It’s a real pleasure today to welcome Anne Goodwin as my guest – her latest book, Lyrics for the Loved Ones, the third book in her Matilda Windsor trilogy, was independently published on 15th May and is now available both as an ebook and in paperback.
I must apologise that I haven’t been able to fit any of the books in this trilogy into my reading list, but Anne has been my guest a few times since her first visit way back in 2015 – that was a lovely interview about her debut novel, Sugar and Snails (you can read it again here). I sadly never did manage to fit that one into my reading list either – but I did read and review her next, Underneath, which was certainly an unusual and thoroughly compelling read (you’ll find my review again here). And she visited me once more for the release of Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home – with a fascinating post about tea drinking (you can read it again here) and an extract from the book. That book was followed by Stolen Summers – yes, you’ve guessed it, sadly no review of that one either – and I have noticed that all three books in the trilogy are currently available for £2.98 on kindle, so you might like to give the series a try.
Let’s take a closer look at the latest…
After half a century confined in a psychiatric hospital, Matty has moved to a care home on the Cumbrian coast. Next year, she’ll be a hundred, and she intends to celebrate in style. Yet, before she can make the arrangements, her ‘maid’ goes missing.
Irene, a care assistant, aims to surprise Matty with a birthday visit from the child she gave up for adoption as a young woman. But, when lockdown shuts the care-home doors, all plans are put on hold.
But Matty won’t be beaten. At least not until the Black Lives Matter protests burst her bubble and buried secrets come to light.
Will she survive to a hundred? Will she see her ‘maid’ again? Will she meet her long-lost child?
Rooted in injustice, balanced with humour, this is a bittersweet story of reckoning with hidden histories in cloistered times.
Let me hand over to Anne – with a piece she’s called “Never too old to make a difference, never too late to learn”…
Readers aren’t being rude when they refer to the heroine of my latest novel as a funny old woman. As she approaches her hundredth birthday in a care home, her youth has long gone. As for funny, that applies in two senses of the word: the scenes in which she features are infused with humour and, with her skewed take on the world around her, her fellow residents consider her odd.
Older characters are sometimes stereotyped in fiction, but Matty is a rounded character with her fair share of both positive qualities and flaws. She has transformed the tragedy of her earlier life into what psychiatrists would label delusions of grandeur. These can be challenging for the care assistants, but it’s only when she wants to stage a gala performance for her centenary that things get out of hand. Matty might think she has a glittering career in theatre behind her, but that’s all in her head.
Yet we can admire her determination. When lockdown cancels public gatherings, she refuses to abandon her plans. She will entertain the masses, whether or not they want to be entertained.
Her grandiosity turns to generosity when she discovers she can channel her ambition into raising funds for charity. With a lot of support from a teenage care assistant, she becomes a social-media star.
Twenty-first-century technology isn’t the only topic Matty learns about in the course of this novel. The Black Lives Matter protests reveal a hidden history that shocks her to the core. At her advanced age, and with her own traumatic past, she might be forgiven for wanting to look the other way. But Matty is an example to us all in grappling with the shameful legacy of the transatlantic slave trade and, in her characteristically quirky fashion, takes a small step towards making amends.
Thank you Anne – and doesn’t that look wonderful? And some of the advance praise might well convince you that it’s a book you’d like to try…
‘a smartly constructed, engaging and compassionate story about family, humanity and ‘lost loss’ ALISON MOORE, Booker prize shortlisted author of The Lighthouse
‘one of the best books I’ve ever read … a very funny and a hugely emotional read’ ALEX CRAIGIE, author of Someone Close to Home
‘vividly illuminates recent inequalities, with humour and humanity’ CAROLINE LODGE, Bookword
‘I’m reeling from the sheer brilliance of this book’ VERONIKA JORDAN, Bookchatter@Cookiebiscuit
‘the author writes with intelligence, understanding and sensitivity’ ANNIE ELLIOTT, Left on the Shelf Book Blog
‘runs the whole gamut of emotions … one of the most memorable and heart-wrenching protagonists I’ve met’ OLGA NÚŇEZ MIRET, psychiatrist, author and translator
‘a well written, chatty book, with great characters’ EMMABBOOKS
About the author
Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
Anne writes about the darkness that haunts her and is wary of artificial light. She makes stuff up to tell the truth about adversity, creating characters to care about and stories to make you think. She explores identity, mental health and social justice with compassion, humour and hope.
An award-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Anne has a similar background to me and it sounds as though she too writes about social justice and emotional courage. Thank you for this review and introducing me to Anne who I will connect with on social media.
Yes Deborah, I suspect you’d have a lot of common ground…