Book Review

Basic Details:

Book Title: Fairytales Don't Come True

Subtitle:

Author: Laura Lyndhurst

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Part of a series? Yes

Order in series: 1

Best read after earlier books in series?

Available: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56919665-fairytales-don-t-come-true

Overall score:

I scored this book 5/5

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Short Summary of the book:

Maria Magdelena was born into an extremely religious family, but wanted to spread her wings and go to university. When her parents withdraw their financial support after her first year in an attempt to gain control over her again, Mags has to find a way of funding her studies herself.

As she lies dying of cervical cancer, she tells her life story to prim and proper Dora Stuart-Frazer. She has a dim view of prostitutes but softens to this young girl during the nights spent together.

What I liked about the book:

The book is beautifully written and highly emotional in places.

What I didn’t like about the book:

I loved the entire book.

My favourite bits in the book:

I enjoyed the entire book.

My least favourite bits in the book:

The book was a great read.

Any further books in the series? Any more planned by this author?

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I look forward to reading more.

What books could this be compared to and why?

This is a highly emotional book about love, control, misadventure, and redemption.

Recommendation:

In summary, I would recommend this book to the following readers:

Children No

Young Adult Possibly

Adult Yes

If you like books that challenge prejudices, this book may be the book for you. I highly recommend this book.

I look forward to reading more by this author.

Book Description by Author:

When middle-aged nurse Dora Stuart-Frazer is assigned to provide end-of-life care to ex-prostitute Magdalena, she suffers a failure of sympathy linked to the woman’s former career and her own mid-life marital issues.

Attempting to overcome her prejudices, not only against her patient but other members of the all-female household in which Mags lives, Dora finds herself an initially unwilling listener to the life-story which her patient wishes to recount in the course of her last few weeks of life.

However, as she listens each night to the unfolding story which Mags has to tell, Dora finds herself an increasingly-willing listener as she compares the life of the story-teller to her own and gradually forces herself to confront her own mid-life crisis.

About the Author:

I was born and grew up in North London, England, but was unable to attend university when young due to family financial circumstances. Instead, I worked at various occupations, including dental nurse, laboratory assistant and shop assistant.

I married just before I was 20, and travelled to some interesting places around the world, following my husband’s career. I spent much time reading, a passion, but in order to keep further occupied I took office jobs when these were available to me; I hated the work, but the money was useful.

When we were back in the UK I took evening classes at various times and gained ‘A’ levels in Psychology, Sociology and English, eventually settling in Kent with my husband and becoming a mature student and gaining Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English and Literature before training and working as a teacher.

In 2016 we moved to the peace and quiet of rural Lincolnshire, and my sporadic writing activities became more permanent. I self-published Fairytales Don't Come True, my debut novel, in May 2020 and since then have written and published two books of poetry, October Poems and Thanksgiving Poems & Prose Pieces. In January 2021 I published a sequel to Fairytales entitled Degenerate, Regenerate and at the end of March 2021 I published a psychological suspense story, You Know What You Did. A third book was published in June 2021 to make a trilogy with Fairytales and Degenerate, entitled All That We Are Heir To. Another psychological suspense story is now underway, along with a small collection of poems.

I usually go for a long walk each day (weather permitting; I’m a fair-weather walker) in the beautiful countryside around us, and exercise for a couple of hours each morning, including use of a hula-hoop and stepping machine. I love food and drink and have spent half my life battling a weight problem. I managed to lose 5 stone of unfortunately-gained weight three years ago and am determined to NEVER regain it! So every other day is a diet day (for hubby too), but when not being careful we enjoy a good meal with wine. Going out to eat is something which I enjoy, although under the current lockdown conditions I’m having to cook at home every day. This was fun for a while, but I’m running out of ideas and really looking forward to the day when I can eat a meal which I haven’t prepared myself.

For other leisure activities I have taught myself to play the recorder; badly, but it keeps the brain cells ticking over. I also listen to music of many types; Tracy Chapman is playing while I write this, and will later be replaced by Leonard Cohen or Katie Melua or any one of dozens of other artists, or by some classical music or opera, another passion.

Oh, and of course there’s reading, something which I have loved since I was a child. I became a convert to eBooks and subscribed to the Kindle Unlimited programme, because although I love physical books, my bookcases are groaning under the weight and I don’t have room for any more. I review everything I read, since I became an author myself and realise the value of these in getting our work in front of as many eyes as possible; but it does mean that I have a large virtual To Be Read pile!