LoveReading Says
A very special and beautiful read that left my heart full of feelings. When she was young, Mona’s Dadda told her there was a trick to time, as she revisits the past can she reshape her future? Having fallen in love with Kit de Waal’s first novel My Name is Leon (do read it, it’s simply gorgeous), I just had to get myself a copy of The Trick to Time. I thought I would read a crafty few chapters before going out, however the words caught me to them and held on. I completely forgot I was meant to be leaving and was just a little late! I adore Kit de Waal’s writing, it reaches inside, to hidden depths of awareness I wasn’t even sure existed, and nudges them awake. She has a gift with words, seemingly simple, building thoughts and feelings until they develop into a heartfelt, vividly intense moving picture. As Mona visits the past, lives in the present, and looks to the future I found myself alongside her every step of the way. The Trick to Time is a book I will keep close to hand to reread again and again, and I imagine that I will discover a slightly different version each time I step inside the pages. Highly recommended, I have chosen it as one of my Liz Robinson picks of the month, and a LoveReading Star Book.
Head to our 'Black Lit Matters' list to find more must-read novels by black writers.
Liz Robinson
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The Trick to Time Synopsis
'There's a trick to time. You can make it expand or you can make it contract. Make it shorter or make it longer . . .'
Some moments you want to last forever. Some moments shape a life.
For Mona, it's the joy of playing on a Wexford beach as a young girl, next to her family's cottage overlooking the Irish sea. The thrill of moving to Birmingham with a new job and a room of her own in a busy boarding-house. Meeting the love of her life; a whirlwind marriage; a sudden, tragic loss.
But now, decades later, Mona is determined to find happiness before it's too late. She knows that every moment is precious. But can we ever let go of the past that shaped us?
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780241973417 |
| Publication date: |
4th July 2019 |
| Author: |
Kit de Waal |
| Publisher: |
Penguin Books Ltd |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
261 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Modern and Contemporary Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Kit de Waal Press Reviews
The Trick to Time proves that Kit de Waal is a writer destined for even greater things - Red
A warm and endearing book about learning to live again - Good Housekeeping
These distillations of everyday life have all the beauty of a finely crafted life drawing - Financial Times
A story that's full of care; even in its saddest moments it is tender and kind. It feels like a book about all the best parts of being human, about family and friendship, and the way that loss only hurts the way it does because it's grounded in love. -- S K Perry It's slight but engaging. The style is simple yet artful - Evening Standard
Weaving tragedy and joy, big themes and the minutiae of life, this is a love story to take on the classics - Emerald Street
The Trick to Time starts gently and ratchets up the emotional intensity until you're ugly crying into your pillow - Sunday Times
An unforgettable tale of grief and life-long love - Woman's Own
Excellent. The novel's ending will leave you reeling - Daily Mail
An aching tale of love and loss - Stylist
A beautiful book -- Andrew Marr A beautifully written, exquisitely crafted story of love, grief and the quiet courage it takes to survive great loss - S Magazine
Moving and enlightening - Independent
[An] emotionally sure-handed novel exploring harrowing terrain with deft sensitivity - Sunday Times
The trick to time is that it can expand or contract at will, and in creating a mature heroine with decades of history, De Waal has herself performed a feat of skilful comprehension - Guardian Review
Tender with a fierce undercurrent of tension and heartbreak -- Jane Shemilt, bestselling author of 'Daughter' -
About Kit de Waal
Kit de Waal was born in Birmingham to an Irish mother, who was a foster carer and a Caribbean father. She worked for fifteen years in criminal and family law, was a magistrate for several years and sits on adoption panels. She used to advise Social Services on the care of foster children, and has written training manuals on adoption and foster care. Her writing has received numerous awards including the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize 2014 and 2015 and the SI Leeds Literary Reader's Choice Prize 2014. My Name is Leon is her first novel. She has two children.
Author photo © Justine Stoddart
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