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A review by wishknots
The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
5.0
I am very grateful to Net Galley and the publishers of this book for the E-Arc I received for review.
I was very drawn by the synopsis of this book. Set in Yorkshire in 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female Prime Minister and at a time when the North Of England was gripped by the hunt for a terrible, sadistic monster, known as The Yorkshire Ripper. No one felt safe and few were above suspicion. One little girl, with troubles of her own, sets out to investigate and find the Ripper.
I LOVED this book. I was 2 years old in 1979 and I grew up in London, very different to Yorkshire but the nostalgia seeping from the chapters of this book was so familiar. So much was just as it felt at the time, as if Jennie Godfrey had taken detailed notes of life in 1970's Britain and woven them expertly into the story. The details, the people, the language, all of it was spot on. The warmth of the place and time was such a nice place to be whilst reading, despite what else was going on.
While the murders that were happening at the time feature heavily in this book, with victims being found and identified in real time and the police investigation swirling around them, this book is about community and friendship above all else. I cried a few times, I got angry at the terrible things happening to some characters and the behaviour of others. I would have loved a friendship like Miv and Sharon's, at any age. This book is a masterpiece. Read it and remember the women who's lives were taken and those whose lives were turned upside down by a monster, hiding in plain sight.
I was very drawn by the synopsis of this book. Set in Yorkshire in 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female Prime Minister and at a time when the North Of England was gripped by the hunt for a terrible, sadistic monster, known as The Yorkshire Ripper. No one felt safe and few were above suspicion. One little girl, with troubles of her own, sets out to investigate and find the Ripper.
I LOVED this book. I was 2 years old in 1979 and I grew up in London, very different to Yorkshire but the nostalgia seeping from the chapters of this book was so familiar. So much was just as it felt at the time, as if Jennie Godfrey had taken detailed notes of life in 1970's Britain and woven them expertly into the story. The details, the people, the language, all of it was spot on. The warmth of the place and time was such a nice place to be whilst reading, despite what else was going on.
While the murders that were happening at the time feature heavily in this book, with victims being found and identified in real time and the police investigation swirling around them, this book is about community and friendship above all else. I cried a few times, I got angry at the terrible things happening to some characters and the behaviour of others. I would have loved a friendship like Miv and Sharon's, at any age. This book is a masterpiece. Read it and remember the women who's lives were taken and those whose lives were turned upside down by a monster, hiding in plain sight.