Things We Lose In Waves | Lucy Ayrton
REVIEWED BY LINDA HILL
Jenny has returned home briefly to the north east for her father’s funeral. But the past hasn’t entirely finished with her, and it isn’t just the landscape that is in danger of being overwhelmed, as the global pandemic leaves Jenny locked down with a mother who has never seemed to love her.
Things We Lose In Waves: book review & synopsis
If you’re looking for a high octane thriller with fast paced, breath-taking twists and turns, or if strong language offends you, then Things We Lose in Waves is not for you. If, however, you want a claustrophobic and affecting story exploring grief, loneliness and belonging, that gradually peels away the layers of humanity, is beautifully written and feels intelligent, emotional and acutely observed, then read this book.
There’s a seething tension that comes not only from the potential for the small town of Ravenspurn to fall into the sea through coastal erosion, but also from Jenny’s inability to escape her past.
Ravenspurn still holds the people she thought she had left behind, making for an uncomfortable and unsettling homecoming. Jenny, Si, Chris and Alex are inextricably linked in ways they can’t imagine.
When the narrative switches focus to 2004 and Alex’s perspective, Lucy Ayrton shows just where the now rocky and unstable foundations of the present began.
The brittle, intelligent Alex is a wonderful creation. She’s reckless; a sweary, sassy and yet surprisingly sad and vulnerable young woman. Her assessment of the pretty Jenny whom she sees as both a rival and as vacuous, is riddled with prejudice and jealousy, adding layers to the Jenny presented in the later timescales. Through Alex’s focus we learn just how rivalries can be created out of nothing and, more importantly, how the past shapes us in the future.
Raw and honest
The title of the book is perfect as people in the story lose so much. They lose physical belongings. They lose their perspectives and what they thought were established truths and beliefs. They lose their friendships and their lifestyles as the pandemic continues. But most importantly of all, they lose the protective shells they have built around themselves, leaving them raw and exposed. This makes Things We Lose in Waves impactful and emotional as the truth is gradually revealed.
This book is a kind of literary orrery where Jenny, Alex, Chris and Si circle one another warily but can never fully connect or quite let go. The story draws in the reader until they are completely ensnared. Whilst it might not be for everyone, I thought it was exceptional.
Things We Lose In Waves by Lucy Ayrton is out now (Renegade Books, PB, £10.99) and available from Amazon.
Read more fiction reviews by Linda Hill including Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings, A Merry Little Christmas by Cathy Bramley, Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency by Josie Lloyd, It’s Getting Hot In Here by Jane Costello, A Christmas In Prague by Helga Jensen and Edith Holler by Edward Carey.
