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A review by jmatkinson1
Tom-All-Alone's by Lynn Shepherd
5.0
I loved this book
Ok, a bit more detail than that is probably needed but this is a terrific read. I have always struggled with Dickens (Tale of Two Cities for O-level put me off) but I spent a happy few months working my way through Wilkie Collins and the Woman in White is a favourite. Bleak House was a fabulous TV programme a few years ago and purists will say that it is not the same watching the adaptation but to me it makes Dickens accessible. So why am I rambling on about Collins and Dickens and not Shepherd. Simple, Lynn Shepherd has put together a completely original novel which incorporates plot elements from the two but stands alone as a rollicking good read.
Literary snobs can look for the links, literature lovers can enjoy the story. It could be viewed as a pastiche but the nasty plot twists are more explicit than either Collins or Dickens would have dared.
Ok, a bit more detail than that is probably needed but this is a terrific read. I have always struggled with Dickens (Tale of Two Cities for O-level put me off) but I spent a happy few months working my way through Wilkie Collins and the Woman in White is a favourite. Bleak House was a fabulous TV programme a few years ago and purists will say that it is not the same watching the adaptation but to me it makes Dickens accessible. So why am I rambling on about Collins and Dickens and not Shepherd. Simple, Lynn Shepherd has put together a completely original novel which incorporates plot elements from the two but stands alone as a rollicking good read.
Literary snobs can look for the links, literature lovers can enjoy the story. It could be viewed as a pastiche but the nasty plot twists are more explicit than either Collins or Dickens would have dared.