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A Novel
by Kate Atkinson
Book Reviewed by:Three lives come together in unexpected and thrilling ways in Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News?
On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason's family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna's life is changed forever...
On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly hears a shocking sound...
At the end of a long day, 16-year-old Reggie is looking forward to watching a little TV. Then a terrifying noise shatters her peaceful evening. Luckily, Reggie makes it a point to be prepared for an emergency...
These three lives come together in unexpected and deeply thrilling ways in the latest novel from Kate Atkinson, the critically acclaimed author who Harlan Coben calls "an absolute must-read."
Harvest
The heat rising up from the tarmac seemed to get trapped between the thick hedges that towered above their heads like battlements.
"Oppressive," their mother said. They felt trapped too. "Like the maze at Hampton Court," their mother said. "Remember?"
"Yes," Jessica said.
"No," Joanna said.
"You were just a baby," their mother said to Joanna. "Like Joseph is now." Jessica was eight, Joanna was six.
The little road (they always called it "the lane") snaked one way and then another, so that you couldn't see anything ahead of you. They had to keep the dog on the lead and stay close to the hedges in case a car "came out of nowhere." Jessica was the eldest so she was the one who got to hold the dog's lead all the time. She spent a lot of her time training the dog, "Heel!" and "Sit!" and "Come!" Their mother said she wished Jessica were as obedient as the dog. Jessica was always the one who was in charge. Their mother said to Joanna, "It's all right to have a mind of your ...
When Will There Be Good News is very readable, although complex, it is not the kind of complexity wherein you must go back and read and reread again. The characters and their unfolding relationships to each other become a part of you. You will yearn for everyone to end their lives happy and unscarred even as quite horrible actions and events unfold all over Edinburgh. Kate Atkinson’s newest book is not a quiet ride…it is a roller coaster of surprises and thrills and chills that will leave you feeling a bit breathless as you read its final chapter...continued
Full Review
(440 words)
(Reviewed by Patty Magyar).
About the Author
Kate Atkinson was born in York, England in 1951 and studied English Literature at
Dundee University in Scotland. After graduating in 1974, she researched a postgraduate
doctorate on American Literature. She later taught at Dundee University and began writing
short stories in 1981. She started writing for women's magazines after winning the
1986 Woman's Own Short Story Competition.
Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1995), won the 1995
Whitbread Book of the Year award. Set in Yorkshire, the book has been adapted
for radio, theater and TV. This was followed by Human Croquet (1977),
Abandonment (2000), Emotionally Weird (2000), Not the End of the World (2002),
Case Histories (2004), One Good...
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