Were We awake

by L.M. Brown

In each story of this collection, events make the characters understand that their world is not as it seemed.


In Hidden, the discovery of an affair between her father and aunt is only the start of finding hidden secrets for Hazel.
What it Means to Be Empty-Handed is narrated by a fourteen–year-old daughter of an alcoholic. Her denial and elaborate imagination starts to disintegrate when she lies to the wrong person.
In Crashing, a middle-aged woman lives a life of servitude until she hits teenage boy with her car.
A thirty-year-old murder takes its toll on the victim’s family in Walking A Country Road.
The stories are set in Boston and Ireland.

216 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2019

About the author

L.M Brown is the author of novels Debris and Hinterland, and the linked short story collections Treading The Uneven Road and Were We Awake. Her award winning stories have been published in over a dozen magazines.

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Review

Author L.M. Brown does it again, creating a wonderful collection of stories that are both connected and illustrate the way life constantly throws people curve balls, turning the world they knew into a completely new one. A collection that showcases that things are never simple or what they appear.

One of the truly engaging stories of the collection has to be Hidden, which delves into the complex family life of Hazel when she discovers her father and aunt are having an affair. Yet as her family life implodes, new secrets reveal that things are not as simple as they first appeared. The story is a prime example of how life is often lived in shades of grey, with people often living complicated lives in an attempt to find peace and happiness. The author beautifully illustrates the pain, the shock and the confusion that comes from having a person’s world turned upside down, and perfectly taps into the emotion and complexity of humanity as a whole.

The Verdict

A fairly average length read with completely dynamic characters and stories that feel both personal and connected, this collection of stories is truly unique and wonderfully captures the author’s unique writing style and voice. A collection that honestly showcases the ever changing landscape of the world we live in, both the world at large and the world we create for ourselves. A dramatic journey through life’s greatest challenges, this is a fantastic collection readers will not want to miss, so be sure to grab their copy of Were We Awake by L.M. Brown today!

[Pallavi Sareen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book begins with the words of Emily Dickinson, which I suppose also formed the basis of its title.
“it is good we are dreaming—
It would hurt us—were we awake—”
This, in itself brought a smile to my face since she is one of my favourite poets. This is the first book I have read by this author.
While reading it, I was amazed by the quality of prose and the feeling of the book. Yes, the feeling which inspired both profound thoughts and a gentle comfort. Some stories made me feel the gloominess inside and others put me at rest. Each story is character-driven, and while reading it you are not sure where it will lead. Some stories, like the first one, aren’t meant to lead to an end and yet it all feels complete and you wish to revisit to meet the characters once again. Since, I found that each story was meant to have a life-altering incident in the character’s life, I would make up my mind to guess it beforehand. Yet, the author’s skill in storytelling is so refined that through her narration, you would forget about plot. The only thing I cared about were the characters. Their individuality is so well reflected and each story is different than the other and yet somehow linked. Each character has such a unique voice and aura that I was amazed at the author’s observations. This really is one of the books that one wishes to share with their friends and peers so they could discuss moments and quotes with them.
A poignant and wonderful read.

[Heena Rathore Rathore-Pardeshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of exceptionally narrated and well-plotted short stories that depict the complexities of life. Each and every story felt complete and was very different from each other in respect of plots as well as their implications, yet the theme somewhat remained centric to the multi-faceted and emotionally taxing life one has to plough through no matter how much they wish otherwise.

I enjoyed reading all the stories as they were all well-written. This is my second book by the author, the first being Treading The Uneven Road . The characterisation was flawless and I was able to relate to each and every central character in this collection. The pacing was good and I found the stories very realistic.

I'd recommend this collection to all the readers who want to take a break from their usual genres and try something new and refreshing.

You can also read this review on www.thereadingbud.com

[Roma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Were We Awake

Author: L. M. Brown

Length: 236 pages

Publisher: Fomite

Publication date: November 20, 2019

Genre: Fiction, Short Stories

My rating: 4/5

Summary:

This book is a collection of 13 short stories.

My Take:

I would like to thank the author for providing me with an Advanced review copy of the book for reading and reviewing. This is the second book of the author that I laid my hands on after reading “Treading the Uneven Road“. I did like the earlier book and hence when the author contacted me for reading and reviewing this one I couldn’t deny.

Each and every story has an incident in the life of characters which changes them completely. Most of the stories are written in third persons perspective and some from first persons PoV. The thoughts of each and every character in the stories are very vivid making one feel what the character is going through.

Some stories gives you goose bumps and every story gives you a food for thoughts. This same thing was evident in the first book I read by the author as well. The characters are distinct and every character is different from one another. Some stories are incomplete as in its not described as to what exactly happened e.g. the first story.

The lengths of each story is different. Some are long while some are very short. Author has a strong hold on portrayal of emotions and the stories do touch you. I would say it’s a bit of a heavy book so if you feel like taking a light read this is not the one.

Overall a good book except for a slow paced book.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers you thirteen interwoven short stories.

With "Were We Awake", L. M. Brown has created a collection of interwoven short stories with incredibly authentic characters. Each story kept me very close to the protagonists, taking me back to that time and region. L. M. Brown presents thirteen well-elaborated stories which are intriguing and offer food for thought at the same time; even if you do not know the Northwest of Ireland or Boston, Massachusetts, at that time you will get a good idea about it; the stories may be gloomy yet they provide hope. The protagonists are believable, complemented by the aptly written stories. There are some insights into the human behaviour that will make you wonder. It is a pretty absorbing read with authentic characters, interesting turns, and a good flow.


This is a book for you if you like intriguing contemporary fiction, believable characters, and food for thought.

Recommended.

[S. Jeyran Main · Rating 4 out of 5]

Were we awake is a collection of short stories written in a very genuine way. Each tale is theatrical and has a substantially fulfilling tale. Some take you back in history or are geographically intertwined, and some are more mysterious and dramatic with its dynamic of human behaviour.
I always find collational stories beneficial for people who are not inclined to read long, tedious stories. The author’s job is then to create a short tale that holds a lasting effect. She succeeds in doing this, and for that, I found the book to be very well written.

The cover does not say much about its content. Thirteen stories are told in various ways, and each takes you on a journey that is thoughtful and entertaining. The literature is easy to read and is engaging enough wanting you to read the next story.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes short stories that have multiple perspectives.

[David Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm grateful to the author for a free e-copy of these stories to consider for review.

Were We Awake follows Brown's previous collection Treading the Uneven Road (which I reviewed here). Again, many are set in the same world, and town in Ireland and feature many common characters and themes. Like that book, a few are also set in elsewhere, particularly in Boston. We see some remembered events but from different perspectives. Indeed perspective is a theme here - we see people who presumed themselves and their lives to be central to their own "stories" reminded that they are also on the margins of others' stories: the way that the wider reality of Brown's imagined world is conveyed as separate stories says something about the nature of her characters' experience

In the first story, Communion, for example, for two young boys, Raymond and Alby an afternoon in school is disrupted when silence falls over the nearby quarry, and sirens are heard. This story describes an event we've already heard about in Brown's stories but from a new perspective and it captures that sense you can have in childhood of knowing that momentous, dreadful things have happened while still wanting your tea and to play with a friend. The story adds something to what we already know from Treading the Uneven Road and in doing that casts some of the experiences in that book in a rather different light.

In Hidden, a young woman waits to see if she will be offered a place at college - which will mean leaving her parents Evelyn and Lorcan and her aunt Bevin who share a house on the shore. (Evelyn and Hazel appear briefly in "The Accident"). Cleverly, what seems to be the centre of the story, a moment of growing-up for Hazel, is turned upside down by a discovery. I loved that way that Hazel's reaction to that discovery undermines her supposed maturity and also upends what one might have thought the centre of the story was.

Flight returns to Raymond from Communion as a young man, living with his mother and employed by his uncle as a rent collector on the estate. Raymond senses that there's something unexplained about his father's death (a mystery that was explained in Treading the Uneven Road) but, unable to get answers, he focuses instead on the lives of the tenants, a sphere of life where he has some power. I enjoyed the juxtaposition. In Communion, we have just seen a horrific event from Alby's perspective, here in "Flight", some ten or fifteen years later, Raymond, closer to it, is apparently unperturbed. He can't really remember his Da, whose loss has become more of an intellectual puzzle, and he's unable to solve even that.

The Clown Prince opens as Alexander, a clown struggling to support his family, puts on his make-up, The Clown Prince is pregnant with alternatives, possibilities, things not said - going back to the very roots of his and his wife's marriage. I felt there was more lurking here than is spoken - that identities are in question, patience running low, doubts bubbling.

Walking a Country Road is a tense, almost claustrophobic story concerning a couple who moved back to Sligo from London and then divorced. Brown slowly unreels the layers, from the perspective of their daughter Leanne who feels constrained by being named for her father's dead - murdered - sister. There are powerful currents of guilt, mistakes being made to atone for past mistakes in a relationship between the three that seems wrong from all directions. Very powerful.

What It Is To be Empty-Handed is set in the US, the protagonist - a 14 year old girl - narrating how she travels with her mother from one dingy lodging or motel to another, never attending school but being notionally homeschooled. Now "Debra" is insisting on being called that, rather than "Mom" - and as the story is spilled, as the narrator is plied with drink by an older man one evening, we begin to see the dislocation that explains that. This was a truly chilling and despairing story.

Crashing gives us a very interior-focussed narrative. Catherine is worked to a frazzle between the selfish demands of two bone idle men, her husband Dermot (whose likes his eggs done a very particular way, and whose latest imposition is a new dog, which of course she has to look after) and her son whose house several miles away she cleans weekly. (He sulks if she doesn't also provide home cooking at the drop of a hat). The reader may have been hoping that Catherine would snap and tell these two that they need to pull their socks up. Emotionally satisfying as that might have been, something rather more awful, rather more interesting, happens, more devastating but which does, eventually, give her an opportunity to connect with someone who isn't just trying to set her to work for them. My favourite story in this book.

Cold Spell is also a US-based story, another close, interior two-hander featuring a husband and wife whose marriage seems to have been afflicted by a, well, cold spell to match the Arctic weather currently bearing down. Again the husband is an unaware, selfish person who can't, or won't be bothered to, read the forecast (as it were). There are only so many ways this might play out and I sort of guessed the ending. It's a neat, self contained piece.

Confession is the first of three closely linked stories (with Anniversaries and Games They Played) revolving round a murder that takes place late one night behind the Dun Maeve pub. The victim is a local man, Nick, with a wife and children but the event also costs Nollaig her daughter - barmaid Margaret was working late that night and can't bear to remain in the village afterwards, thinking of what happene. Confession follows her to Sydney, while Anniversaries looks at Nollaig's life back at home, at her friendship with Raymond's mother and what the yearly reminder at Mass of the death does to her life as her daughter seems to recede further and further into the past.

Games They Played takes a different perspective, going back to the immediate aftermath and looking at the dead man, Nick's, wife Joan. Like many of the stories in Were We Awake, a few pages displace what we thought we know, and shows things as quite different. Without diminishing or contradicting what Margaret and Nollaig have gone through, the picture is completed and we see other relationships that were central to these events.

Taking Too Many Chances and Green Balloons are two further stories set in the USA. In the first a husband and wife, at odds and in financial trouble, take a holiday which brings some of them into danger. But they only really understand how much, and what, afterwards.

Green Balloons is a tender little story about two young women who, for a time, are able to ease each others' pain. But only for a time. It's a sad, sad story which tells so much in just a few pages.

All the stories here share this: the property of saying so much. While those that share the deeper background of Treading the Uneven Road have an advantage here - they can build on and echo the world already established - all of them do this, creating real characters in real situations and showing things from multiple directions.

Overall, it's a strong collection which I enjoyed reading and can recommend without reservation.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories

L.M. Brown

When I was first awakened to the joy of writing, short stories were my love. There was something about the genre that allowed the writer to focus tightly, write poetically, and even drop the story midway through that was both challenging and fun.

Also reviewed in these pages was L. M. Brown's "Treading the Uneven Road," stories that carried with them the distinct notes of Ireland and a bit of the unspoken and unseen.

This collection is even more spare in the telling, though it retains some of the lilt of Irish storytelling. But in these stories, Brown leaves us with more to ponder, more to "read in" to the story (I never realized with a wonderful expression that was until I tried to find a way to describe these tales).

In one, a young boy confronts death through his friend's loss of a father; then a character whose name comes up - but who doesn't play a major role in the first story - takes over the second story, again a confrontation with life and death, youth and older age. This time, though, the character is a bit older, the life lessons more complex and confusing. And in the third, we meet the young man - a boy in the first story, and a secondary character, whose mystery is now played out for us in the conclusion of a triplet of tales.

But that's not the end - nor the beginning. A character whose story is told in one short story might be mentioned briefly in another, deeper into the collection, so that you have to flip back to discover whether that the name is the same, but the perspective has shifted.

The stories are about perspective: a child's versus an adult; a person who has cheated and the person cheated upon; the death of someone and the ways in which that death can effect those around him. They are also about what we know and what we don't, what we can see through one set of eyes and another, what one character can grasp and another misses completely.

If it were a novel, the writer would be forced to draw more conclusions; as a collection of short stories each "chapter" can be unique, and it's up to us, the reader, to play an active part in ferreting out the clues, the meanings, and the interior versus exterior dialog.

The elements of life are all there in one form or another: love, childhood, maturation, death, illness, health, food and drink, merriment and sorrow, sin and absolution.

The "Irish," while there in the form of place names and the sacraments of the Church, certain practices and the turn of a phrase, is not as marked as it was in the earlier book. But there is a complexity of relationships, and the tie and pull of family versus freedom, staying put or running away, that are thematic to most fiction, but particularly to the Irish.

But unique to this book is that shifting ground - the uneasiness of having seen this character before, knowing what they know as we witness them from a new and unknowing pair of eyes, learning something new about them that we didn't know as their own story unfolded, or realizing that a character we met at an earlier time has been lying to us, or themselves, all along. It's a brilliant trick of writing - one not easily accomplished. One story serves both as an hors d'oeuvre, or a complete meal, and then again as a side dish to another main course. And the only real through line is the complexity of the human condition.

[Mari LivTollefsonCarlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprise is the theme in L.M. Brown’s luminous collection of short stories, Were We Awake, out today, November 20.
Some of the stories in this latest collection are linked, as are the stories in Brown’s previous release, Treading the Uneven Road (March 2019). Raymond, whose father dies in a work accident, appears in a few stories. The murderer of Nick Moody, found dead behind a pub, and Nick’s family also feature in more than one tale. A clown, starfish, cats, exotic birds, estranged couples and lonely children star in others.
The stories revolve around a secret or a truth characters don’t want to admit to themselves or others. Nollaig, friend of Raymond’s mother, thinks about “all the things people kept inside, like the grief for a cat, and questions about a certain night” (192). In Hidden, Hazel learns about the twisted relationship between the adults in her household. In What It Means to Be Empty-Handed, a girl pretends to be the lost baby in an article she reads. The power she feels as she acts her part becomes her greatest vulnerability. In Crashing two mothers mourn the loss of their sons, one by the other’s accidental killing. Cold Spell and Green Balloons stand out for their hopefulness about lasting friendships. Regardless of happy or sad endings, the surprises revealed are the icing on a cake of suspense and subtle, psychological shifts.
Brown turns the ordinary into a spooky extraordinary through stark, cryptic language. The stories take place in Ireland and on the US east coast, in everyday settings: kitchen tables, living rooms, neighborhood lanes, bedrooms, and littered beaches. Such innocuous spaces become liminal in Brown’s literary worlds. For the workmate of Raymond’s dead father, “the room was the crack” not to step on in the childhood game (10). Small details become clues to an underlying mystery. “He looked to the left, and then stepped back” (115). Enigmatic descriptions conjure something lurking below the surface.
Were We Awake are beautifully rendered horror stories, haunting, yet refined. Like the Emily Dickinson poem from which the title comes, the stories startle and wow in their dreamy drama. The awful-er, the better, so long as they remain fiction.

[Matt McAvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of understated, yet profoundly compelling slice-of-life stories, by an author I am very fond of. Lorna’s writing is lovely to read, creatively crafted in alluring prose. Be warned though, it can be a little bleak – reminiscent of a grey, rainy day, and there is little respite from a permeating feeling of sadness and melancholy. But, this is not necessarily a bad thing; it is ultimately warm comfort – reading her work brings to mind a feeling of home; hot tomato soup or stew with dumplings, on a cold winter day. Every sentence is melodious and descriptive, and her phrasing is a constant delight. Even the cover painting is perfect.

Most of the stories are connected – satisfyingly so – and you do find yourself hoping to revisit each, later in the book; in this respect, it doesn’t disappoint. With only a small handful of underlying dramatic storylines, the book as a whole is predominantly cerebral and character-led, playing like a T.V. soap, without the melodrama. I wonder how much of the book is taken from the author’s own experiences growing up in Ireland, or those of someone she knows. It’s as though she yearns for home in these tales, but ultimately knows the sombre life which awaits her there, hence the overall melancholic feel.

Sadly, the proof I was sent is not in great shape. Quite a few errors litter it, tarnishing the polish on an otherwise top-quality composition, though I am advised that this ARC is not the final edit, so I am sure these have been cleaned up. Anyway, the positive points of the book, and the author, outweigh this, hugely.

One of my favourite qualities in Lorna’s work is her subtle influence. She doesn’t need vivid definition and descriptive clarity to make her point; her strengths are mood and feeling, her stories suggestive and thought-provoking, rather than clumsy. She treats her audience like grown up thinkers, and this is a tremendous attribute of any author; it is certainly the reason she and her work stand out, above most of the rest.

[Gordon Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about the beautiful, ineffable loneliness of the human inability to share emotions. These people are not the ‘larger than life’ who expose their hearts on a big screen. These are the little souls who live their isolation in every empty minute of their lives. Their failures are the lack of contact. Their triumphs are the temporary connections they make with others who sympathize.

The writing teems with subtle touches that dig deep into the heart of the matter and the people. Nothing is wasted in a spare, sometimes poetic writing style that says far more than the words indicate.

The tone of the whole book is even and the pace steady. Few things happen, and those that do are seen through a screen or fog; the actions and the emotions are likewise muted and blurry. Nobody seems to know how they are supposed to be feeling at momentous events in their lives, and as a result they don’t feel much.

This book paints a picture of small people in small lives who can’t manage to get a grasp on what is wrong but usually muddle through anyway. There are no silver bullets, no happily-ever-after endings, just, sometimes, the chance to go on and maybe make things better, or at least bearable.

One caution: just as the lives of the characters go on in their quiet, unchanging way, there is a rarely-broken sameness to the tone and level of the stories. There is no splash of glory here, just tiny diamonds on a simple bracelet. The answer to the question in the title is, “Never completely.”

Not a work to be read at one sitting. A book for the bedside table to be picked up and enjoyed a bit at a time in mellow moments.

[Portia · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Were we awake” is a collection of 13 short but emotive stories - tales of courage, guilt, love and survival.

The book takes the reader on a passionate journey from picturesque Ireland to the busy suburbs in the US.

Alby is missing his best friend and may not see him, again. Hazel’s life changes when she encounters the dark truth about her family. A mother wrapped in remorse when she’s involved in a hit-and-run of a teenager. When Eva goes on holiday with her family comes back with a deep scar from the near-miss accidents. These are just a few of the plotlines in the book.

These stories depict the lives of people, their dreams, their choices and how their amalgamation brings out different result in different lives.

Each of the narratives has its concepts, but the characters take the limelight. A few of the tales are open-ended, giving the reader the pleasure of relishing in the awe of the story. The fundamental theme is around people and their nature.

Few of the stories are shorter than others. The characters are engaged and have huge depth. The author’s writing skills are terrific.

This is my first book by the author and I have fallen in love with her writing style. I grew so used to reading novels I forgot about the short story segment. And books like this are a rarity. It is a refreshing read. Her writing evokes emotions and you can picture the story as a bystander. I am still mystified by the book and it has moved into my list of re-reads (yes; I am creating the list of re-reads).

[Suanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the late 20th century Ireland and Boston, Were We Awake is a collection of inter-related short stories. Melancholy runs like a ribbon through these stories, as does (it seems strange to say this of a book filled with words) silence. The writing is stark, poetic, with far more beneath the surface than the words indicate.

In “Hidden,” when Hazel discovers her father and her aunt are having an affair, it’s only the start of finding other hidden secrets. The fourteen–year-old daughter of an alcoholic narrates “What It Means to Be Empty-Handed.” She pretends to be the lost baby in an article she read, and her carefully-built world starts to disintegrate when she lies to the wrong person.

Like characters in Brown’s prior work, Treading the Uneven Road, these people are blunt, taciturn to a fault, even with loved ones—so silent that what dialogue there is resonates. There’s a paucity of visible emotion, but underlying loneliness, rage, love, grief, depression. The desire to escape conflicts with the desire to remain. In each story, characters’ isolated lives consist of empty moments strung together like beads, yet the world they inhabit is not as it seems. These are small folks, with small, ordinary lives, befuddled by life’s circumstances. Read as a whole, these stories reveal much of human strengths and frailties. While many of the stories are sad this is a strong collection which I'd wholeheartedly recommend.

[MK · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Were We Awake' is a collection of stories that all take place mostly in a small Irish town, with a couple that take place in the US. There is overlap between the stories, but it's subtle and the stories stand on their own. I'd say the overall theme is on the dark side. Not dark as in evil, but more as in desperate and hopeless, albeit there are a few glimpses of redemption and resolution. Most of the stories are about normal people in a normal setting dealing with some kind of tragedy of varying degrees, but pity is not what I felt towards the characters - L.M. Brown takes us in too close for that.

[Alexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the wide collection of stories written in this book. Each story had its own tone and element to bring to the book. Although I did prefer certain stories over another, they were all wonderfully written. It’s a shame the weather was nice today because that’s what this book needed. It’s the perfect piece to read in the winter, at night, while you're curled up with some hot tea or cocoa. However, some of the stories were a little bland or boring. The intention was there but it didn't quite hit the mark. Either way, I was satisfied and will definitely be recommending it to people.

I received a review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Amy Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful stories

I love the stories that Brown put together in this collection, Were we Awake. Each story brings a unique perspective in a life situation that affects not just one character, but all of them. The actions of others can affect those around them. Brown definitely knows how to tell a story, and tells many. The writing style matches the story itself, along with its great pace and giving a whole story in a short story format. I look forward to reading more by this author. This read is definitely recommended by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews.

[Ali Bacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed this author’s first short story collection Treading the Uneven Path until I read her second. Her style is economical without being too understated and her command of narrative pace and tension is terrific. Many of the stories recall the Irish locations of the first collection while others range more widely. I enjoyed all of them, in particular Communion where a school-boy fails to understand a tragic accident has taken place, the complex family drama of Hidden and the mesmerising tension of Taking Too Many Chances. Highly recommended.

[Lucy Goodfellow · Rating 1 out of 5]

⚠1 Star

Venture into a world which lacks the emotional depth I expect from this writer. The characters were interesting but unfortunately, they were one dimensional. The first story was the only one I felt engaged by and although there was presumed continuity between the stories I felt like this wasn’t enough to keep me engaged due to the writing style.

It took me almost a month to read this and it was only 215 pages.

[Ryan Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What makes Brown's writing incredible is the way she imbues her characters with a palpable vulnerability, calling back to the truly great short story writers like Alice Munro and William Trevor. Everyone has secrets in these stories, and more often than not, they come out quietly but with devastating affect.

If you enjoyed this, it's well worth reading her other books, which share characters with the stories in Were We Awake.

[Sandra Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories were well-written, sentimental, and lyrical. They almost seemed to revolve around a religious theme. There was a certain somber quality, and, at times, there was a sliver of complexity lacing these lengthy tales. Although I wasn't too taken by these stories, I still have to value good writing. Overall, they were generally fascinating little tales.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Were We Awake: Stories by L.M. Brown is a collection of stories that is engaging from page one to the end. I couldn’t put it down and read it in one day. I was riveted. Not all of these stories will be for everyone, as there is adultery and other hard topics to read, but there is nothing overly graphic here. Brown is a masterful writer of short stories; you’ll turn the last page and feel as if waking from a dream – a dream you’ll be happy to have left, but conscious of its lessons.

Read the full review: https://savvyverseandwit.com/2019/12/...

[Erik McManus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another book full of compelling short stories that draw you right in and keep you engrossed until the conclusion that sometimes will be happy and sometimes be chilling. You never really know which one you are going to get (which I loved).

There were definitely some stories that I liked more than others. For example, there is one story about a mother that cooks and cleans and takes care of her husband and son and they don’t treat her very well which made me feel so much for this woman. She deserved to be shown some love and respect for all the hard work she does for her family and I kept wanting to smack the son and father for not treating her better.

The best part about this collection is that as you read through them, you realize that they are all about different people in the same community so it is kind of like learning about all these family secrets that they try and keep behind closed doors. And of course, they are set in the author’s native country of Ireland which is a beautiful place and I love reading it.

I would recommend this book for anyone that wants a descriptive, family-driven fiction split into multiple perspectives.

[KayBee's Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first read by the author and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised as I wasn't quite sure what to expect. This particular book is a collection of short stories that drive you from one emotion to the next seamlessly. Different lengths, different tones and elements, but all engaging and meaningful. I think the author did a great job of delivering strong, vivid and entertaining tales. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to be shaken up a bit.