Hi all:
I bring you a wonderful book today. Truly wonderful.

The Other Half of Augusta Hope: Meet this summer’s most extraordinary heroine by Joanna Glen
THIS IS A STORY FOR ANYONE WHO HAS EVER FELT LIKE THEY DON’T BELONG
‘Keep the tissues close’ Good Housekeeping
‘A beautifully written debut novel with unforgettable characters and an irresistible message of redemption and belonging’ Red magazine
‘This gem of a novel entertains and moves in equal measure’ Daily Mail
‘Heartening and hopeful’ Jess Kidd, author of Things in Jars
‘Mesmerizingly beautiful’ Sarah Haywood, author of The Cactus
‘An extraordinary masterpiece’ Anstey Harris, author of The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton
‘Gutsy, endearing and entertaining’ Deborah Orr
‘Absolutely brilliant’ Gavin Extence, author of The Universe Versus Alex Woods
Augusta Hope has never felt like she fits in.
At six, she’s memorising the dictionary. At seven, she’s correcting her teachers. At eight, she spins the globe and picks her favourite country on the sound of its name: Burundi.
And now that she’s an adult, Augusta has no interest in the goings-on of the small town where she lives with her parents and her beloved twin sister, Julia.
When an unspeakable tragedy upends everything in Augusta’s life, she’s propelled headfirst into the unknown. She’s determined to find where she belongs – but what if her true home, and heart, are half a world away?
AUGUSTA MAY NOT FEEL LIKE SHE FITS IN, BUT READERS HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH HER…
‘What a brilliant, brave, clever book’ Maddy P
‘A beautiful tale of family, of loss, of the awkward relationships we build with those we love the most…a must read!’ Amelia D
‘A powerful novel about fitting in, loss, & the people you really have connections with’ Siobhan D
‘The story made me laugh & cry in equal measure, and now it’s finished I’m at a slight loss as what to read next’ Laura W
https://www.amazon.com/Other-Half-Augusta-Hope-ebook/dp/B07KJSY1FV/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-Half-Augusta-Hope-ebook/dp/B07KJSY1FV/
https://www.amazon.es/Other-Half-Augusta-Hope-ebook/dp/B07KJSY1FV/

About the author:
Joanna Glen read Spanish at the University of London, with a stint at the Faculty of Arts at Córdoba University in the south of Spain. She went on to teach Spanish and English to all ages, and, latterly, was a school principal in London. Joanna’s short fiction has appeared in the Bath Flash Fiction Anthology. She lives with her husband and children on the River Thames in Battersea, returning to Andalusia whenever it gets too grey
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joanna-Glen/e/B07SSGKW8C/
My review:
Thanks to NetGalley and to HarperCollins UK/The Borough Press for providing me an ARC copy of this book that I freely chose to review.
This is an achingly beautiful book, one of those books that you read and don’t want to finish because… well, because you know you won’t find many, if any, quite like it. And certain experiences are there to be savoured.
The story starts with Augusta, one of a set of twins (her sister, Julia, was born on the 31st of July, therefore her name, and she was the second born, already on the 1st of August…) living in Britain, whose parents bought the first house in their neighbourhood, and who lead extremely conventional lives (their choice of names for their daughters seems to be the most adventurous thing they’ve ever done). Augusta —who narrates the story in the first person— and Julia are very close, although they are polar opposites (they look different, their attitudes to life are different, and other than their mutual affection, and their interest in Diego, a Spanish boy who moves to the same street, they seem to have little in common). Augusta loves words, reading the dictionary offers her comfort, her favourite poem is one about a pedlar [‘The Pedlar’s Caravan’ by William Brighty Rands], she sees herself travelling the world in a colourful caravan, when given the choice, she takes up Spanish at school —I love her teacher, Mr Sánchez— and starts chasing “el duende” (a concept difficult to translate, but something aficionados to flamenco music, singing, and dancing refer to when the experience of a performance reaches beyond aesthetic pleasure and enjoyment and transcends that, as if speaking directly to the soul), and decides to study far away from home, at Durham University. Her sister, by contrast, wants to make their parents happy, loves to live in their small town, become a nursery teacher, and marries her first boyfriend (the aforementioned Diego).
Augusta picks a country, seemingly randomly, just because she likes the sound of it, Burundi, keeps track of the events there, and she feels compelled to keep a big folder of notes on any interesting news item she comes across about Burundi (because, let’s face it, Burundi does not often make the news). Something happens during a holiday in Spain when they are teenagers, which Augusta is no party to, and the whole family, especially her sister, seem changed by the experience, but they don’t tell her anything, and that makes her feel even more of an outsider.
At the beginning of the book, I assumed that the other half of Augusta was her sister, but I was wrong (although yes, there is some of that as well). Some parts of the novel, alternating with those narrated by Augusta, are narrated by Parfait, a boy, slightly older than Augusta, from Burundi. He has six siblings, and his life couldn’t be more different to Augusta’s, although readers will pick up similarities as well (the love for words and learning, the eagerness to travel and move away, although here easier to justify due to the circumstances his family and the whole country are going through). He also meets a wonderful Spanish character, a priest, Victor, who inspires him. As we read, we start to make connections and the magic of the book envelops us. But, don’t be mistaken. The book is magical, lyrical, beautiful, full of poetry (Augusta loves Federico García Lorca’s poems and his plays, and there are many references and points of contacts with Yerma, La casa de Bernarda Alba (The House of Bernarda Alba), and Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding), and there are also references to other poems, cante jondo songs, music, dance, and paintings), but terrible things happen as well to the characters, and although not described in detail (they happen “off-the-page”), they are hard and heart-wrenching. Some we are fully aware of at the time, some we only get to know in their entirety much later on. Like much of Lorca’s work, this is a book about death, grief, loss, and about topics as current as war-torn countries, migrants and refugees, race relations, Brexit, and families. But, there are wonderful and funny moments too, many touching ones (I did cry more than once reading this novel), and, well, the main character’s surname, Hope, is pretty becoming to the story as a whole.
Augusta is a fabulous character, and so are all her family, and Parfait and his, and also the friends they both meet in Spain. (Oh, and Graham Cook and his family. They are priceless). The two narrators are, in some ways, mirror images of each other, or even better, like the positive and the negative of the same image, in old-style photography. None of the characters are perfect, (well, Parfait fits his name well), but all, even the secondary ones, are complex enough, with their good and their bad things (of course, we see them through the narrators’ eyes, but the two narrators are not trying to deceive us here, and this is not a story of unreliable narrators, at least not intentionally so. They might be mistaken in their judgements or impressions, but they never try to lead the reader down the garden path). The places, especially La Higuera, the house in Andalucia and the town around it, become characters in their own right, and the writing is fluid, and gorgeous. The ending is also pretty wonderful, in case you were wondering.
I highlighted so much of the book that it was almost impossible to choose something to give you an idea of what the writing is like, but I’ve tried. In the first one, Augusta shares an anecdote that beautifully illustrates the different approaches to life of the two sisters.
We were given tricycles, mine, yellow, and Julia’s, pink. Julia drew chalk lines on the drive and spent the day reversing into parking spaces. I rode out of the drive, turned left, curved around to number 13, at the top of the crescent, twelve o’clock, crossed the road precariously to the roundabout and drove my trike into the fishpond singing ‘We All Live in a Yellow Submarine’.
There are places —aren’t there? Places which are so full of feeling you hardly dare return to them.
‘Do you think our brains will gradually evolve to hold less and less information? And soon we’ll be Neanderthals again but with iPhones?’
‘I suppose that could be a good definition of love,’ I said. ‘Crying for another person —like their pain is yours.’
In sum, if you love quirky and wonderful characters, you want to read about Spain, Burundi, and poetry, you enjoy beautiful writing, and you don’t mind having a good cry, this is the book for you. Personally, I can’t recommend it enough. And I look forward to more novels by this author.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author, thanks to all of you for reading, and remember to like, share, comment, click, review, and always keep smiling!
Oh wow Olga. This sounds absolutely like a book I must read. I love your reviews. And quite honestly, parts of your review, and Andulucia (my bad on the spelling) reminds me of Paul Coelho’s The Alchemist! Thanks for sharing this book. (Oh, and I believe you put the wrong book image up) <3
You’re right about the image! I’ll sort it out when I can get to the internet with my computer! It’s a lovely book, but publishers sometimes release them in different countries and formats at different times. Thanks for the warning!
Glad to help. And have put that book on ’email me when it’s available’ on Amazon. 🙂
I look forward to reading what you think of it! <3
For sure! <3
Lol, I’m back, it’s not for sale til March 2020?
It is available now on Amazon UK, and with the cover shown here. Perhaps it has a different launch date in the US? 🙂
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=the+other+half+of+augusta&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
Yes, no, Pete, the cover thing was my mistake but I’ve managed to change it since. I think big publishing companies time their launches. Thanks for the comment and the clarification. I hope you get to read it. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. It’s a joy, Have a lovely week!
Thanks Pete. I’m Canadian. And went to Amazon dot com and it says not available til March, how weird that is. 🙁
Sorry about the US/Canada faux pas, Debby.
I have slapped my own legs! 🙂 🙂
Arg, don’t get me started Pete, Amazon treats Canadian authors like we’re a 3rd world country. 🙁
I remember Canadian tourists with Maple Leaf flags on their backpacks in London. Otherwise, we assumed they were American.
The same deal applies with Australia and New Zealand. 🙂
Lol so funny. Growing up and when traveling to Europe, we were always told to put Canadian flags on our luggage and wear a pin with our flag on our clothes to not be mistaken for Americans. So funny you say that.
It’s true! 🙂
I just bought a Kindle copy from Amazon UK for £2.99, and have read page one. 🙂
Arg! Maddening! Well. I just spoke to my bff in UK and asked her to buy me a copy she can bring with her when she visits in September 🙂
After some investigation, it appears to me it’s only out in Hardcover in the UK and paperback and Kindle not available til next March. I went to my own bookseller page here in Canada and it doesn’t even come up. 🙁 I don’t care for hardcovers as they’re too heavy to read in bed, lol. I’m on the waitlist.
I get ARC copies for NetGalley books sometimes right before they are published and sometimes plenty in advance. I tend to check and try to publish the review around the time of publication, and this time I think the publicist might have sent me a reminder, and with the great reviews I decided to read it. The other clue tends to be Amazon. If the book hasn’t been published yet, it does not allow you to post the review, and I had no problems with this one, but I only post in UK, Spain and .com, although many of the big books are published in hardback first. More time to catch up on reading! 🙂
So true Olga. But interesting that the book is for sale in UK, but on in North America. I’ve resolved the issue. My bff in the UK is going to buy the book and bring it to me in September when she visits. 🙂
This does sound rather wonderful, I have to admit. I love the examples of the writing you featured.
This will be going on my Wish List with Amazon.
Best wishes, Pete.
This sounds like a truly wonderful read, I’ll keep my eye out for release day!
Thanks, Jacquie. Following the author is a good way to get notified of new releases, as you know, but from personal experience I know we can get many such notifications if we follow a lot of people.
Happy reading and writing!
This is an extraordinary review, Olga. Any book that impresses you so much has to be good. Wow. Of course it is mindful as always. Thanks for sharing your insights. Hugs!
Thanks, Teagan. I hope you get a chance to read it at some point. I wish you an inspiring rest of the week! <3
Love your review, Olga. This is my kind of book. Thank you for all the additions to my reading list 🙂
Thanks, Inese. It’s such a beautiful book! I hope it brings you plenty of joy. <3
Not selling me the Kindle version yet, but I saved the link and will wait.
Thanks, Inese. It seems the release date is different in different Kindle stores, although if you follow the author they will notify you of the release. Have a great Friday!
That’s a good advice! Have a great day you too!
<3