Haven't They Grown by Sophie Hannah

If you're a regular reader, you'll know it's not often that I do standalone book reviews - I share my monthly 'recent reads' on here, with quickfire reviews of what I've been reading, but when I got asked to review Haven't They Grown* by Sophie Hannah there was just no way I could turn it down. I've loved her books since I was about 12 when my mum got me a set of three dirt cheap from a book fair in work because she "couldn't keep up with how much I was reading". From then on I was hooked and have read everything she's published. Once she even sent me a copy of one of her novels, way before my blogging days, because the version I had was a different size to the others in the series and it looked out of place on my bookshelf.

Anyway, horrendously long intro aside, here's my thoughts on Haven't They Grown by my favourite author, Sophie Hannah. It's out in hardback on the 23rd January 2020, retailing for £16.99 and available HERE. So, what did I think?

The story follows Beth, a woman who decides to swing by the house of her estranged best friend. Just to be nosey, you know? I'd do the same. And then she sees a glimpse of said best friend, Flora, and her two kids. The only issue is that the kids don't seem to have aged in a whole twelve years - which everyone agrees is frankly a bit weird.

Beth can't get this out of her head, and decides to investigate thoroughly. This leads to all sorts of twists and turns to do with Beth, Flora, Beth's husband Dom, Flora's husband Lewis, neighbours, teachers and more. The story is definitely a psychological thriller, and it truly has you second guessing everybody in it.

I love Sophie Hannah's writing - her characters are always so multi-faceted, and the stories are always so incredibly clever. Honestly, her mind. And Haven't They Grown is no exception; I loved Beth and her intense need to *know* what was going on with Flora and the frozen-in-time kids. I loved Beth's daughter, Zan, as well - as supporting characters go in books, she was absolutely fantastic.

It was breathtaking throughout - I would put it down and grab it a few minutes later because I had to know what Beth was going to do next in her relentless pursuit of the truth. And the ending? Well, I'm obviously not going to tell you but it absolutely did not disappoint...

I would sooooo highly recommend this book - grab it when it comes out! If you're into psychological fiction, set in the UK with brilliant characters, then you'll love this.