LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
A beautifully poignant, thought-provoking and special novel that really does travel to the heart of what it is to be human. 20 year old Sebastian knows exactly what he wants, his hormones are raging and he is desperate for sex however his autism limits his ability to meet girls. When Sebastian’s mother Veronica contacts escort Violetta, the lives of all three change forever. The novel focuses on the three main characters, each is vividly realised and I positively ached for and adored all three. Their individual stories weave through and under and around each other, the short chapters tying them together, creating one whole tale. Louise Beech often crosses genres in her novels, and has explored crime through to relationship stories. Her particular skill, on display in all of her novels, is allowing us to connect and sink in to what it means to be human, she takes us below the surface, below the obvious, and allows us to explore. My emotions sang throughout this novel, I balanced the exquisite tightrope that swings from the pages, stepped out, and fell in love with the words, the feelings they evoked. The title is absolutely perfect, and when I had finished, I just sat pondering its meaning. The Author’s Note at the end shows just how connected Louise is to this story, how she was inspired by her experience of autism as ‘an outsider’ and she also talks about #OwnVoices. This is How we are Human is bold and provocative, thoughtful and warmhearted, and I declare it is completely gorgeous!
Liz Robinson
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This is How we are Human Synopsis
Sebastian James Murphy is twenty years, six months and two days old. He loves swimming, fried eggs and Billy Ocean.
Sebastian is autistic. And lonely. Veronica wants her son Sebastian to be happy ... she wants the world to accept him for who he is. She is also thinking about paying a professional to give him what he desperately wants.
Violetta is a high-class escort, who steps out into the night thinking only of money. Of her nursing degree. Paying for her dad’s care. Getting through the dark.
When these three lives collide –intertwine in unexpected ways –everything changes. For everyone. A topical and moving drama about a mother’s love for her son, about getting it wrong when we think we know what’s best, about the lengths we go to care for family ... to survive ...This Is How We Are Human is a searching, rich and thought-provoking novel with a emotional core that will warm and break your heart
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Press Reviews
Louise Beech Press Reviews
An atmospheric, haunting and beautifully written page turner!’ C L Taylor
‘Compelling, twisty, and seriously addictive... EXCELLENT’ Will Dean
‘With secrets, lies and plenty of twisty turns, it’s story isdark and it’s setting eerie and evocative’ Fionnuala Kearney
‘It’s EXTRAORDINARY –tense, twisted and utterly compelling, written with such raw beauty andunflinching honesty’ MirandaDickinson
‘Superb storytelling ... it is claustrophobic, unsettling and intense’ Prima
‘Haunting, provocative, and true to Beech’s style: packed with pain and heart’ Jack Jordan
'It’s a gentle book, full of emotion and it’s similar in tone toThe Book Thief, a book that Rose reads with a torch under the bedclothes’ The Irish Times
’Moving, engrossing and richly drawn, this is storytelling in its purest form ... mesmerising’ Amanda Jennings
'Quirky, darkly comic, but always heartfelt’ Sunday Mirror
‘Fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine will love it' Red Magazine
‘A powerful and moving story’ Madeleine Black
Author
About Louise Beech
Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. The sequel, The Mountain in My Shoe, was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Maria in the Moon was compared to Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, and widely reviewed. All three books have been number one on Kindle, Audible and Kobo in USA/UK/AU. She regularly writes travel pieces for the Hull Daily Mail, where she was a columnist for ten years. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice and being published in a variety of UK magazines. Louise lives with her husband and children on the outskirts of Hull – the UK’s 2017 City of Culture – and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.
Click here to read a Q&A with this author.
Louise Beech is our Putting Authors in the Picture feature for April 2019. Click here to read more about ehr author journey on our blog.
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