A review by booked_deafkailyn
The Semi Detached Women by Alex Quaid

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Semi-Detached Women is a sweet modern historical fiction novel about an unconventional relationship between two women in early 1960s in Britain. The first half of the book tells the two stories of how the two women came to be in each others lives.

Janine is a lonely young woman who has been taken advantage of by her married employer and then thrown out of her home by her abusive alcoholic mother because she is pregnant. She uses her savings to rent an isolated cottage outside a beautiful Cheshire village, and prepares to raise the baby on her own. Laura is married to a successful solicitor and adores her young son Luke, but when her marriage falls apart, she moves in next door to Janine, with no idea how their life is about to change…

I liked the range of characters, from jolly Lady M, to laid-back hippy Ianto, and there were some odious villains like the bigoted moralising Catholic social worker. The evolving romance between Janine and Laura was sensitively portrayed. 

I actually enjoyed it as a moving story about love and the bonds of friends turned family. I received book from Bloodhound Books and am posting this honest review on my own thoughts.

Content Warning: Sexual Assault, Job Loss, Pregnancy, Sexual Shaming/Moral Policing, Infidelity, Homophobia, Drug Use, Divorce, Attempted Child Removal (to protective custody), Alcohol Use, Adult Language, Adult Situations, Religious Ideology, and More. This list is not meant to be a complete list of all subjects that a person may find offensive or triggering before start read the book.