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shelfofunread's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 stars. Joanna Nadin’s latest novel, The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings, is what would happen if Victoria Gosling’s Before the Ruins had a book baby with Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones and the Six. Which is, in my book at least, a very good thing.
Split over two timeframes, the novel centres around charismatic actress Daisy Hemmings. In 2018, she’s decided it’s time to write her autobiography and she wants James Tate to write it with her. James is an established and respected ghost writer and, as such, is excellent at stepping into other people’s shoes. He should be because he’s had decades of pretending to be someone he’s not.
Flash back to 1988 and, in the sleepy Cornish hamlet of Pencalenick, seventeen-year-old Jason and his older sister Sadie are desperate to escape from working behind the bar for their drunken father. When twins Daisy and Bea turn up to stay at their family home, Rashleigh, for the summer, Jason gets a tantalising glimpse of world beyond his own and he is determined to become part of it. As he watches Daisy, Bea and their friends, Hal, Julian, and Muriel, Jason becomes entranced by Daisy: the sun around whom all the others orbit. But the problem with getting too close to the sun is that it will burn you. And by the end of summer, one of the group will dead.
Like The Secret History, The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings is a novel about people making very bad choices in an attempt to escape the reality of their lives. And, as with Before the Ruins, it’s about not very nice people making very bad choices. Daisy, Bea, Hal, Julien, and Muriel are quite possibly some of the most selfish and self-absorbed characters I’ve come across and, whilst **MILD SPOILERS AHEAD** Jason/James is more understandable, I still found him to be dislikeable in both his 1988 and 2018 iterations. That said, whilst the characters are challenging it didn’t make them any less compelling. Indeed, the tiny glimpses of self-realisation and vulnerability amidst their confident and self-absorbed exteriors makes them all the more compelling.
Talking too much about the plot of The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings would spoil the story but it’s safe to say that the novel uses its ‘coming-of-age’ premise to explore the tensions of social class and education, and to consider the ways in which we all construct and perform our identities. Daisy might be the actress but she’s certainly not the only character putting on a performance in this novel. Indeed, ideas about fictions and storytelling are woven throughout the narrative as Daisy and Jason connect through discussions of fables, fairytales, and novels. Hemmings also brilliantly contrasts the decaying decadence of Rashleigh and Pencalenick with the shining sun that is Daisy, creating the perfect undertow of menace that permeates throughout the novel.
Hemmings’s writing is as languid as the teenage summer she depicts, so The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings isn’t the fastest of reads. However, whilst there were moments when the pace did lag a little, I found myself carried along by the richly evocative prose and the compellingly challenging characters. Stick with the setup and I promise you’ll be turning the pages faster and faster as the revelations come thick and fast towards the end!
Combining the glamour and hedonism of Daisy Jones and the Six with the class tensions of The Secret History and the dark coming-of-age tale found in Before the Ruins, The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings is an atmospheric novel perfect for readers who enjoy slow-building tension and explosive revelations!
NB: This review also appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpress.com as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
Split over two timeframes, the novel centres around charismatic actress Daisy Hemmings. In 2018, she’s decided it’s time to write her autobiography and she wants James Tate to write it with her. James is an established and respected ghost writer and, as such, is excellent at stepping into other people’s shoes. He should be because he’s had decades of pretending to be someone he’s not.
Flash back to 1988 and, in the sleepy Cornish hamlet of Pencalenick, seventeen-year-old Jason and his older sister Sadie are desperate to escape from working behind the bar for their drunken father. When twins Daisy and Bea turn up to stay at their family home, Rashleigh, for the summer, Jason gets a tantalising glimpse of world beyond his own and he is determined to become part of it. As he watches Daisy, Bea and their friends, Hal, Julian, and Muriel, Jason becomes entranced by Daisy: the sun around whom all the others orbit. But the problem with getting too close to the sun is that it will burn you. And by the end of summer, one of the group will dead.
Like The Secret History, The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings is a novel about people making very bad choices in an attempt to escape the reality of their lives. And, as with Before the Ruins, it’s about not very nice people making very bad choices. Daisy, Bea, Hal, Julien, and Muriel are quite possibly some of the most selfish and self-absorbed characters I’ve come across and, whilst **MILD SPOILERS AHEAD** Jason/James is more understandable, I still found him to be dislikeable in both his 1988 and 2018 iterations. That said, whilst the characters are challenging it didn’t make them any less compelling. Indeed, the tiny glimpses of self-realisation and vulnerability amidst their confident and self-absorbed exteriors makes them all the more compelling.
Talking too much about the plot of The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings would spoil the story but it’s safe to say that the novel uses its ‘coming-of-age’ premise to explore the tensions of social class and education, and to consider the ways in which we all construct and perform our identities. Daisy might be the actress but she’s certainly not the only character putting on a performance in this novel. Indeed, ideas about fictions and storytelling are woven throughout the narrative as Daisy and Jason connect through discussions of fables, fairytales, and novels. Hemmings also brilliantly contrasts the decaying decadence of Rashleigh and Pencalenick with the shining sun that is Daisy, creating the perfect undertow of menace that permeates throughout the novel.
Hemmings’s writing is as languid as the teenage summer she depicts, so The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings isn’t the fastest of reads. However, whilst there were moments when the pace did lag a little, I found myself carried along by the richly evocative prose and the compellingly challenging characters. Stick with the setup and I promise you’ll be turning the pages faster and faster as the revelations come thick and fast towards the end!
Combining the glamour and hedonism of Daisy Jones and the Six with the class tensions of The Secret History and the dark coming-of-age tale found in Before the Ruins, The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings is an atmospheric novel perfect for readers who enjoy slow-building tension and explosive revelations!
NB: This review also appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpress.com as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Classism
Minor: Cancer
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