“A wonderful debut – intelligent, understated and sensitive.” Observer
“Ashdown’s storytelling skills are formidable; her human insights highly perceptive.” Mail on Sunday
“An immaculately written novel with plenty of dark family secrets and gentle wit within. Recommended for book groups.” Waterstone’s Books Quarterly
“A tender and subtle novel about alcoholism that explores difficult issues in deceptively easy prose.” Observer Books of the Year 2009
“A disturbing, thought-provoking tale of family dysfunction, spanning the second half of the 20th century, that guarantees laughter at the uncomfortable familiarity of it all.” London Evening Standard Best Books of 2009
“I love it. It’s a book that’s very fast and really rewarding as a reader. There’s a wrenching end to the first chapter that switches the mood and absolutely hooked me for the rest of the book.” David Vann, author of Legend of a Suicide
“A great story. It is incredibly sad but it’s incredibly enjoyable, like watching a horror film; you enjoy being frightened.” Lemn Sissay on the Simon Mayo Show
“A brilliant debut.” Sainsbury’s Magazine
“A heartbreaking redemptive tale of family secrets that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster.” Glamour
“It reminded me of Iain Banks. If you enjoyed The Crow Road, I think you’ll get lots out of this book.” Joel Morris on the Simon Mayo Show
“Carefully observed, unexpected and mesmerisingly beautiful.” Easy Living
“It’s an incredibly powerful, intense book. Very, very real.“ Boyd Hilton on the Simon Mayo Show
“The prose is succinct and smooth, the dialogue crisp and convincing. An intriguing, atmospheric read with a healthy dollop of realism.” Argus
“An outstanding debut novel.” The Kemptown Rag
“Glasshopper is skilfully written and hard to put down. A page-turningly good read . . . a perceptive insight into alcohol’s hidden harm.” Drink & Drugs Review
“Ashdown deals with Mary’s alcoholism and accompanying mental illness with sensitivity and unpeels the cruelty that the nearest and dearest are capable of inflicting on one another unflinchingly.” Helen J Beal, literary blogsite
“A beautifully poignant, multi-layered family story.” Bookersatz, literary blogsite
“A great book group read – in fact, I’m going to recommend it to mine.” Lizzie’s Literary Life, literary blogsite
Scroll down for more detailed reviews:
The Observer Review Books of the Year 2009 (Nov 09)
Glasshopper by Isabel Ashdown was named as one of the Observer Review Books of the Year 2009:
“A tender and subtle novel about alcoholism that explores difficult issues in deceptively easy prose.”
As chosen by Francesca Segal, alongside The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton, An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay, The Mayor’s Tongue by Nathaniel Rich and The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey.
========================================================
London Evening Standard Books of the Year 2009 (Nov 09)
On 19th November the reviewers for the London Evening Standard named the titles that have meant the most to them over the past 12 months.
Reviewers included journalist and author Juliet Nicolson, who chose Sebastian Barry’s Costa Book Awards winnerThe Secret Scripture, and Glasshopper by Isabel Ashdown:
“Isabel Ashdown’s first novel Glasshopper (Myriad Editions, £7.99) is a disturbing, thought-provoking tale of family dysfunction, spanning the second half of the 20th century, that guarantees laughter at the uncomfortable familiarity of it all.”
You can see all the books on the list by clicking here.
========================================================
Bookbag.co.uk
Review by Ceri Padley
“Amongst the wave of new British writers, comes the touching debut of Isabel Ashdown. ‘Glasshopper’ is the story of a mother and son’s struggle to understand each other and cope with whatever life throws at them.
Thirteen-year-old Jake is just like any other boy on the cusp of puberty: new music and Saturday jobs are at the top of his agenda, while girls are the strange exotic creatures that must be looked at but not touched (particularly his pretty Classics teacher). But behind closed doors, Jake struggles to cope with his mother’s ongoing battle with depression and alcoholism. His father moved out a few weeks ago. So has his older brother, Matthew. That leaves Jake as the man of the house: the one who must remember to get him and little brother, Andy, up in time for school in the morning; the one making toast for dinner; and the one keeping a watchful eye over his mother to make sure she doesn’t get herself into any serious trouble.
However, as with any story, there is another side to it. While Jake begins his journey into adolescence, his mother, Mary, reminisces back to her younger years and takes a look at the people, places, and relationships formed, that helped to shape her life.
‘Glasshopper’ is the kind of debut you’d be excited about for any new writer. Spanning over a period of thirty years, and drifting from middle to working class Britain, this is a story that will warm your hearts, make you smile, and have you shedding tears. Ashdown’s narrative for both mother and son is perfectly crafted to build a couple of characters who you really believe in and are honest enough to have their good and bad sides.
The double narrative is also helpful to capture the innocence of childhood and the harsh realities of being an adult. While Jake looks up to his father and sees only emptiness in his mother’s eyes, Mary brings a maturity and emotional whirlwind of a past to her story that allows us to see the differences between her youth and Jake’s.
While ‘Glasshopper’ isn’t filled to the brim with adventures and incidents on each page, I still found myself eager to read on. The story is an observational one that takes you through what seems like every day events of real people’s lives. We don’t need a prolonged ‘Will they?/Won’t they?’ romance or a mystery revealed in every other chapter. The beauty of Ashdown’s writing is that readers are able to connect to the real characters presented and understand that life isn’t always all that easy.
We take the good in Jake and Mary with the bad and really want them to find each other long enough to know that they have someone to connect with. Every moment is understated in just the right way.
In a way, I almost find it hard to describe the book properly; ‘Glasshopper’ is a story carried by raw emotion and the importance of relationships, and no amount of synopsis building is going to justify that.
This really is a great start for Isabel Ashdown; her character representations, no matter what sex or age, are flawless, and her descriptions of small hometowns and country and beachside holidays create superb images to match the story.
It’s hard to know who to recommend this to without encouraging everyone to go out and buy it. Such a great range of characters within such a small group of friends and family is enough to keep anyone turning the page. Ashdown is a definite one to watch for in British literature, and I look forward to see what her next page-turner will be about.”
========================================================
Simon Mayo’s BBC Radio 5 Live (Oct 09)
On Thursday 29th October, I visited the BBC studios in Wood Lane to meet Simon Mayo and his team of reviewers, to hear their verdict on my debut novel, Glasshopper. Here are some of the things they had to say:
It’s an incredibly powerful, intense book. Very, very real. Boyd Hilton, reviewer
Mary is brilliant; she’s absolutely present throughout. Lemn Sissay, poet, writer & critic
It’s an incredibly convincing boy’s voice; an incredibly convincing woman’s voice. It’s very subtle, and subtlety is the key to this. The tragedy is happening behind the words and behind what people are saying, and you could be forgiven for wanting to read it again to catch all the nuances. Joel Morris, reviewer
It made me cry. That’s the thing about this novel. It’s so emotional that it made me cry. Boyd Hilton, reviewer
A great story. It is incredibly sad but it’s incredibly enjoyable, like watching a horror film; you enjoy being frightened. Lemn Sissay, poet, writer & critic
It reminded me of Iain Banks. If you enjoyed The Crow Road, I think you’ll get lots out of this book. Joel Morris, reviewer
The way it worked with the two narratives colliding felt like watching a slow motion film where there’s a car parked on the railway tracks and there’s a locomotive coming towards it – and you can’t look away. Boyd Hilton, reviewer
I love it. It’s a book that’s very fast and really rewarding as a reader. There’s a wrenching end to the first chapter that switches the mood and absolutely hooked me for the rest of the book. David Vann, author of Legend of a Suicide
========================================================
The Observer Review (Oct 09)
“This novel was attracting attention even before it came out – it won the Mail on Sunday novel prize for an extract published last year. Tender and subtle, it explores difficult issues in deceptively easy prose. It’s the early 1980s and Jake is 13; his parents have separated, his mother, Mary, is destroying herself with alcohol and his older brother has run away. Jake is caring for his mother and protecting his little brother as best he can. On weekends, when he’s not snatching fleeting moments with his Dad, he works in the paper shop to save for the midi system of his dreams. Jake and Mary narrate in turns, the two perspectives woven deftly together. We meet Mary in her own childhood and as she’s falling in love with Jake’s father; across the decades, Ashdown tiptoes carefully through explosive family secrets. This is a wonderful debut – intelligent, understated and sensitive.”
========================================================
“Isabel cites three favourite reads in the appendices to her debut novel, ‘Glasshopper’: ‘The Wasp Factory’ by Ian Banks, ‘The Cement Garden’ by Ian McEwan and ‘Puffball’ by Fay Weldon. These being favourites of mine too, it’s no surprise that I got on very well indeed with this book. And it’s also easy to see how these books have influenced Isabel’s writing – the voices of children, microcosms of family life, the tensions in relationships, battles for trust and the impacts of betrayal - malfunctioning, dysfunctional “miniature disasters and minor catastrophes” in the words of K.T. Tunstall.
‘Glasshopper’ is a ‘timeslip’ novel and the tale of a family under pressure told from the mother, Mary and her son Jake’s points of view. The story starts in the 1950’s and finishes in the 1980’s and is mainly located in the south of England – Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. Jake’s voice rings true – his character is very clearly drawn. Isabel deals with Mary’s alcoholism and accompanying mental illness with sensitivity and unpeels the cruelty that the nearest and dearest are capable of inflicting on one another unflinchingly. At times the novel felt like a series of vignettes, glimpses into the lives of the characters but all of the threads pulled together and finished with the kind of climax you know is coming but you are hoping, praying won’t happen.
Isabel has very kindly agreed to do an interview with me so keep an eye out for that appearing on my site!”
========================================================
“Set in 1980’s suburban Portsmouth; this is an intimate, lyrical and deeply moving portrait of a family crumbling under the weight of past mistakes. Balancing Mary, the mother’s own story against ten turbulent months of her son Jake’s life; this perceptive novel tells of the irrepressibility of the young teenager when his father and brother leave home and his mother plunges into alcoholism. Jake while still hero worshipping his father and supporting his brother occupies his thoughts with saving for his own hi-fi system, a growing interest in Greek mythology, which has more to do with his pretty classics teacher and watching out for his mother. After a visit to Mary’s estranged sister causes his mother to control her drinking and reconcile her relationship with his father, Jake is delighted when the first family holiday abroad is planned. Until when in rural France long-unspoken family truths begin to surface and his personal odyssey unwittingly brings about a dramatic conclusion. This is an outstanding debut novel.”
========================================================
Drink & Drug News (Sept 09)
“Glasshopper is skilfully written and hard to put down. A page-turningly good read . . . a perceptive insight into alcohol’s hidden harm.”
========================================================
Sainsbury’s Magazine (Nov 09)
“Winner of the 2008 Mail on Sunday novel prize, this is a brilliant debut. Balancing Mary’s story of growing up in the 1950s and 1960s with her son Jake’s experiences of boyhood in the 1980s, it moves between middle-class Hove and the backstreets of Portsmouth. A compelling portrait of family life, the past returns to bite Mary and Jake with dramatic repercussions.”
==========================================================
Lizzy’s Literary Life Blogger (Oct 09)
Glasshopper, by Isabel Ashdown
13-year old Jake’s mother is an alcoholic wreck. Her husband, Jake’s father has recently given up and moved out, while her eldest son, Matthew, has absconded entirely. The question that emerges is whether these two events are the cause of her dysfunction or whether that is the fruit of seeds sown further back in the past.Mary’s story from 1957 onwards is told in a narrative that alternates with Jake’s which is set in Portsmouth in 1984. Her future is bright until she makes a choice that estranges her from her family and life becomes a struggle i.e she becomes downwardly mobile and joins the working class. The depiction of her life during the 60’s and 70’s, while difficult, actually brought back fond memories for me. (On the basis of this I would say that life on the southern coast of England wasn’t much different from life in Lancashire at that time. Apart from the pebbly beaches of Brighton, of course. There be sand in Bispham!) Authentic period details are skillfully woven into the fabric of the story – not simply dropped in as lists to prop up the atmosphere. For example, the street parties of the Queen’s jubiliee in 1977. Who doesn’t remember them? Ashdown sets a pivotal scene at her street party – one which goes a long way to explaining Mary’s misery. Difficult as Mary’s past is, it’s a doddle compared to Jake’s turbulent present. The young lad, in the face of adult abdication of responsibility, is doing his level best to hold things together for himself and his younger brother. Happily there are brighter moments for him: a teacher who inspires an interest in Greek mythology and a shopkeeper who offers him a Saturday job, a friendship and a dog.As the two narratives join, there is an unexpected reprieve. Mary emerges from her alcoholic stupor, a reconciliation takes place with her sister and her husband and the family begins to move forward. They celebrate with scampi and chips in the local and their first foreign holiday. And, at this point, well-kept secrets from the past emerge to …. oh, that would be telling …. but what a climax!A section of this novel won the 2008 Mail on Sunday Novel Competition. The judges were Sir John Mortimer, Fay Weldon and Michael Ridpath. I think they chose well. Glasshopper is an absorbing read although the frequent time jumps are initially confusing. That is, however, a minor quibble. The voices of the two narrators ring true and the main characters are complex human beings. Subsidiary characters add colour – sometimes black (Matthew, Gypsy, Mary’s parents), sometimes white (Mr Horrocks, the dog Griffin). This adds texture and there is plenty to discuss. I think this would make a great book group read – in fact, I’m going to recommend it to mine.Glamour (Nov 09)
“This stirring coming-of-age novel evokes the strictures of the ’50s and the tacky flamboyance of the ’80s brilliantly. Narrated through 13-year-old Jake’s eyes, it’s a heartbreaking redemptive tale of family secrets that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster. Arm yourselves with a box of Kleenex as you’ll be weeping into your pillow by the end.”
==========================================================
Easy Living (Nov 09)
“The future looks bleak for 13-year-old Jake growing up in the 1980s. Abandoned by a missing brother and absent father, he’s left with Mary, his bipolar, alcoholic mother, and seeks escapism in the stories of Greek mythology. Then, just as reconciliation with long-lost family members means things start to look up, a holiday unearths unbearably dark secrets. The narratives of both Jake and his mother weave a poetic web from the strands and secrets of their unpredictable and unstable family life into a tale that’s carefully observed, unexpected and mesmerisingly beautiful.”
Bookersatz Blogger (Oct 09)
Glasshopper, by Isabel Ashdown
Reviewed by Helen M Hunt, Bookersatz
In Glasshopper, Isabel Ashdown has created a beautifully poignant, multi-layered family story.The novel presents a vivid portrayal of dysfunction as it is handed down through generations, and of the little accidents of life that make us what we are. Questions are raised about what causes dysfunction in a family or an individual and what aggravates it.Throughout the unfolding story, echoes of tragedy are counterpointed with moments of ecstasy where it seems that everything must inevitably turn out all right.The story is told from two points of view, that of Jake and that of Mary. We start with Jake in his teenage years and then move backwards and forwards between his narrative and that of Mary, starting when she is a young girl.
For me, one of the most beautiful things in the novel is the depiction of the relationship between Mary and her sister Rachel. But this relationship holds the seeds of the tragedy that unfolds later in the narrative. One of the strengths of the story is the way that its shocking revelations are cleverly and subtly placed within the action.
At heart, this is Jake’s story and the story of his complex family. But there are also some achingly good cameos. Some of the best are: Mr Horrocks and his dog Griffin (we get some great glimpses into his world); Sandy – ‘nice enough, but a bit rough’; and the ultimate fly in the ointment, Gypsy.
Isabel Ashdown’s writing is full of beautiful language and evocative symbolism. We understand the story better through the imagery of birds flying free, moths getting trapped and Icarus being burnt. There is glorious detail in the writing – like the description of the gob-stopper falling out of Jake’s mouth and onto the pavement – which renders it truly memorable.
I was very impressed by the masterful handling of the chronology and the weaving of the two different points of view in the story as it rushes towards its climax.
Cut Short by Leigh Russell
The Warrior’s Princess by Barbara Erskine
Tender by Mark Illis
One Apple Tasted by Josa Young
Waterstone’s Books Quarterly (Oct 09)
“By the worthy winner of the 2008 Mail on Sunday Novel Prize, Glasshopper is an intelligent, beautifully observed coming-of-age story, packed with vivid characters and inch-perfect dialogue. The book opens in Portsmouth in the Eighties, with 13-year-old Jake struggling to cope as his family disintegrates. He is a bright boy, fascinated by Greek mythology, but finds his mother’s decline into alcoholism difficult to fathom. Can’t she see what a self-destructive course she is set on? Then, little by little, as the novel takes us back in time, the riddle resolves itself. Isabel Ashdown is not a flashy writer, but her storytelling skills are formidable; her human insights highly perceptive.”
==========================================================
“In Jake, Ashdown has created a beautifully realised character, totally believable as a 20th-century boy but imbued with qualities which should resonate with any reader and will surely stand the test of time…The prose is succinct and smooth, the dialogue crisp and convincing. An intriguing, atmospheric read with a healthy dollop of realism.”
==========================================================
==========================================================
BBC Radio Sussex & Surrey (Sept 09)
On 8th September 2009 I visited the BBC Sussex & Surrey studios to meet Danny Pike, and talk about work, life and my new novel, Glasshopper. The interview can be listened to here for the next 7 days. You’ll need to move the time bar along to 1:43:00 to fast forward to my interview.
=======================================================================================
| By | Andy Dobson |
Growing up on the south coast in the 1980s myself, this is one of the few books I’ve read that really captures the little details that make the area and the era so magical. This novel creates a real sense of place and time with settings almost as characterful as the two narrators themselves.
| By | Bren Verrill |
“This is a great novel. I should stress at the outset that I have no personal connection with the author whatsoever, so what I say is an objective assessment of the virtues of her writing as a consumer. Glasshopper is a heartbreaking story, but an honest one, a kind of Angela’s Ashes but set in a later era, in a different country.
The prose is lyrical: “Memories flood through me, amorphous as March starlings,” “the salt `n’ vinegar heat inside a noisy pub,” “For a brief moment, the flapping cloth looks like a young girl kneeling beside Mummy, whispering in her ear”. Wow. This is the sort of thing that literary prizes bow down to. And rightly.
The narrative is first person, which can sometimes make for a distant feel, I know. It doesn’t here. We really get to know Jake because he’s got such a powerful narrative voice: truthful and charming.”
==================================================================================
On 18th August 2009 I was over the moon to appear as a guest on Charlie Crockers’ Book Club, where Glasshopper was rated 18.5 out of 20 by Charlie and her guest reviewer! The interview can be listened to here for 7 days. I will add a permanent recording on this page . . . just as soon as I figure out the technology!
==================================================================================
