The Outcast - Sadie Jones

Nineteen year old Lewis Aldridge is released from prison - for an offence we aren't fully informed of until much later in the book - and returns to Waterford, his childhood home where his stepmother is nervously expecting him. He receives a frosty welcome not just from his stepmother and his father, Gilbert, but from most of the residents of the village. Only two are remotely pleased to see him, and for very different reasons. Sisters Tamsin and Kit Carmichael couldn't be more different. Kit lives in the shadow of her lively and attractive older sister; she is the one who takes the beatings from their brutal father while Tamsin is the apple of his eye. Tamsin ...

The Outcast by Sadie Jones has recently been highlighted due to having been included on Richard and Judy's Summer Read 2008. However many people have already read this book and voiced how superb they thought it was! The Outcast is Sadie Jones' debut novel and follows the story of a Lewis Aldridge who feels alone in the world during the 1950's after his father comes back from the war. Him, and his childhood friend Kit Carmichael endured growing up in the 1950's, with the rules and right and wrong that was "drilled into them" through various ways. Tragedy strikes the Aldridge family and this causes Lewis to feel even more alone, isolated and unloved. ...

I was lucky enough to receive this proof copy from Waterstones, the second such book I have received from them, so I felt quite lucky when this one arrived at my house! I will be honest and say that this is not the sort of novel I would go for, as you can see from my other book reviews, but I wanted to read it with an open mind, and I did actually enjoy it in the end! Sadie Jones is an upcoming author and The Outcast is her first novel. I am always a bit wary of debut novels as sometimes they are not the authors best, but I made sure I had no pre-conceptions about this. I couldn't find out much more about the author, except that she lives in London, so ...