Today I’m excited to be a part of the blog tour for the ebook release of The Weight of Small Things by Julie Lancaster. Read on to find out what I thought…
Title: The Weight of Small Things
Author: Julie Lancaster
Publisher: Mirror Books
[Synopsis]
Nine-year-old Frankie Appleton likes to count gates.
One day she hopes to design the perfect gate – a gate to keep the bad things out.
Little does she know that the bad things have already got in.
Now her mother is dead, and the only other person with a house key has disappeared.
Frankie thinks she knows who it is. But first she has to prove it.
[My Review]
The Weight of Small Things is a beautifully written novel which tells the stories of multiple characters of different generations. We see Peggy, Frankie and Stella’s lives change as time goes on, with all the narratives set sometime in the 1980s – a really interesting era which I enjoyed reading about.
I think the synopsis for this novel is a little misleading, as it suggests the focus of the book is on Frankie working out who killed her mum, but I think this book is much more about the characters’ development and progression, and Julie Lancaster envelopes the reader into their lives beautifully. There is some mystery around the death of Frankie’s mother, but to me it doesn’t feel like this is what springs to mind when I think of the storyline of The Weight of Small Things. It’s more about the secrets individuals keep from their own children and the rest of their community, as well as the struggles people can experience without anyone else knowing. The novel has a real sense of poignancy as we can see some things coming from a mile off and only wish the characters could alter the course of their own histories, knowing what we do as the reader.
Some of the themes addressed in this novel are very serious and important, and I feel that they’re presented sensitively by the author. Some characters are far more likable than others – I appreciate that none of the characters are without their own flaws but we know that these don’t necessarily make them bad people (though some of them certainly are – I won’t give anything more away here). They’re just people with their own issues, and I think this makes some of the characters feel much more realistic and convincing.
I think The Weight of Small Things is a powerful, absorbing read. It is certainly a difficult read at times, but one that I’d really recommend. I really look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
[Rating: 4.5/5]
The Weight of Small Things is out now in ebook format – buy now or pre-order the paperback version (out 6th August 2020) on Amazon.
[Follow the rest of the tour]
Many thanks to the publisher, Mirror Books, for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.