Strangers living worlds apart.
Strangers with nothing in common.
But it wasn't always that way...Kerry Hayes is a single mum, living on a tough south London estate. She provides for her son by cleaning houses she could never hope to afford. Taken into care as a child, Kerry cannot ever forget her past.
Noah Martineau is a successful barrister with a beautiful wife, daughter and home in fashionable Primrose Hill. Adopted as a child, Noah always looks forward, never back.When Kerry reaches out to the sibling she lost on the day they were torn apart as children, she sets in motion a chain of events that will have life-changing consequences for them both.
By turns funny and moving, Half a World Away is a story that will stay with you long after you read its powerfully emotional, heartbreaking final page.
Half A World Away by Mike Gayle was published in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton on 13 June 2019, the paperback will be published on 20 February 2020.
My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.
This review was originally published in the Daily Express, Books on Friday feature in the summer
Kerry Hayes is a cleaner, lives on a tough London housing estate, is a single mum to ten year old Kian who is her whole world, and was brought up in care from the age of ten.
Noah Martineau is a barrister, lives in Primrose Hill with his wife and daughter, and was adopted by a wealthy white couple when he was age two.Kerry will never forget her past, whilst Noah chooses never to remember.
Every year, Kerry has written a letter to the younger brother who she adored; who she was separated from when they were removed from their mother Mary.
Kerry has never received a response to her letters, but this year she intends to find her brother, and when they do finally meet, their lives will change forever.
This is, at times, a very emotionally challenging read. Mike Gayle has an incredible talent for creating huge and totally realistic characters who the reader will totally invest in.
Narrated alternately by Kerry and Noah, the author seamlessly weaves all of the detail of their lives, both past and present with such flair.
The author writes with wit and humour; some scenes are laugh out loud funny, but he also deals with some serious and heart wrenching issues that will make the reader reach for the tissues.
The story touches on race, social class, the care system and terminal illness and is accomplished sensitive and powerful.
A truly beautiful story about the power of love, and family. Mike Gayle’s best book to date.
Mike Gayle was born and raised in Birmingham. After graduating from Salford University with a degree in Sociology Mike moved to London with ambitions of becoming a music journalist. This didn't happen however and following a slight detour in his five-year plan he ended up as an agony uncle for teenage girls' magazine Bliss before becoming Features Editor on the now much missed Just Seventeen. Since those early days Mike has written for a variety of publications including The Sunday Times, The Guardian and Cosmopolitan.
Mike became a full time novelist in 1997 following the publication of his Sunday Times top ten bestseller My Legendary Girlfriend, which was hailed by The Independent as 'Full of belly laughs and painfully acute observations,' and by The Times as 'A funny, frank account of a hopeless romantic.'
To date Mike is the author of twelve novels including Mr Commitment, Turning Thirty and Wish You Were Here. His books have been translated into over thirty languages.
After stints in Manchester and London Mike now lives in Birmingham with his wife, kids, two sheds and a rabbit.
Website : www.mikegayle.co.uk
Twitter @mikegayle
Author Page on Facebook
Instagram @mikegaylethenovelist
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