Atmospheric and entrancing coming-of-age tale with a pervading sense of doom.
The follow-up to Rachel Donohue’s assured debut novel is an atmospheric coming-of-age tale set over the course of an intense summer in the seaside town where fifteen-year-old Natasha Rothwell lives with her beautiful, bohemian mother. Living in a crumbling house on the cliff side with money in short supply the events of that summer are something that thirty years later Natasha is still trying to make sense of, perhaps because brushing everything under the carpet and ‘forgetting’ became so essential in the years that followed. At the suggestion of her therapist Natasha revisits that momentous summer, and their tragic consequences, in an attempt to understand better who she once was and the decisions she made and her first-person narrative is what follows.
Natasha and her mother are outsiders in the seaside town where they live that only comes alive in the summer. Her beautiful mother, Elizabeth, is an aloof presence and the source of much interest in town whilst Natasha is set apart by the prophetic dreams that from a young age have often played out reality, most notably a tragic accident at sea. The summer that she turns fifteen Natasha bears witness to some unexplained dancing blue lights in the sky above the Ridge, lights that she believes are portents of doom with ominous implications for the townsfolk. Whilst her close friend, Marcus, believes her and troubled older teenager, Lewis, sees them too, Elizabeth and the wider town are slow to believe. Until, that is, the lights appear again and Natasha speaks out, attracting the attention of Dr Black, an academic who has fallen into disrepute, who seizes upon her ‘gift’ and gives her a platform to bring the message to the town. As tourists, ghost hunters and reporters arrive in anticipation of what is to come a sense of disquiet and outright fear pervades and the atmosphere is feverish with expectation. When events take a darker turn with the disappearance of Lewis on the back of Natasha’s latest ominous proclamations it provides a chance to put her psychic powers to the test.
Natasha and her mother have a fraught relationship even before the appearance of the blue lights, with Natasha’s very presence a reminder of Elizabeth’s abruptly curtailed hopes of studying art and a responsibility that prevents her following in the footsteps of Natasha’s father. There is an air of eternal disappointment about Elizabeth that registers in Natasha as a clear sense of not being good enough. The presence of their new lodger, Mr Bowen, in the house over that summer also represents an obstacle to her mother’s attention and yet more proof that she alone is not enough and Donohue injects the novel with a real sense of the tension that looms large. Both Natasha and her mother are vividly drawn and their difficult relationship is conveyed well but I found Marcus harder to fathom, especially in the respect of his feelings for Natasha. The prose is a pleasure to read, achingly beautiful and somewhat hypnotic, and together with the evocative descriptions and the unsettling atmosphere make the novel hugely compelling with enough uncertainty to keep you thinking about it afterwards. A poignant and powerful story full of emotion and a novel that delivered on the promise shown in the author’s debut.
Natasha and her mother are outsiders in the seaside town where they live that only comes alive in the summer. Her beautiful mother, Elizabeth, is an aloof presence and the source of much interest in town whilst Natasha is set apart by the prophetic dreams that from a young age have often played out reality, most notably a tragic accident at sea. The summer that she turns fifteen Natasha bears witness to some unexplained dancing blue lights in the sky above the Ridge, lights that she believes are portents of doom with ominous implications for the townsfolk. Whilst her close friend, Marcus, believes her and troubled older teenager, Lewis, sees them too, Elizabeth and the wider town are slow to believe. Until, that is, the lights appear again and Natasha speaks out, attracting the attention of Dr Black, an academic who has fallen into disrepute, who seizes upon her ‘gift’ and gives her a platform to bring the message to the town. As tourists, ghost hunters and reporters arrive in anticipation of what is to come a sense of disquiet and outright fear pervades and the atmosphere is feverish with expectation. When events take a darker turn with the disappearance of Lewis on the back of Natasha’s latest ominous proclamations it provides a chance to put her psychic powers to the test.
Natasha and her mother have a fraught relationship even before the appearance of the blue lights, with Natasha’s very presence a reminder of Elizabeth’s abruptly curtailed hopes of studying art and a responsibility that prevents her following in the footsteps of Natasha’s father. There is an air of eternal disappointment about Elizabeth that registers in Natasha as a clear sense of not being good enough. The presence of their new lodger, Mr Bowen, in the house over that summer also represents an obstacle to her mother’s attention and yet more proof that she alone is not enough and Donohue injects the novel with a real sense of the tension that looms large. Both Natasha and her mother are vividly drawn and their difficult relationship is conveyed well but I found Marcus harder to fathom, especially in the respect of his feelings for Natasha. The prose is a pleasure to read, achingly beautiful and somewhat hypnotic, and together with the evocative descriptions and the unsettling atmosphere make the novel hugely compelling with enough uncertainty to keep you thinking about it afterwards. A poignant and powerful story full of emotion and a novel that delivered on the promise shown in the author’s debut.