I couldn’t believe how early in this book I found I was gripped by it. The story hits the ground running as Robbie Fitzgerald rushes around town to find some musicians to back him, so that he can put on a performance to impress the talent scout who has turned up at the club he sings at. Meanwhile his pregnant, Tamil Malay wife, Susheela ( anglicised by Robbie to Sheila or “She”) sets the table in their flat ready for their weekly takeaway, which Robbie will bring home with him when he finishes in the club. However, this is not the start of a fairy tale that the title of the book might have indicated. This is the 70s on a run down estate in a Northern English town and soon the menace of skinheads with Harrington jackets is felt. The ramifications of what happens in the early pages of this book affects the lives of every member of the family over the next 15 or so years that the story covers.

It is a well-written, and sadly convincing, portrayal of their family life as they struggle as individuals. It is totally heart-felt and a really good read. ( )

Initially I didn't want to read much beyond the beginning when I knew that something awful was going to happen. But I did and it does. And then it's just a downward spiral to an almost inevitable end.
Walsh writes with real insight into lives and I suspect not all of this is fiction. I think it's a good read, well written and quite real. ( )

I've found it very difficult to come up with the words to review this novel, not because it is a bad novel, but because it such a good, but harrowing, read and all that comes to mind is a quote from a Yeats poem, 'A terrible beauty is born' ('Easter 1916'), because this novel is both beautiful but terrible.

The language is beautiful, 'The majesty of a new snowfall shot her through with the same childlike amazement as the first time she'd seen it, when the sheer magic of that midnight blizzard had taken her breath away. She yielded tenderly to the memory, drawing her hand back in and draping it around her hot neck.' But within this beauty the Helen Walsh tells us of terrible things including, rape, racism, the suffocation of wanting more than where, how and who you are surrounded by will let you leading to the loss of hope and the abandonment of dreams, 'He felt himself held in suspension, waiting for some impulse to jar him from the dehumanising pulse of his life. His quiet, industrious resolve was nothing short of miraculous. Only the cruel unrealised conclusion of that night came close to breaking him.'

Helen Walsh uses music in the latter half of the book in a way that is both poignant and authentic - I suspect that I will never listen to 'A Night Like This' without thinking about Vincent and his family.

Read this book, it tells a universal tale of beauty and hope set against a background of narrowness and small mindedness. ( )

My initial thoughts were what a beautiful writing style and straight away I wondered where this story would lead for Robbie and Susheela. Reading further on I was surprised the direction the book took and about 100 pages in I wasn’t sure where the story was heading at all, but oh my goodness 200 pages in and I was totally hooked – I began to feel it was like car crash reading though. It feels like one of the most miserable but enchanting tales I've ever read.

Half way in I was finding this quite a depressing read and I was waiting for something positive to happen to lighten it up. I didn't really like She or Robbie as characters and most stories that I really enjoy I find I connect with the characters and so I feel this book is unusual for me.

Moving, harrowing, disturbing, depressing and thrilling are the words I would use to describe this book. Utterly compelling reading through each time period. Well worth reading. Also the ending was not completely a negative experience. I would definitely read more by this author. ( )

This fantastic story of a mix-raced marriage in Warrington really had me focused almost throughout. I took a few pages to get going but once I'd become engaged I genuinely couldn't put it down. The Fitzgerald family were fantastic. The ups and downs they went through were very real for many families although I can't imagine one family going through all of the trials and tribulations this one did, the novel is writing at its best. This novel could've been set anywhere to be honest. It's gritty and pulls no punches and will most likely have you needing tissues towards the end. 'Once Upon A Time In England' is the best book I've read so far this year. ( )