Review: Paper Chains by Nicola Moriaty

Well. This review is going to be rather short and sweet, I'm afraid. That isn't because I didn't love the book, but because it is going to be very difficult to give this one a glowing review without completely ruining a couple of plot twists. Which I really don't want to do, on account of the fact that at least some of the people who will be reading this book are more than likely contemplating reading it for themselves and it would be just rude to totally spoil it for them.

So ... Paper Chains is an interesting account of female friendship and two very unlikely friends who meet in London. Hannah and India are both Australians living in London. Both are running away from something, both have some pretty dark secrets that I don't want to ruin (but it's not what readers may be expecting,) and are a little bit on the lonely side. Their contrasting personalities compliment each other well--Hannah is quieter and in the process of punishing herself for what she believes are past wrongs, and India is lively and likes to live each day to the fullest. Together they help one another face the reality they are trying to escape and there is another lovely element to the story, in the form of some letters that India is mailing to the boy she left behind on the Greek Islands. (Instead of mailing them, she asks various tourists to pass them on, figuring that if he is meant to receive them, he will. And let's just say that doesn't turn out how one may expect, either.) The first part of the novel seems very much like a young adult or, new adult, novel, so I was surprised when Hannah was revealed to be approaching thirty and that some of her problems were definitely those of an adult and not that of a teenager on her gap year.

The book is rather touching, contains a couple of surprise twists and is easy to read. Highly recommended.

Source: Review copy provided by Random House/Netgalley

Comments

Shelleyrae said…
I loved this as well and I agree with your comments about the initial YA impression. Great review!

Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out
15 February 2013 at 04:47
Kathryn White said…
Thank you! It definitely seemed like a YA novel at first, until the plot twist that changed everything ... at that point it surprised me that Hannah was in her late 20s and not her late teens.
20 February 2013 at 21:02
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