Title: END OF STORY
Author: Louise Swanson
ISBN: 978 1529 3961 02
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 320
Source: ARC from NetGalley
Too much imagination can be a dangerous thing
It’s the year 2035 and fiction has been banned by the government for five years. Writing novels is a crime. Reading fairytales to children is punishable by law.
Fern Dostoy is a criminal. Officially, she has retrained in a new job outside of the arts but she still scrawls in a secret notepad in an effort to capture what her life has become: her work on a banned phone line, reading bedtime stories to sleep-starved children; Hunter, the young boy who calls her and has captured her heart; and the dreaded visits from government officials.
But as Fern begins to learn more about Hunter, doubts begin to surface. What are they both hiding? And who can be trusted?
Official Summary
10 October 2022
Scrolling through NetGalley, this cover stopped me in my tracks. I just love that eye looking out at you. I had to add this book to my wish list. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Louise Swanson is not a new to me author after all. Turns out I have read a book by Louise Beech – who happens to be the same person.
End of Story is a moving, creative tale set in 2035, which was not what I expected when reaching for this book at all. The author keeps you engrossed in an unusual futuristic tale and then spins it around and delivers a whopper you would never foresee. By the time you reach the end of this book, you are left with a creative look at loss, heartbreak and unexpected friendships.
I enjoy this author’s work. She manages to deliver an emotional ending while keeping the story light and easy to read. By the time I reached the end of this book, I was amazed by where the story ended.
End of Story transports you to 2035, to a world that has banned all fiction. The government appears to have lost the plot and is keeping writers under a close eye to ensure they do not write, anything. Fern Dostoy, a successful writer has surrendered, she lives by the rule and keeps her head down. Until she unexpectedly receives a card for Bedtime Stories. An underground group who are secret reading bedtime stories to children over the phone. Fern finds the more time she spends telling stories, the more her anger at the situation increases. Is she strong enough to fight back? Can she make a difference? Or will she quietly disappear into a re-education centre?
Initially, I was not convinced that this was the book for me. I have never been a huge fan of futuristic fiction. Yet, there was something that kept me reading. I needed to know what was going to happen to Fern. Not giving up on this book proved to be a good choice. This story turns out to be an emotional read that leaves you loving it.
You will find you are quickly drawn to Fern. This woman has lost so much, her career, her friends her home. It’s easy to understand that she seems a little troubled. From the start, you are left with a feeling that something is not quite right. And oh boy when you find out what that is your heart will break for this woman. Fern is a fantastic creation, the author did a brilliant job creating this woman.
The first half of this book did not have me convinced, but as I kept reading and as the story unfolded I found myself enjoying it more and more. This is an unusual read, but a brilliantly creative look at dealing with loss. When you reach for this book, expect the unexpected.
If you are looking for something different to sink your teeth into, a book that is not what it appears to be, then I cannot recommend this one highly enough.
Also by Louise Beech / Louise Swanson
Nothing Else
A professional pianist searches for her sister, who was taken when their parents died, aided on by her childhood care records and a single song that continues to haunt her.
Heather Harris is a piano teacher and professional musician, whose quiet life revolves around music, whose memories centre on a single song that haunts her. A song she longs to perform again. A song she wrote as a child, to drown out the violence in their home. A song she played with her little sister, Harriet.
But Harriet is gone … she disappeared when their parents died, and Heather never saw her again.
When Heather is offered an opportunity to play piano on a cruise ship, she leaps at the chance. She’ll read her recently released childhood care records by day – searching for clues to her sister’s disappearance – and play piano by night … coming to terms with the truth about a past she’s done everything to forget.
An exquisitely moving novel about surviving devastating trauma, about the unbreakable bond between sisters, Nothing Else is also a story of courage and love, and the power of music to transcend – and change – everything.
About The Author
Author bio from the author’s site
Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. The follow-up, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Both of her previous books Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer Who Lost were widely reviewed, critically acclaimed and number-one bestsellers on Kindle. The Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award in 2019. Her 2019 novel Call Me Star Girl won Best magazine Book of the Year and was followed by I Am Dust.
Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise lives with her husband on the outskirts of Hull and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this review copy. I was intrigued by the cover, but this book turned out to be so much more than it appears to be. Thank you to the author – Louise Beech / Swanson – this was an amazingly creative tale, I loved it.
When you reach for this book, keep turning the pages, and you will be surprised by where this story takes you – expect the unexpected. I am sure you are going to love this book.
Thank you for visiting the blog, your support has been amazing. Until next time…Happy Reading!
