We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker

Right. Wrong. Life is lived somewhere in between.

Duchess Day Radley is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Rules are for other people. She is the fierce protector of her five-year-old brother, Robin, and the parent to her mother, Star, a single mom incapable of taking care of herself, let alone her two kids.

Walk has never left the coastal California town where he and Star grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. And he’s in overdrive protecting Duchess and her brother.

Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released. And Duchess and Walk must face the trouble that comes with his return. We Begin at the End is an extraordinary novel about two kinds of families—the ones we are born into and the ones we create.

My Review

There are thousands of ratings and reviews of this book, so I’m not going to try and precis it. It’s been done so many times already and there is nothing I can add.

But as for my feelings – well there were so many moments when I cried. Especially towards the end. Duchess tries her best to protect her little brother Robin, but everything she does makes his situation worse. One thing she says results in the saddest moment of the whole story for me.

Sometimes she drove me mad, other times I wanted to hug her. I wanted to remove her bitterness, without damaging her strength and spirit. ‘I am the outlaw Duchess Day Radley,’ she says. And five-year-old Robin is a prince. Except she is really a vulnerable thirteen-year-old who has lost everyone who could take care of her.

I loved her grandfather Hal, her neighbour Dolly, chief of police ‘Walk’, Shelley the social worker, and her only real friend Thomas Noble. I hated the Prices – how did they ever get to care for children, creepy Milton the butcher (he hunts – that’s enough), and Dicky Darke, though I felt a bit sorry for him later. The jury is out on Vincent King and Star Radley – they weren’t always easy to like.

There are so many twists and surprises at the end, things I never expected. One of my favourite books of the year so far and the Audible narration by George Newbern was brilliant and enhanced my positive experience.

About the Author

Chris Whitaker is the award-winning author of Tall Oaks, All the Wicked Girls, We Begin at the End, and The Forevers (YA). His debut Tall Oaks won the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award. An instant New York Times and international bestseller, We Begin at the End was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, a Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick and a Good Morning America Buzz Pick. The novel won the CWA Gold Dagger Award, the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, the Ned Kelly International Award, and numerous awards around the world.

We Begin At The End has been translated into twenty-nine languages, with screen rights going to Disney, where ‘Hamilton’ director Thomas Kail and producing partner Jennifer Todd will develop the book for television. Chris lives in the UK.