This is one of those books that will stay with you for a long time, that’s if it doesn’t break you! I have read a couple of Carroll’s non fiction books and I found them very engaging, when I found out he was releasing his first novel I jumped at the chance of having a read. The first thing you spot is that incredible cover, wonderful colours and fantastic shapes, to me those swirls look like the landscape’s fingerprint. Next you check out the blurb and that gives nothing away, just how I like it, stepping into the unknown. What you find inside is one of the most incredible debut novels I have ever read, I was blown away by just how powerful the writing was and what an effect it had on me, as the big plot reveals started coming in I couldn’t help blurting out “F***!” a number of times.

The cast is very small, you have Melody Janie, a young woman, all on her own, having experienced tragedy in her life she has almost gone feral and spends her time protecting her land from outsiders, you have the stranger (so difficult not to give anything away) who comes into Melody’s life and turns it all on it’s head and you have the adorable Archie, every scene he is in brings joy to the pages. There is one more character worth a mention and that is the Cornish coastline, not really a character but it seems to come to life due to Melody’s bond with it. I reckon this is the first novel I’ve read since Wuthering Heights where the landscape is so essential to the plot, the area covered is very small but whilst reading this book it feels like that that is all there is.

The book has a lot of focus on mental health and it could easily have become overwhelming for the reader but it has been written with so much care and Melody has such a big heart it’s a book you’re guaranteed to fall in love with. You know you’ve read a great book when you have a heavy feeling in your stomach, I’ve got that right now and I’m gonna have to wait a day before I can pick up the next book. The first book of 2021 that I’ll be telling absolutely everybody to read.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2021/02/21/the-lip-by-charlie-carroll/