Hol

I’m not going to go on for too long about this novel because so much has already been said about it.

What I will say is, I really enjoyed it. What the children had to endure was terrible, but it was told so skilfully that I couldn’t help, regardless of the subject matter, fall in love with it. There was a mounting sense of unease that came across very well too.

Even though it's quite a claustrophobic novel, there was no point that I was bored, mostly because it was structured so well. It did feel a little bit long though and could have been cut by fifty pages or so.

At times I did get frustrated with the characters. I felt they could have done more to secure their freedom, but I understand the difficulties. I also keep shaking my head at Cathy’s brother Chris’s refusal to accept certain things! Again, totally understandable though.

Told entirely from Cathy’s point of view in first-person this novel is well worth a read, but do expect to find it at times uncomfortable.