#BlogTour ‘This Much Huxley Knows’ by Gail Aldwin

About the book…

Many thanks to the author, Gail Aldwin, for inviting me on the blogtour for ‘This Much Huxley Knows’

It will be published in ebook format on July 8th and I have received a gifted e-arc to review honestly.

”I’m seven years old and I’ve never had a best mate. Trouble is, no one gets my jokes. And Breaks-it isn’t helping. Ha! You get it, don’t you? Brexit means everyone’s falling out and breaking up.”

Huxley is growing up in the suburbs of London at a time of community tensions. To make matters worse, a gang of youths is targeting isolated residents. When Leonard, an elderly newcomer chats with Huxley, his parents are suspicious. But Huxley is lonely and thinks Leonard is too. Can they become friends?

Funny and compassionate, this contemporary novel for adults explores issues of belonging, friendship and what it means to trust.

“Read this and feel young again” – Joe Siple, author of THE FIVE WISHES OF MR. MURRAY McBRIDE

‘Moving and ultimately upbeat” – Christopher Wakling, author of WHAT I DID

“A joy of a novel, with a wonderfully exuberant character in Huxley” – Sara Gethin, author of NOT THOMAS

This novel appears light hearted, dealing, as it does, with a child’s perspective on the grownup world.

However, it touches on issues which affect all walks of society, including how we form communities, how we deal with trust when it comes to our loved ones, and how we often overlook the perspectives of others.

There is a lightness of touch and , I think, just the right length for a novel of this kind, before the narrator, Huxley’s, voice becomes too much to ‘listen’ to. His mannerisms, such as hearing adult words and getting them wrong, is amusing and relatable-as the mother of 5 girls we have had some awkward and some downright embarrassingly similar moments with mispronunciations!-and sometimes this undercuts the tension within adult conversations.

His openness and honesty is refreshing and so well communicated, he sees things and experiences them on a different level to his parents, and, as such, it’s often emotional and reactionary.

For example, Leonard, the old man with a mobility scooter who encourages him to ride on it with him whilst Huxley’s mum has told him to stay put in her shop, rings huge alarm bells for adult readers because a) adults don’t do this to children they don’t know so Len has made a faux pas and b) Huxley should have listened to his mum. He is, like many people, myself included, someone with a sweet tooth and goes with Len on the predication he will receive sweets and doesn’t understand the reaction of his parents to a kind person offering him chocolate.

It shows how quickly a frenzy can develop from a simple misunderstanding, and labels being applied with little to no factual basis to them. Len is an outsider, a person living in flats which are marked for benefit claimants who are not looked upon favourably. His way of reaching out to the children might come from a place of innocence, however, he is an example of a forgotten society where sweets from a stranger were taken willingly, as well as forced kisses and cuddles for children to relatives they might see once a year, if that. It made me think how I, as a child, was told ‘Don’t be rude, go and give so and so a kiss’ and told to climb on the lap of someone I genuinely could not have picked out of a line-up, and be rewarded with the sweet tin next to some long lost relative.

Huxley has no awareness of danger but can see the inherent goodness in Len and cannot appreciate his parents concerns for safety, and, sometimes, we overlook and ignore the voices of children without properly explaining to them why. And yet, one key phrase picked up from Len and uttered by Huxley has potentially disastrous consequences…

It is a book which I very much enjoyed reading, it was a welcome escape from serial killers and horror fiction, which have been my stock genres of late!
My thanks to the author for mailing me and inviting me to read her book.

About the author…

A writer of novels, poems and short fiction, Gail Aldwin is also a member of 3-She a comedy sketch writing trio. When she’s not busy at her computer, Gail reads contemporary fiction, women’s fiction and literary novels. She tries to emulate the writing of authors she admires, such as Helen Dunmore and Anne Tyler.

‘‘The String Games’‘, Gail’s debut coming-of-age novel was a finalist in The People’s Book Prize and the DLF Writing Prize 2020. Following a stint as a university lecturer, her children’s picture book ‘‘Pandemonium’‘ was published. Her second contemporary novel for adults ‘This Much Huxley Knows‘ uses a young narrator to show adult experiences in a new light.

Prior to Covid-19, Gail volunteered at Bidibidi in Uganda, the second largest refugee settlement in the world. When she’s not gallivanting around the place, she writes at her home in Dorset.

Links-https://gailaldwin.com/

Twitter @gailaldwin