The Outcast - Sadie Jones

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 ...  Read the complete review

I have had this book on my bookshelf for quite a while, and finally got to it this week. I'd read some very positive reviews on it, knew it had been a Richard & Judy book club book and had been both won and been shortlisted for awards, so was looking forward to it and had quite high expectations. ~ The Plot ~ The book begins in 1957 and Lewis Aldridge has just been released from prison (for a crime we are not told of until later in the book) and is making his way back to his home town of Waterford in Surrey. It appears that no-one in the village is pleased to hear of his return, least of all his own father and step mother, apart from 15 year ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

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. ...  Read the complete review

I've just finished reading this book, and I have to say it is one of the saddest books I have ever read - heres why. **~~THE PLOT ~~** The Outcast is about a boy called Lewis Aldridge and his life in a small town outside of London post WWII. The book begins with Lewis leaving prison at the age of 19 for a crime we are not yet told of to head home to his family. We are then taken back to Lewis' childhood beginning when his father returns from war and things take a dramatic change for Lewis..... Despite their middle class surroundings and the return of her husband, Gilbert, from war, Lewis' mother is bored and lonely, she loves her ...  Read the complete review