Today I am so excited to be a part of the blog tour for Sophie Hannah’s new novel, Haven’t They Grown. I’m a big Sophie Hannah fan so couldn’t wait to read this novel – and it has an great-sounding synopsis!

Title: Haven’t They Grown
Author: Sophie Hannah
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

[Synopsis]

All Beth has to do is drive her son to his Under-14s away match, watch him play, and bring him home.

Just because she knows her ex-best friend lives near the football ground, that doesn’t mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her. Why would Beth do that, and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn’t seen Flora for twelve years. She doesn’t want to see her today, or ever again.

But she can’t resist. She parks outside the open gates of Newnham House, watches from across the road as Flora and her children Thomas and Emily step out of the car. Except… There’s something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older. As Beth would have expected. It’s the children. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then.

They are still five and three. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt – Hilary hears Flora call them by their names – but they haven’t changed at all.

They are no taller, no older… Why haven’t they grown?

[My Review]

Haven’t They Grown is an intriguing, twisty novel that kept me guessing and presents a seemingly impossible conundrum – how can two children not have grown any older, despite being last seen at the exact age they still appear to be now? Main character and the family’s ex-family friend, Beth, sets out to investigate…

I really liked the characters within this novel, from Beth and her husband to their sparky, confident daughter Zannah – she’s a really likable, engaging character who I’d happily have read more about, and her and mum Beth make a great duo.

I spent a lot of the novel trying to work out the ‘answer’ without any luck at all, and thoroughly enjoyed being surprised!

I think you need to suspend your disbelief a little at times but it didn’t hamper my enjoyment at all; the great writing and tight plot results in a complex and interesting story that I didn’t want to put down.

Definitely recommended as a great new release from one of my favourite authors.

[Rating: 4/5]

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for providing a copy of this novel on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.

[About the Author]

Sophie Hannah is a Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling writer of crime fiction, published in forty-nine languages and fifty-one territories. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide. In 2014, with the blessing of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, Sophie published a new Poirot novel, The Monogram Murders, which was a bestseller in more than fifteen countries. She has since published two more Poirot novels, Closed Casket and The Mystery of Three Quarters, both of which were instant Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers.

Most recently, she has published a self-help book called How to Hold a Grudge: From Resentment to Contentment – The Power of Grudges to Transform Your Life.

Sophie has recently helped to create a Master’s Degree in Crime and Thriller Writing at the University of Cambridge, for which she is the main teacher and Course Director. She is also the founder of the DREAM AUTHOR coaching programme for writers. She lives with her husband, children and dog in Cambridge, where she is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College.

Follow Sophie on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, or visit her website.

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