
obsession and the biggest of betrayals are real life. When you’re in
the theatre shadows, you see everything.
And Chloe has been watching…

Thoughts…

Immediately I regretted reading this book late at night: a creepy rhyme; the haunted theatre setting; the cursed Scottish play ‘Macbeth’ mentioned in the opening paragraph, and I was straight away seeing shadows in the corner of my room! I trained in a Repertory Theatre when I first started my theatre career, and this book took me back into the past. Backstage, props, the wings, the fly floor, actor companies, dressing rooms, corridors, front-of-house and superstitions. We had a resident ghost called the Grey Lady, and pretty much everyone working at the theatre had a creepy story to tell. I remember working backstage during the ‘Woman in Black’, I had to cover stage-right (essentially, a tiny dark corridor, with access to the even creepier sub-stage) by myself; there were many times I saw shadows ‘move’ and often felt watched. This is probably as the show was incredibly creepy to work on, where I had to create the Woman in Black’s ghostly effects… I’ve goose bumps writing this! Great memories…anyway, I’m digressing, back to what’s important, and that’s Louise Beech’s novel ‘I am Dust’.

I genuinely had a great time reading this, and if I hadn’t had to wait until the light of day to keep reading, it would have been a one sitting read. Without repeating the ‘blurb’ above this is essentially a murder mystery ghost story with depth. It’s intense, suspenseful and has a strong ‘I see dead people vibe’ from the cinematic world of ‘The Sixth Sense’. Beech provides a haunting narrative for the reader that wraps you up in the central protagonist’s story. Chloe Dee is our narrator, the theatre usher and, like many, dreams of being on the stage, but is fighting the confidence to push herself. We do connect with her fragility, and the damage she inflicts upon herself pulls in our concern. There’s certainly heartbreak in this story, and I really appreciated the emotional depth Beech provides.

With themes of obsession, desire, greed, shallowness and unrequited love this book is packed full of energy via its thoroughly entertaining storytelling – that’s what all good books should be: passionate storytelling! Louise Beech certainly can tell a great story. Fun, creepy, suspenseful escapism with heart – just what’s needed right now.

Many thanks to both the author and publisher for ‘I Am Dust’. From your reader! 🙂

Author Bio:

Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To
Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. Her second book, The
Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Both of her
previous books Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer Who Lost were widely
reviewed, critically acclaimed and number-one bestsellers on Kindle. The
Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic
Novel Award in 2019. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the
Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition,
as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise lives with her
husband on the outskirts of Hull, and loves her job as a Front of House
Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.

Check out the amazing bloggers on this tour below for more book chat: