This is the root of the stories behind many of Louise’s fictional characters. But this time, it isn’t fiction. It’s her own life. This is Louise’s authentic, haunting, powerful and inspiring memoir. It’s a story that needs to be told, and a book that needs to be heard.
Being able to find out the true inspiration behind books that I’ve read and loved, is both humbling and heart-breaking. I know from talking to Louise when I’ve reviewed some of her other books, that she is fiercely inspired by life around her and what she lives through. So it’s not a complete shock. Nevertheless, Louise has lived (and often smiled!) through some very difficult times and has turned childhood and adulthood trauma, into something inspiring. Louise has told her story, I think, to help others unpick and understand theirs.
I wrote as I listened to this book. Perhaps another bonus of it being audiobook and therefore hands-free! I listened slowly. It’s not a book to be rushed and I had to regularly take time away to read others, in completely different genres. But when I came back to it, I constantly jotted down notes and I learnt so much. I had recently read Louise’s latest fictional publication, Nothing Else, which is out in paperback very soon. There is so much there, that has been inspired by Louise’s life, but written into fiction, so many aspects of trauma to understand.
Trauma is not only what happens to us, but also what does not. It’s the gaps where there should have been support, love, warmth, kindness and healing. When you realise that, it’s actually incredibly eye-opening – and that’s what this book has taught me. I started this book thinking it would be about the traumatic events that have shaped Louise and her present. It is, but it’s so much more than that. It’s all the things that didn’t happen, that should have happened.
About the Book…
Louise has revealed the harrowing story in which she reflects on her life and the bridge incident that shook her family to the core.
2019. Dawn. The River Humber. A misty February walk. Surprise early daffodils. A picture taken. Then forgotten. Because five hours later my world shattered.
My mother jumped off the Humber Bridge. Had those yellow flowers not delayed me, I might have been there. Could I have stopped her?
In the aftermath of this violent act, I turned to my writing, to my beloved siblings, to our only uncle. I was forced to look at events that led to this suicide attempt. At relationships wrecked by alcoholism. At chronic depression. At our care records. At my childhood. At my mother. At buried trauma never fully explored before. At myself …
When I much later found the picture of those surprise daffodils, I knew it was time to write about that day. I began typing the story that inspired so many of my fictional characters, that shaped the testing things they endured.
My own story.
Genre: Autobiography / Memoir
Publication: June 15th 2022 (Audio as Daffodils), 27th April 2023 in paperback.
About the Author…
Louise’s debut novel, How to be Brave, was a Guardian Readers’ pick in 2015 and a top ten bestseller on Amazon. The Mountain in my Shoe longlisted for the Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize 2016. The Sunday Mirror called Maria in the Moon ‘quirky, darkly comic, original and heartfelt’. It was also a Must Read in the Sunday Express and a Book of the Year at LoveReadingUK. The Lion Tamer Who Lost was described as ‘engrossing and captivating’ by the Daily Express. It also shortlisted for the RNA’s Romantic Novel of the Year and longlisted for the Polari Prize 2019. Call Me Star Girl hit number one on Kobo. It also longlisted for the Not The Booker Prize and won the Best magazine Big Book Award 2019. I Am Dust was a Top Six pick in Crime Monthly and a LoveReadingUK Monthly Pick. This Is How We Are Human was a Clare Mackintosh August Book of the Month 2021.
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