Meredith, Alone

Ad/gifted copy from @netgalley I adored reading this book. I can't comment on the portrayal of some of the issues as I don't necessarily have experience, but it seemed to be treated sensitively to me. I liked how there were 2 timelines, but that the timeline in the past also jumped about between Meredith's childhood, her teenage years and more recent adult years. I felt this helped to keep me curious as to why Meredith is in the position she is in. I love Meredith and had fun reading what she got up to in a day; especially all of the baking. The descriptions made me hungry at times and I baked Cheese scones this morning to say goodbye to Meredith . I also really appreciated reading about a woman turning 40. I love reading about people over 40 because it's just less common. I think Claire Alexander's creation of the characters is wonderful, they all felt realistic and I feel like I'm missing Meredith already. I think there's so much to enjoy in this book, the characters, the observations on what make people do what they do, the Kevingrove and the Dali. Despite some difficult topics I feel like this will be a comfort reread for me in the future.

I liked the main character Meredith. I could feel her pain and shared in her joys. Gave me better understanding of her mental condition.Glad she got a lot of support and will let other readers with a similar condition know that Help is out there. I enjoyed reading about her relationships with her sister, her friends and her cat. What a horrible mother she had. I was sorry when I finished the book as I felt the characters had become my friends. Look forward to reading more by this author.

I wonder if I hadn’t been through a number of lockdowns and the unexpected time spent alone, would I have been so tuned to Meredith’s plight. I hope so. I felt wholly connected to her with no similarity between us at all. Between reading, I thought about her progress and was happy for her when she felt she had moved forward but didn’t feel the urge for her to do so. I could understand why she was comfortable in her own world. It was a lovely read and made me think .. lots☺️ Good stuff!!

This was genuinely one of my favourite books of 2021. I read an advance copy. I loved this from the first pages and read it during 3 sleepless nights while my family had covid in the run-up to Christmas. I literally read from 20% on my kindle all the way to 80% in one long stint. It has so many layers, including some that should be very sad, but overall the storytelling is uplifting and enjoyable, and the characters real and believable. I am 100% this will be made into a film or series, and I can't wait to watch it. Congratulations to Claire on what I predict will be MASSIVE.