Reviews

An unbearable maelstrom of overused and cryptic metaphors, innuendoes and non-sequiturs which made trudging through the barely-there plot next to impossible which is a shame given I was looking forward to reading about the very recognisable streets my school bus would travel down each day. Made all the stranger by a ghost with a recalcitrant erection which is utterly out of place in what is sold as ‘northern noir’.

Genuinely gives off the energy of a book which the author feared would struggle to make the grade in creative writing class so put every other word through an online thesaurus in an attempt to sound more high-brow but resulted in the reader being unable to follow the basic narrative.

amigo_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

lizzillia's review against another edition

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4.5

Winner of this year's Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award. Set in 1980s Wythenshawe, Manchester, this is the story of three women, three generations of the Dodds family, a family that once ruled Manchester's underworld. This is not a book about crime, but a story of women broken by and haunted by violence. These women entered their marriage with hope but were ruined by their husbands, their hopes beaten out of them and their only role to bear children. The men are now dead and the women are all that remain of this once powerful family. The matriarch, Nedra, now finds that her importance in the community is falling away and her life is being the childminder to the local kids, all products of broken homes and all lacking a stable home life. Her granddaughter, Jan, had a child at fifteen, is having an affair with her English teacher and uses sex to get anything she wants from the local lads. Unable to get any affection from home, she uses her body to feel something, anything. Two women - years apart - but written with realism. You see these women. In-between there is Carol, Nedra's daughter-in-law and Jan's mother. She is an interesting character and seems to be the holder of the backstories - the stories of Nedra's husband Jim and her own husband Sefton. And the link to Vern, her one-time lover who now visits her every night as a ghost hungry for sex. These supernatural couplings are slightly strange, but they serve a purpose to allow us to see how being married into Dodds family affected Carol, the legacy that it has left her with. Though they could also just be read as expressions of grief. There is no real plot, there are flashbacks and the writing style is original and powerful, but there are some revelations. An enjoyable read and 1980s Manchester is vividly drawn.

annarella's review against another edition

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4.0

Well written, heart-wrenching and heart warming at the same time, it was a compelling and fascinating read.
The author did an excellent job in delivering this emotionally charged, entertaining, and moving story.
The characters are fleshed out and relatable, the historical background is vivid.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

daisywilkes's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

tombenn's review against another edition

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OXBLOOD, my fourth novel and first standalone, is out this April, and set in 1960s-1980s' working-class Manchester, England.

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