Book Review: The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

Hodder & Stoughton (June, 2016)

Sometimes friendship springs from where you least expect it.

Minnie has always lived with her sister Clara in her family’s beautiful, grand, yet increasingly dilapidated house Rosemount. Now in her seventies, she finds herself looking back to a life that has been shrouded with sorrow, and a painful secret that she has guarded since her teens.

Eleven-year-old Max, who lives opposite Minnie on the housing estate built in Rosemount’s grounds, has grown up happily with his single mother. But his mum has begun a new relationship and suddenly life is starting to change.

As each of them tell their stories, she via a resurrected childhood journal, him via a Dictaphone, they spot each other through their bedroom windows and slowly and hesitantly an unlikely friendship begins to form.

A friendship that might just help Max come to terms with the present and enable Minnie, finally, to lay to rest the ghosts of her past…

The Comfort of Others is told from two people’s point of view and focuses on two main characters – Minnie, who is in her seventies and Max who is eleven years old. Max lives with his mother on a housing estate. He begins to feel a little pushed out when his mother gets a new boyfriend. He finds his mum’s old dictaphone and so decides to keep a diary.

Minnie lives in the big house opposite. Her family used to own the land Max’s house is built on. She has lived there all of her life and for many years, has lived alone with her older sister, Clara. Around the same time that Max finds a friend in speaking into the dictaphone, Minnie also starts writing down things from her past – things she has previously run away from.
Whilst both working with their journals, they begin to wave at one another through the window and eventually they form an unlikely friendship.

I quickly got sucked into this story. Both of them are heartbreaking and bittersweet in their own way. The writing in this novel is beautiful. Kay painted such a vivid picture of Minnie’s house and the surrounding area. It all sounded so pretty that I wanted to move there.

The language used with each character is very distinctive. There were parts of Minnie’s story that had me in tears, parts in both Minnie and Max’s story where I was getting frustrated with the character’s around them. There is a lot to empathise with within the plot. Max and Minnie, although are not a likely couple are lovely together. Max finds a mother figure when his mother is occupied with other things and Minnie finds something that she’s been missing for a long time – a way to make amends for things she has done. Minnie needs to look back in order to move on and Max needs to accept change in his life.

This book explores themes of forgiveness, redemption, moving on and acceptance for the past, things we can’t change and taking control of our destiny. How being too hard on yourself in relation to past mistakes can be toxic and stop you from living your life and how standing up for yourself is important.

This book is only two hundred and thirty pages but a lot is covered within it. I loved this book and I totally recommend it.

by

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.