Because of You: The beautifully uplifting Richard & Judy bestseller

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Be prepared that you may need tissues because in those dying pages Dawn French elicits such a reaction from the reader, creates such heartfelt emotion in Hope's letter to Minnie, that is it a hard heart who won't be moved by what they read. Maybe not great literature, I realize many following the Women's Prize have not liked it, but I was totally captivated by the audiobook and in the end thoroughly enjoyed it.

French has had heaps of fun writing this man, he absolutely leaps from the page as one of those people who just rub you up the wrong way. I'm finding it difficult to review this novel as I'm not sure I read the same book as other people, I certainly didn't find it life affirming, warm or witty as the reviews suggest.Lee, a two-dimensional cheeky chappie builder-type who makes a good cup a tea, is lovingly referred to by everyone as “Twat” 🤷🏼‍♀️. In particular, I felt the character of Anna was thinly drawn and it was hard for me to believe she'd act so graciously given the circumstances.

Honestly, the very thought of hinging the exploration of nature vs nurture on a stolen baby and a stillbirth makes me uncomfortable as a parent.How could someone commit a crime of this sort and get away with it so easily with an ongoing police investigation (the police inspector was another one dimensional character) is beyond me. Usually linear-ish, though not always, the chapters lead purposefully toward the dramatic conclusion of the story. He is power hungry, so ambitious that he will use anyone and anything to further his career including Anna, and Florence, but is so intolerable, with his unbearable, peacock attention seeking personality, that even the Tories are wary.

I read this book due to its surprise (to me) longlisting for the 2021 Women’s Prize – an explicit sign from the judges (the chair of whom blurbs the front cover of the book) that they were looking for a range of books from literary to storytellers.It was a bit of a surprise when I saw a novel by Dawn French on this year's Women's Prize longlist since I knew she'd written a memoir but wasn't aware she wrote novels as well.