Review ~ The Twilight Hour by Nicci Gerrard

Penguin UK
2014

Be with me now, at the twilight hour....

Eleanor Lee lives alone her house by the sea, but aged ninety-four and almost blind, Eleanor is a source worry for her family who try to persuade her to move into care. A whole lifetimes of possessions need to be tidied away but Eleanor needs to do this without her family being involved. When Peter Mistley, a young friend of her grandson Jonah, is enlisted to help catalogue Eleanor’s personal effects, a whole range of secrets are exposed.

What then follows is a well written account of a life encumbered by memories and as Peter starts to delve into Eleanor’s life there develops a rich closeness between them and a gradual drawing together of both the old and the young which is especially poignant. I found the book easy to read and very quickly became involved in the detritus of Eleanor’s life. I think the author really got into the minutiae of daily life and emphasised that we all have secrets and that all too often the discovery of these hidden away memories can leave us feeling vulnerable and exposed.

All in all, a good light read with interesting characters and well thought out storyline.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK and Real Readers for my copy of this book.

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