The Frequency of Us: A BBC2 Between the Covers book club pick

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I have no problem with the ending as such. The idea was great. It's just the execution that I failed to appreciate. The ending gave Stuart the perfect opportunity to resolve the relationship between Laura and her father, and between her estranged parents, and would have created a memorable final chapter. But instead, Stuart ignored the parents entirely, choosing to introduce an entirely new and utterly one-dimensional character, and what followed was the most clumsy mess of dialogue and contrivance I've read in months. The plot was very engaging. I cannot claim to know the scientific accuracy behind the concepts mentioned in this book (It's not very heavy, don't worry) but I liked the plot and the story. It made sense to me. It also served the purpose of feeding me a good, entertaining, heartwrenching, and satisfying story. Am good with that.

The Frequency of Us (Audio Download): Keith Stuart, Katy

This is still a tale told by a nearly ninety-year-old man with signs of dementia to a woman who dropped off an antidepressant cliff edge and is hitting every withdrawal symptom on the way down. We are not credible witnesses to our own lives.” I loved Will, Elsa and Laura, they were fabulous characters who I believed in and wanted the best for. I sympathised with Laura as she struggled to make sense of Will’s situation. Was he telling her the truth or was the dementia making him make everything up about Elsa? Gradually, through a succession of first-person chapters narrated by Will or Laura, more and more is revealed about the mysterious past and, in particular, the intriguing figure that was (and possibly still is) “Elsa”. After the Anschluss, Elsa’s father manages to get her a visa to Britain where she settles in Bath. A striking young redhead, Elsa speaks good if accented English to the young men she meets, including Will and his friends, talks about Kurt Weill and Noel Coward, prefers the art of Klee and Kokoschka to English pastoralism — and leaves a note to Will inside a copy of Herbert Read’s Art Now suggesting they meet again. This was a book that I didn’t want to put down. The story is told in the present and the past, between 1938 and 1942, leading up to the bombing of Bath, where Will lives. The plot has you second-guessing everything you think you know. One minute you are convinced Elsa was real, the next you are not so sure, could this be all in Will’s head who suffered a breakdown and PTSD after the bombing? Best Books Set in the 1920s — from Stories That Shimmer with Champagne and Social Change, to Rip-roaring Reads Covering Crime, Colonialism and Beyond.A fascinating, beautiful, heartwarming novel. It kept me gripped from the very first chapter' -- BETH O'LEARY It’s hard to say any more without including spoilers but after a very promising start, the book left me feeling a little disappointed. I was invested in Will and Elsa’s romance though and that kept me reading until the end. Laura is a likeable and interesting character. She has her own problems and feels realistic and well-rounded as a person. I think author Keith Stuart shows the effects of ill mental health in an honest, frank and fresh way because although we see how it has affected Laura, she is still not defined by this. Author Keith Stuart writes mental health issues as harsh and debilitating as they often truly are. He shows the true nature of what someone with them goes through, sometimes it isn’t an easy read, but it is essential to the story.

BBC Sounds - The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart - Available BBC Sounds - The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart - Available

Ahead of the publication of his new novel The Frequency of Us, we asked Keith Stuart to tell us more about it. Over to you, Keith. . . It’s been a while since I read a historical, contemporary fiction but this was an easy reintroduction to the genre. The Frequency of Us is a poignant story that follows two main characters - Will and Laura - alternating chapters with their point of views, past and present. We open with Will’s perspective during a bomb raid in his neighborhood where he discovers that his was completely wiped from his life. Cut to the present where Will is now a 90 year-old man living in solitude, Laura finds herself assigned with evaluating him for social services. Laura, with her own set of secrets, decides to help Will reconnect the pieces from his past. I quite like a story that mixes historical facts with fiction. This is one of those books i don't want to say too much about as i don't want to spoil it for potential readers. This story spans two timelines, the presen day and during the war. This is another beautifully written novel. I do recommend this book. Recommended Reads about Race, Racism, and Demarginalizing History - Necessary Non-fiction You Should Read for Life-changing Insights and Impact As the daughter of a librarian Jen's love of books started from a very early age. Her reading obsession continued throughout her teenage years when she studied both English Language and English Literature at college.The Elsa in the journals is such a remarkable, wonderful cosmopolitan woman – a gifted pianist, a lover of arts, and an attractive Austrian Jewess, who escaped to Britain before the war. It is no wonder that shy Will fell madly in love with her. Like Will and Laura, you – as the reader – also believe that she must be real. The world would surely be a much poorer place without her in it. But how could she disappear so completely?