Pieces of Molly by Judith Gurney

[Jane Heighton (FF Visitor)]

You can the read the full article at: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/Judith+Gurney-234733.html

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Pieces of Molly. I found my own childhood memories creeping in, between the lines constantly prodding at me, and taking me back to significant incidents that I realise have shaped me. Stories that we don't often tell, of our "ordinary" lives are often so extraordinary, and this is one of those; both ordinary and extraordinary. I was fascinated by the context and the realisation of time passed, and oh so quickly how much has changed, and our pasts have become history. Thank you for sharing your childhood with us Judith.Your book has been inspiring for me.

[andrew baldwin (FF Visitor)]

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a marvellous recapitulation of childhood and in particular of one child in an unstable changing world where not much could be taken for granted even the unstinted love of parents.

[Stella Millburn (FF Visitor)]

You can the read the full article at: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/Judith+Gurney-234733.html

I was completely drawn in to Molly's story as she weaves it - I love the central idea of the tapestry with the recurring threads, the painstaking work that's never finished of repairing and restoring, and the recreation of the parts that may be damaged, only to be guessed at and made good as best she can much later, as time brings things to light and other stories are partially revealed.
And I love little Molly, trying to make sense of the disquieting and sometimes frightening adult world going on behind closed doors, creating her own world, learning to find what she needed where she could. And all the time she's storing up the vivid images of her rural childhood, memories of an ordinary life which evoke the misery and enchantment of all our childhoods. Memory falters and shifts and fragments and can't always be trusted, and we can never recover the past, but from the pieces the adult Molly/Judith has made something whole and very moving.

[Dominique Marcovici (FF Visitor)]

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By Dominique Marcovici

I could not put this book down. Pieces of Molly is well written, colourful and very moving. It took me on a journey into Molly's world that stirred up a wide range of feelings in me. It showed profound insight into Molly's development as she struggles to make sense of her world. There was sadness here but kept well in perspective with lovely touches of humour. I found the book gripping. I was sad when I reached the end of the story.

[Solace Wales (FF Visitor)]

You can the read the full article at: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/Judith+Gurney-234733.html

Pieces of Molly is a psychological thriller -- it just doesnchr(226)chr(128)chr(153)t fall into the normal categories of that genre. Instead of featuring undercover spies or murder mysteries, it pursues the little mined psychological territory of childhood: the dynamics of how one progresses from the trauma of birth through a mix of irrational fears and delightful discoveries to becoming a person on the verge of adolescence.

Judith Gurney brings the particulars of her childhood alive: her involvement with chickens and exciting tractor rides along with her absorbing interaction with a peculiarly cold mother and an adoring father. At times her probing touches the rumblings of tectonic plates colliding beneath the apparently benign exterior her family presents to the world. The description is made more nuanced by the writerchr(226)chr(128)chr(153)s ability to shift seamlessly from her point of view as a child into reflections of her adult self as she cares for her aging parents.

The bookchr(226)chr(128)chr(153)s subtitle is chr(226)chr(128)chr(156)an ordinary life.chr(226)chr(128)chr(157) How is growing up on a largish farm in a rural England that no longer exists, with a family fraught with scandalous secrets, chr(226)chr(128)chr(156)ordinary?chr(226)chr(128)chr(157) It would seem quite the reverse, but as the reader accompanies Gurney in her personal exploration, the vast common ground of everyonechr(226)chr(128)chr(153)s childhood emerges. Presented with such detailed recall, the reader is plunged into memories of similar experiences. We all share the fierce fears and jealousies along with the insights of childhood -- only few of us have reflected on them in such depth and even fewer have been able to write of them with such lucidity. It is the gripping drama of childhood itself that is chr(226)chr(128)chr(156)ordinary.chr(226)chr(128)chr(157)

This book makes us remember our own childhoods, with its terrors, yes, but also with its wonderment. At one point Molly speaks of playing a game with infinity. chr(226)chr(128)chr(156)Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? I had a bucket with a picture of Contrary Mary on it, and she herself held a similar bucket. I stood in front of the central mirror, holding mine. Try as I would I couldnchr(226)chr(128)chr(153)t make out the picture on her bucket, but I knew it was there, Contrary Mary and the bucket receding infinitely, like Alice getting smaller and smaller and ending up in a totally different dimension. . . Was someone infinitely larger than me, I wondered, holding a bucket with me as a picture on it?chr(226)chr(128)chr(157)

Mollychr(226)chr(128)chr(153)s many questions remind us of the innate ability of a childchr(226)chr(128)chr(153)s mind to ask ultimate questions, mathematical ones, and ones about the very nature of existence. A childchr(226)chr(128)chr(153)s fresh responses to life are truly extraordinary, but their universality makes them ordinary. Donchr(226)chr(128)chr(153)t miss the joy of revisiting these insights yourself.

[Anne Curtis (FF Visitor)]

You can the read the full article at: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/Judith+Gurney-234733.html

What wonderful writing. The book's perspective is so unusual with words take the reader to far away places including their own childhood. As a 'townie' it is really something to share experiences of growing up in the countryside and seeing life through Molly's eyes. The insights into how a child thinks and feels are very powerful and, at times uncomfortable ...but always sensitive and moving.