Jane O'Connor (3)

The Trial of Gwen Foley is not actually about the trial of Gwen Foley. In fact, it's about a group of people who try and ensure that Gwen gets a fair trial when it comes. The story is narrated by Hester Albright and the year is 1723 in Lichfield, Staffordshire. Hester is so affected by the hanging of a woman who killed her husband after years of ill-treatment that she is moved to set up the Lunar Society with her daughter, Amber, and some friends from the local bookshop to prevent the same show more fate happening to Gwen Foley.

Gwen is a local woman who is believed by many to be a witch because of her unusual appearance and because disastrous events coincided with her arrival in the village. She is accused of a shocking murder and Hester is determined to prove that she didn't do it.

This is a historical murder mystery with a sub-plot of witchcraft and what I particularly enjoyed about it was that it felt authentic without becoming bogged down in too much detail that sometimes, for me, feels too heavy in historical fiction. Jane O'Connor is a skilled writer and has written a story that kept my interest, in fact I became more interested the more I read. The settings felt real and there's a gritty yet sympathetic portrayal of what women faced 300 years ago, whilst celebrating those women who were able to forge ahead and be unafraid.

I admired Hester and her fearlessness and strength in trying to find out who did commit the murder. Amber, her daughter, is another wonderful character. She's assistant to the surgeon and dresses like a man. She's fiercely clever and independent in a time when women were supposed to stay at home and be quiet. I can imagine that there might be more miscarriages of justice for the Lunar Society to solve in the future.

I found The Trial of Gwen Foley to be a well-written and interesting story challenging women's roles in the 18th century, and illustrating the lingering spectre of witchcraft. show less

I love the title of this book. Needlemouse is the Japanese term for hedgehog and it fits perfectly, both for the little prickly animals and for the very prickly Sylvia Penton.

Sylvia is in her 50s and has been working for 15 years at a university as a personal assistant to Professor Carl Lomax. Sylvia is desperately in love with Prof (as she thinks of him) to the point that she is completely blinkered to him being anything other than perfect. Sadly, Prof is fairly oblivious to Sylvia as show more anything other than a work colleague. Sylvia's loneliness and her infatuation with Prof have made her into the human equivalent of a hedgehog: very very prickly on the outside but vulnerable on the inside.

I spent a good part of this book feeling that Sylvia was an extremely unpleasant person and I found her behaviour hard to understand. But as the story progressed, things changed for her and she came out of a kind of 15 year fug to realise that she had been somewhat misguided in her feelings and it was a real catalyst for change for her. At that point I really started to get a sense of Sylvia as a character and why she had behaved as she had, accompanied by some deft storytelling on the part of Jane O'Connor, which helped to gradually bring Sylvia back to life again.

Sylvia helps at a hedgehog sanctuary, hence the prickly connection, and I loved that about her. She helps Jonas, who has dedicated so much time to saving the little creatures. Sylvia tells her story in the form of a journal, with little snippets about the life of a hedgehog through the seasons. The journal style strangely doesn't only give Sylvia's point of view as you would expect, but somehow, through her words, we are able to witness Sylvia's absolute conviction in her actions as well as to see that she's also completely out of control.

More than once I felt tears threatening. Sometimes you have to look beyond what you see to find out what a person is really like and that was certainly the case with Sylvia. As a reader, I found that delving deeper into her past and her disappointments helped me to understand her behaviour.

Needlemouse is a really lovely story. It's been described as uplifting and charming and it is both of those, but really only towards the end. More than anything, it's a study in loneliness and how you can build a wall around yourself as a kind of protection only to find that then nobody is able to get close to you. It's a thought-provoking read and the more I think about it the more I think how much I enjoyed it. show less

To say Sylvia Penton, the protagonist of Needlemouse, is prickly would be an absolutely massive understatement. What amazes me is how Jane O'Connor manages to get the reader to open their hearts to Sylvia when in reality if we came within 10 yards of her precious 'Prof' we would get the cold shoulder and the death stare from her.

I really wanted to give Sylvia a stern talking to; wasting her life mooning over her boss and thinking that they were meant to be together. It's almost like she is a show more love struck teenager and I suppose she is quite innocent and inexperienced in matters of the heart. As her story unfolds, it is quite heartbreaking at times as it appears that life has passed her by and people have taken advantage of her. At one stage she talks about 'normal people' with 'proper lives' as if there is something wrong with her because she is a single 52 year old woman. There's nothing wrong with being single but, having met the love of my life in my mid-forties, I know that it's never too late for love.

Jane O'Connor completely hit the nail on the head with Sylvia's character being shocked at children who were now grown up; there's something about being single that seems to make time stand still. It's almost like you are still a youngster yourself and you can't believe that the 2 year old little girl that you use to babysit is now a grown woman with a family of her own. It's amazing how many times this has happened to me and I still continue to be gobsmacked when I find out people's ages...how can they be 40 when I'm just a young whippersnapper...oh wait a minute!

Although Sylvia would rather stay indoors with a good book (I mean, who wouldn't?) she volunteers at a hedgehog sanctuary. She initially volunteered to make people think she is nicer than she is but she is thought of as part of the family by Jonas and his daughters. I think amongst her prickly friends at the sanctuary, Sylvia can be who she really is and we soon see her soft underside. Many years ago, we had a hedgehog nest in the garden and I've been a fan of these strange creatures of the night ever since, so I really liked the seasonal updates from Jonas' book 'The Hedgehog Year', reminding us to be careful when raking piles of leaves or digging under sheds. Needlemouse is actually the Japanese term for a hedgehog and I loved how the use of this word came about in the book.

Needlemouse is an absolutely stunning and completely flawless debut; it's both a heartbreaking and heartwarming story of life, love, family and friendship and a reminder that it's never too late to start living. I am in no doubt at all that this book is going to be a HUGE success. Fans of Eleanor Oliphant definitely need Sylvia Penton in their lives!

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. show less

Sylvia è una persona strana, desidera mantenere il controllo ma è incredibilmente ingenua e romantica, così finisce per estraniarsi dal mondo e alla fine anche dalla famiglia e col perdere il lavoro. Unico legame con la realtà la sua ttività di volontariato a casa di Jonas, un anziano vedovo che mantiene viva la memoria della moglie occupandosi di un rifugio per ricci.
Tra le varie vicissitudini di Sylvia, a volte tragicomiche, l'autrice ha inserito con abilità molte informazioni sui show more ricci, in inglese hedgehogs, e in giapponese Harinetzumi, ovvero topi con gli aghi.
Una lettura simpatica per chi ama gli animali. show less