November book club - The Girl in the Red Coat

hi GN my copy of this book arrived today ... (thanks).

Well, it arrived on Saturday and everything has been secondary to reading this. Thrilling yes, a thriller, not really........BUT a thoroughly engrossing read. A wonderful debut and I do hope Kate has more novels in the pipeline. One has lived through trauma with the characters and one hopes now they are all at peace.

Thank you Gransnet (and Kate)

I found this compulsive reading, and a superb first novel. I thought that the concept of a missing child would be too harrowing to read - but the vein of 'magic realism' that seems to permeate the novel prevents this. It is described as a 'thriller', but seems to encompass a range of genres, including a coming-of-age novel, as Carmel develops from an 8 year old girl into a young woman. It is also a novel about the mother/daughter relationship, with Carmel more readily able to accept changes in her life than her mother. The narrative voice, which switches between Beth and Carmel, works extremely well and I loved some of the descriptive details and images - particularly those used by Carmel when trying to describe her emotions. All the characters were convincingly created - with subtle differences between Melody and Silver, for example. There were a few unanswered questions at the end: what happened to Mercy? Who exactly is Gramps? I wanted to dislike Gramps, but, bizarrely, I ended up feeling sorry for him. I wonder if Kate Hamer has ever had any experience of faith healing - or believes in it? And what exactly was Carmel's strange gift?
Thank you, Gransnet, for choosing this novel for the Book Club, as I probably wouldn't have picked it off the shelf myself to read. I look forward to reading more novels by Kate Hamer in the future.

I enjoyed the book but was a bit disappointed as it has been described as a thriller, it's not. It's a beautiful story of a woman's heart ache & recovery over the loss of a child ( literally a loss not the death) and the parallel story of what is happening to her daughter. I though it was well written & highly engaging. glad to see it has been nominated for best first novel

I have recently received my copy thank you and am about one third of the way through. It's really compelling and set from the point of view of the mother and child in alternating chapters. The child is very unusual and has interesting thoughts while the mother has anxiety problems. Looking forward to the rest of the book.

Received my book today, just need to finish present book, perhaps we could have a little longer to read this one?

I've been away for a few days and missed the Amazon Daily Deal for this book, very annoyed!

I received my copy yesterday, thank you.

My book waiting for me when I got home today - lovely, thank you!

Mine arrived at lunchtime. Thank you, Gransnet.

Received my copy today and can't wait to start reading it. Thank you, Gransnet!

I have just received a copy of The Girl in the Red Coat from Faber and Faber Ltd post marked 16/11/15 thankyou so much... must just finish the book I am reading but will come back to let you know what I thought of it

Mine too! I'd come to the conclusion that either I hadn't applied for it or I hadn't been successful. Thanks. It looks quite absorbing.

My copy has just arrived. Many thanks.

Mine has just dropped through the letterbox, hooray

I applied but didn't get one either. There's something unusual about this.

Very unusual that no-one has acknowledged receiving one. Perhaps they have been hi-jacked by the Post Office.

Like others I applied but did not get one.

I also have downloaded it to my kindle and am about a third of the way through and am finding it very hard to put down. The mother and child narrate alternating chapters. The child doesn't actually realise that she is lost because of the circumstances - don't want to spoil anything by saying any more! Pittcity I would highly recommend it so far. Just for interest, I recently downloaded the kindle app (free) to my iPhone which syncs the books on the kindle. As I haven't got a backlit kindle, the big advantage for me is that I can read a few chapters during the night on my phone. (I know, I know, shouldn't read screens at night but it doesn't seem to affect me, I can still nod off again while reading!)

Perhaps someone who has received one could let us all know.
I keep waiting for the postman to call.

I didn't get one, so am waiting for the reviews before splashing out.

Looks like a good read, have just downloaded it to my kindle

I didn't get one either.