Home - Julie Myerson

Advantages: original, well-written
Disadvantages: Subject matter may not have a wide appeal, bit disjointed in parts

Julie Myerson is a novelist living in Clapham, South London. Whilst researching for one of her books set in Victorian London she came across the home, she and her partner and three children were living in, listed on a census and started on a remarkable labour of love researching its history. As I enjoy researching my family history I thought this sounded a very interesting read. The book is basically a biography of her home. She starts in the logical ...
...tracks down their adult children and asks them for their memories regarding their former home, and invites them for a visit. Obviously as time goes by it becomes harder and harder to track down past residents or their descendants and Myerson and her long suffering partner, Jonathan, send out lots of speculative letters to people and Julie spends many hours in various public records offices. Whilst I knew this was about the people in the house, I ... Read review

Advantages: descriptive and talented writing
Disadvantages: heartbreaking

...and not seem that important towards the end of the book. By then the reader is so involved in this family and its complexities that it's just a matter of winding things up. This book shows how one random act of violence can change so many lives forever. I'll be keeping a look out for more books by Myerson. I was blown away by this one. It's so convincing it will leave you reeling. Thanks for reading. * Other info * 328 pages RRP £6.99 (£5.49 on play.com) ISBN 0-099-45352-5 Published by Vintage UK, Random House * About the author * Julie Myerson was born in 1960. Her previous works include Sleepwalking, The Touch, Me and the Fat Man, Not a Games Person, Laura Blundy and Home.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful