Joanna Glen

"My parents didn't seem the sort of people who would end up killing someone." The opening line of The Other Half of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen had my immediate attention and I found the voice of the main character compelling.

Born to average middle class parents, Augusta Hope lives at 1 Willow Crescent in Hedley Green. Augusta reads the dictionary for fun and couldn't be more different from her twin sister. Studying the globe and the names of all the countries, Augusta decides Burundi has show more the most beautiful sounding name and sets out to learn all she can about it.

Parfait lives in Burundi and we hear about his life amidst poverty and civil unrest in Africa intermittently between Augusta's chapters. The alternating chapters are expertly linked and connect well despite the characters living disparate lives.

This is a coming-of-age story and Augusta yearns to leave Hedley Green and live the life of a gypsy she reveres in a book of fairytales. Family tragedies complicate matters as Augusta navigates her way through life as best she can. Parfait is also struggling and wants to escape the bloodshed in Burundi with his siblings to Spain.

Spain features quite heavily in this contemporary novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed the focus on words and language by both characters throughout the story.

Comparisons are being made to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman but I don't think the comparison is a good one. Augusta is her own character and while highly intelligent, she is able to socialise well with others. There are no comical social faux pas here.

This is a story about the dynamics of family, the love between siblings, suburban life and a middle class upbringing in England. It's also about the meaning of home, tragedy, grief, regret, loss and love.

The Other Half of Augusta Hope is a solid debut by Joanna Glen and I highly recommend it.

* Copy courtesy of Harper Collins Australia * show less

I came into The Other Half Of Augusta Hope expecting something different to what I found within it’s pages, and despite the slower pace of this novel I enjoyed this read. Though “enjoyed” is probably not the right word, there is quite a lot heartbreak in Augusta and Parfait’s story but these characters captured my heart in their quest to find where they belong.

Joanna Glen’s writing is so lyrical and lovely and there is a beautiful melancholy tone to this novel with humour and wit show more interspersed throughout. Amidst the loss and grief there is also beauty, hope and light to be found for example in the breathtaking descriptions of landscapes and Parfait’s artwork. The story unfolds through alternating chapters between quirky and precocious Augusta and determined and hopeful Parfait. Themes explored include sense of identity, family, relationships, racism, the European refugee crisis, grief and love. I took my time to read this novel because I wanted to absorb the wonderful writing and I would have rated it 5 stars except for a couple of things in the ending that seemed out of character to me. show less

Actual rating: 3.5/5

It took me a while to get to this book, so that once I did I had basically forgotten the synopsis entirely and went in almost completely blind. I have to say, it was probably for the best, as I probably would have ended up expecting something different!

The Other Half of Augusta Hope is a bittersweet story about love, grief and finding your place in the world. Augusta is an endearing main character, even though she's not always likeable (but then again, who is?). She is show more brilliant and curious about the world, loves Burundi despite having never been there, and struggles greatly with life in her small town, despite her deep, deep love for her twin sister Julia. In parallel, the story follows Parfait, a young man from Burundi whose life is very different from Augusta's. When tragedy strikes both of them differently, each will have to work out where they belong.

I really liked the characterisation in this novel: every character was beautifully drawn, imperfections and all, and felt like truly individual, even the minor characters. The characters' feelings and emotions were particularly well fleshed out, which is something I always appreciate. The parallels between Augusta's and Parfait's lives flowed smoothly for most of the novel, and the transitions were handled very well. There were a few times when the move felt a bit clunky, but overall these were few and far between enough to ignore. The story development was engaging, though I won't go into too much more detail to avoid potential spoilers. I will say though: that ending was everything!

I had some issues with the pacing in this book though: at times it felt like it was really dragging along and not much was happening either in terms of plot or character development. The parts where things got moving made up for this, but it was still tough to wade through those parts. There was also a heavy reliance on miscommunication/lack of communication as a plot device, which is something I personally dislike, so my enjoyment of this novel was affected by how annoyed I was getting at the characters for not talking to each other. This is purely down to personal preference though!

Overall, this book was fairly engaging to read and definitely had some memorable characters. I'll be looking out for more books by this author!

CW: This book contains mentions of suicide, child death, grief, addiction and racism.


I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way. show less

I really enjoyed this debut novel. Told in alternating first-person narratives, we meet Augusta and Parfait. Augusta is a twin, her sister Julia is very different from her but they have a link, they are "Justa". The two narratives do link up, but not till the last 15% of the book.
This is a book about loss, about grief. About family. About how everything and everybody is connected.
Despite the highly emotional content, I didn't really feel the emotion myself. However, only 3 books out of 90 show more I've read so far this year have brought me to tears, and this one came so close, but not quite. show less