Afbeelding auteur

Sanjida O'Connell

Auteur van Sugar

10+ Werken 232 Leden 12 Besprekingen

Over de Auteur

Werken van Sanjida O'Connell

Sugar (2004) 46 exemplaren
The Stolen Child (2017) 30 exemplaren
My Mother's Secret (2018) 18 exemplaren
The Naked Name of Love (2009) 17 exemplaren
One Year Later (2019) 15 exemplaren
Sugar Island (2011) 10 exemplaren
Theory of Mind (1996) 9 exemplaren
Angel Bird (1998) 8 exemplaren

Gerelateerde werken

The Perfect Crime (2022) — Medewerker — 39 exemplaren

Tagged

Algemene kennis

Pseudoniemen en naamsvarianten
Kay, Sanjida (pen name)
Geboortedatum
1970
Geslacht
female
Nationaliteit
Groot-Brittannië
Beroepen
zoologist
novelist
broadcaster

Leden

Besprekingen

If you like a gripping, twisty thrillers then you seriously need to read this book!

This book will keep you guessing until the end. I usually can pick ‘who done it’ before the book tells you but this one had lots of twists and turns.

Zoe and Ollie Morley are a married couple who’ve tried for years to have a baby and couldn’t, so they turned to adoption and their dreams came true when they were approved to adopt a little girl from birth whom they named Evie.

Seven years later the family have moved from London to Yorkshire and with them is baby Ben. A miracle baby and a little brother for Evie. Evie and Ben are both equally loved by the Morley’s. But not everyone believes it!

Evie has a few problems, some of which appear to be caused by her natural mother taking drugs and drinking heavily whilst she was pregnant with her. So, life isn’t always easy for Zoe, and with Ollie absent a lot with his work and she must deal with Evie’s issues on her own. But these are nothing compared to how hard life gets when Evie’s natural father contacts her.

Evie begins to receive gifts from an unknown person claiming to be her Birth Father. At first Evie hides this from her parents, thinking that they will take the presents away. Slowly Evie’s Father begins to poison her mind against her adoptive parents and Evie begins to misbehave, claiming it doesn’t matter what she does because they’re not her ‘real parents’ and Ben is not her ‘real brother’.

When Zoe finds out about the letters and presents she is in a way relieved, because it at least offers an explanation for Evie’s sudden and dramatic change of behaviour but they fear for their daughter as whoever the letters are from are saying that He has been searching for her and says he is coming to take her back.

Their worst fears are realised when 2 year old Ben is rushed to hospital unconscious in an ambulance from Nursery with his mum. Evie is collected from school by her’ real Father’ there then follows a very dark period were all known people in their lives become suspects for one reason or another, testing friendship’s and their marriage beyond all measure and everything they hold dear is challenged.

Zoe tries to work out who could have kidnapped her daughter and tried to poison her son, and when we do reach the truth at the end it is a total shock to both her and the reader. And as you get towards the end of the book you get to see the double meaning to the title.

This book will defiantly pull at your heart strings and you can’t help sympathising with Zoe even if you might not particularly like her!

It’s set on the edge of Ilkley moor in Yorkshire, and there are lots of descriptions of the landscape, and the Yorkshire moors provided a very atmospheric & bleak aspect to the book, and formed a brilliant back drop to the chilling storyline.

This is a book I would highly recommend to book clubs as there are so many different aspects to discuss from this book and it would be interested to hear other people’s take on it.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
DebTat2 | 4 andere besprekingen | Oct 13, 2023 |
If you like a gripping, twisty thrillers then you seriously need to read this book!

This book will keep you guessing until the end. I usually can pick ‘who done it’ before the book tells you but this one had lots of twists and turns.

Zoe and Ollie Morley are a married couple who’ve tried for years to have a baby and couldn’t, so they turned to adoption and their dreams came true when they were approved to adopt a little girl from birth whom they named Evie.

Seven years later the family have moved from London to Yorkshire and with them is baby Ben. A miracle baby and a little brother for Evie. Evie and Ben are both equally loved by the Morley’s. But not everyone believes it!

Evie has a few problems, some of which appear to be caused by her natural mother taking drugs and drinking heavily whilst she was pregnant with her. So, life isn’t always easy for Zoe, and with Ollie absent a lot with his work and she must deal with Evie’s issues on her own. But these are nothing compared to how hard life gets when Evie’s natural father contacts her.

Evie begins to receive gifts from an unknown person claiming to be her Birth Father. At first Evie hides this from her parents, thinking that they will take the presents away. Slowly Evie’s Father begins to poison her mind against her adoptive parents and Evie begins to misbehave, claiming it doesn’t matter what she does because they’re not her ‘real parents’ and Ben is not her ‘real brother’.

When Zoe finds out about the letters and presents she is in a way relieved, because it at least offers an explanation for Evie’s sudden and dramatic change of behaviour but they fear for their daughter as whoever the letters are from are saying that He has been searching for her and says he is coming to take her back.

Their worst fears are realised when 2 year old Ben is rushed to hospital unconscious in an ambulance from Nursery with his mum. Evie is collected from school by her’ real Father’ there then follows a very dark period were all known people in their lives become suspects for one reason or another, testing friendship’s and their marriage beyond all measure and everything they hold dear is challenged.

Zoe tries to work out who could have kidnapped her daughter and tried to poison her son, and when we do reach the truth at the end it is a total shock to both her and the reader. And as you get towards the end of the book you get to see the double meaning to the title.

This book will defiantly pull at your heart strings and you can’t help sympathising with Zoe even if you might not particularly like her!

It’s set on the edge of Ilkley moor in Yorkshire, and there are lots of descriptions of the landscape, and the Yorkshire moors provided a very atmospheric & bleak aspect to the book, and formed a brilliant back drop to the chilling storyline.

This is a book I would highly recommend to book clubs as there are so many different aspects to discuss from this book and it would be interested to hear other people’s take on it.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
DebTat2 | 4 andere besprekingen | Oct 13, 2023 |
I'm a little behind with my Sanjida Kay books but having absolutely loved her debut, Bone by Bone, I couldn't wait to get my hands on her new novel, One Year Later. I have to say that I literally couldn't put this book down; when I wasn't reading it, I carried it around with me as if it was superglued to my hand. It certainly made a lasting impression on me and I felt incredibly emotional as I turned the final page.

The loss of a child is always going to be highly emotional and I found this story heartbreaking from the very first chapter when we are introduced to grieving mother, Amy. Amy and Matt's daughter, Ruby-May, died the day before her third birthday whilst in the care of Amy's family. For the first anniversary of Ruby-May's death, a trip to a remote Italian island is arranged for all but one member of the family - the person who Amy and Matt blame for the death of their daughter. Some members of the family think it is time to forgive but others want to keep the focus of the blame firmly in the direction it is currently pointed.

I love books like this where the characters have things to hide and maybe aren't what they seem. I felt a bit guilty suspecting them of covering up the truth as ultimately they are all grieving the loss of a little girl, but I knew that there was more to this story than first meets the eye. I really enjoyed delving into the sibling relationships between Amy and her brother Nick and her sister Bethany. The chapters are told from either Nick or Amy's point of view so you get a really good feel for the characters and also little discrepancies between their memories that really heightened the intrigue.

I liked how Dante Alighieri's poem The Divine Comedy is mentioned quite a few times in the book; it really seemed to fit into the story as the characters were finding their way through their own personal hell. Along with some great references to Star Wars, I was also delighted to see an Avery Barkley quote from one of my favourite TV shows, Nashville, being immortalised in print. Sanjida Kay is obviously a fellow Nashie!

Heartbreaking from the start and packed with emotion, One Year Later is an intelligent and engrossing domestic thriller. Sanjida Kay perfectly encapsulates the intense feelings we have for our family in her stunning new novel. A definite recommended read and a sparkling five stars from me.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
Michelle.Ryles | Mar 9, 2020 |
I was so impressed with this book; I don't think I have ever experienced such a broad spectrum of emotions in one book. It seemed to encompass every emotion; fear, anger, sympathy, dread, contempt, empathy, embarrassment, hatred, vulnerability and guilt, to name but a few.

Alternating between chapters from the perspectives of Laura (mum) and Autumn (daughter) we read the feelings of a child being bullied and a mum who will do anything to protect her daughter, even if that means going a step too far. Laura has to live with the consequences of her actions and the resulting frosty reception from the school gate crowd. My heart really went out to her as the parents turned into a gang who were actually bullying Laura themselves.

As the book progressed, I felt an increasing level of hatred towards Levi, who was bullying Autumn. There was absolutely no reason for him to pick on her and I was positively raging when the bullying reached social media. Levi's father didn't help by taking his son's side and turning the other parents against Laura. I didn't think I would feel anything but contempt for Levi, but Sanjida Kay managed to cleverly turn my emotions around in a way that I seriously didn't expect.

It was actually a sobering read as I realised that appearances can be deceptive and nothing is ever quite what it seems. I have no time for bullies but I can now see that perhaps there is an underlying reason for their actions.

It's certainly an emotional rollercoaster and an outstanding debut from Sanjida Kay that is sure to be a big hit in 2016.

I received this book from the publisher, Corvus, in exchange for an honest review.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
Michelle.Ryles | 2 andere besprekingen | Mar 9, 2020 |

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Statistieken

Werken
10
Ook door
1
Leden
232
Populariteit
#97,292
Waardering
½ 3.7
Besprekingen
12
ISBNs
37
Talen
1

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