#BookReview-‘After Leaving The Village’ by Helen Matthews

I was lucky enough to be gifted this copy of ‘After Leaving The Village’ by Helen Matthews, courtesy of Hashtag Press.

They kindly supplied the Waterstones Swansea bookbloggers group, #SBCollective with copies as Helen is going to be appearing at the store in April, how exciting is that!

Anyway, enough of my Tigger-like bouncing, let’s get to what the book is all about.

About the Book…

Two women. Two villages. Different destinies. Odeta’s life has shrunk to a daily round of drudgery, running her father’s grocery store in a remote Albanian village.

One day a stranger from Tirana walks into the shop and promises her a new career in London. Odeta’s life is about to change, but not in the way she expected. Journalist Kate lives on a quiet London street and seems to have a perfect life but she worries about her son Ben, who struggles to make friends.

Kate blames the internet and disconnects her family from the online world so they can get to know their neighbours. On a visit to her home village in Wales, Kate is forced to confront a secret from her past.

But greater danger lies closer to home. Perhaps Kate’s neighbours are not the friendly community they seem.

This book will not leave you untouched, it will leave you sobbing in a  corner, but luckily we have that luxury whilst women and girls like Odeta do not.

It is so well explained, just how easy she was manipulated into leaving her home in Albania for the bright lights, so she thinks, of London where she will become a model. However, the first inklings of concern for her safety are presented to the reader on page 13 where Kreshnik, her boyfriend,tells her what she will need a new name and identity . When Odeta asks, ‘What about Marije.Won’t she be needing her passport?’ Kreshnik replies-

”You’re full of questions, my pretty one.”He taps his forefinger agaisnt the side of his nose.”We’re going to England soon and we’re going to be together.Let’s celebrate that.And as for Marije-no.She won’t be needing it.”

It gives you shivers , as do many moments in this book which unflinchingly, yet not graphically exposes the horrors of the modern slave trade. What is so brilliant is that Helen Marshall  shows how the West is still held as an ideal for those who live in poverty and how easy it is to bribe someone, who has nothing, with a dream.

As Odeta explains, the boys move away from the village, and at the going away party that her parents throw her, she sees in her recently engaged cousin, exactly the opportunities which lie ahead for her if she stays. Marriage and babies with the boys who stay behind. It is totally possible to understand how Kreshnik seduces her with promises of a life full of splendour.

The book has many heart stopping moments which are bone chilling-when Odeta realises she is being handed over, like a piece of meat to men at the other end of her journey,she cannot even ask for help as she cannot speak English, In a few deft strokes byt the author you feel sick to your core as she desperately tries to catch the attention of people who turn away, not wanting to get involved.

What follows is horrific , unending abuse, contrasted with her neighbour just a few doors down. A journalist originally from Wales, Kate lives with her increasingly screen addicted son and husband in the same London street that is housing a dark deadly secret. Her response to the technological cravings of her family and her thwarted attempts to bring them together is to finally flip and cut all the wires in her house. Her husband loses his temper and she sees a darker side of him than she everexpected was there. Taking their son to visit her parents, she uses the opportunity to breathe and proposes to her editor to creat think pieces on being offline. Kate’s reasons for leaving her village for the lights of London were to follow her dream and escaping a tragedy but it’s one that has turned into a nightmare.

Her return to London results in her really looking at her community, or lack thereof and beginning to try and build some relationships with her neighbours and here her path, and Odeta’s cross in a most unexpected way.

Suspenseful, gripping, dreadfully heartbreaking , this is a book that really brings home the fact that slavery is not something which happens ‘elsewhere’,it happens in brightly lit surburban streets. It engenders so many feelings of inadequacy in the face of what seems an overwhelming worldwide issue but Helen has signposted the organisation Unseen (link below) which gives the reader ways of supporting their work.

About the Author…

Helen Matthews is a Welsh author whose debut, ‘After Leaving The Village’ was published in 2018.

About herself she says-‘My debut suspense thriller ‘After Leaving the Village’ was published on 12th October by Hashtag Press. It won first prize in the opening pages of a novel category at Winchester Writers’ Festival.

I’m originally from Cardiff, studied English at Liverpool University and hold an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes. I’ve won prizes for flash fiction and short stories and been published in ‘Artificium’, Reflex Fiction, Love Sunday, Scribble and in an eBook ‘Garage 54 and other stories’.

Long ago in a galaxy far away (before I focused on fiction) I had some articles published in the Guardian, on the BBC and in lifestyle magazines. I love travelling and you can read about some quirky encounters and places on my blog. I’m an ambassador for the charity , Unseen that fights to end modern slavery.

Twitter @HelenMK7

@UnseenOrg

@hashtag_press

@swanseastones