I cannot decide whose perspective I love more, Tilly aged seven or Tilda who comes back to Brighton to reflect on her life there and uncover it’s mysteries? Both have a naievity about what might being going on around them. Central to this seems to be the disappearance of Tilly’s father just before her seventh birthday. And for this reason, I would call Ruth Hogan’s novel a cosy mystery.
I can’t explain fully what is so cosy about her novels but there is a charm to her characters. During the scenes we see within The Paradise Hotel, I laughed outloud at some of the antics, not least the wonderful elderly Marlene who is also on other days Gina or Audrey. The joyous energy of the people Tilly lives with is just part of the novel’s appeal.
A cosy novel maybe because, although there are plenty of twists in the story, there are no great shocks. Deftly suspenseful for sure, so much so that I absolutely devoured it in a weekend. I think I actually enjoyed this offering from Hogan more than The Keeper of Lost Things. I have decided it might be because of the way Tilda crosses paths with the many elements of the story. Whereas in the first novel, I was always sad that Laura does not know if she has discovered the truth about the lost items when she writes their stories. Both novels are well-crafted and evocatively written.
I think you could tell the love of Brighton that imbued the pages. Also, I appreciated the glimpse of queer life and the values of acceptance that we see in the people Tilda meets there. I think that it is a novel very much concerned with acceptance and maternal instinct. These chareteristics are shown in many ways through Queenie, Marlene as well as the indomitable Mrs O’Flaherty and, eventhough she has looked for these things elsewhere, you get a sense that Tilda finds the love she needs in the end from her own mother.
This up-lifting novel was a great start to my New Year and I would recommend it to anyone who else who gets the Winter blues
If you like this …
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