Today I’m taking part in the blog tour for The World Outside My Window. My review is written with thanks to Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on the tour and to the publisher for my copy of the book via Netgalley.

Blurb:

Laura is watching the world go by without her.

Unable to leave her house since suffering a trauma, Laura is stuck gazing out of her window at Willow Crescent, relying on husband Jim and best friend Debbie for help.

Then one day, Jim doesn’t come home.

A day becomes two, days become a week, and still no sign of Jim.  And with the police half-hearted in their efforts to look for him, Laura is forced into a decision.  She’s going to have to face the world outside and find her husband herself.

But what Laura hasn’t realised is that Willow Crescent is a community, eager to help. From Arthur and Carol next door ready to rally the neighbours, to Marjorie and her daughter Faye at number nine looking for their own reasons to engage with the world. From Sonja at number seven who thinks she may have seen Jim in London, to widower Ben at number four who understands all about being lonely. Laura has a world ready to embrace her if she can just find the nerve.

And when it slowly dawns on them all, that the Jim they thought they knew, may have been hiding some unfathomable secrets, Laura has a choice – retreat back behind her window, or start living the life that was waiting for her all along.

This is Clare Swatman’s tour de force. At the same time emotional, uplifting, page-turning and breath-taking, Laura is a character you will never forget.

Review:

I’ve never read anything by Clare Swatman before, but it’s clear she’s a very talented writer. As you can tell from the blurb, The World Outside My Window deals with some really emotional topics and the author approaches them with some wonderful use of language and detailed research that really brings the reader into Laura’s small world, where the atmosphere feels very oppressive and claustrophobic. 

The majority of the story is told from Laura’s point of view. This is a brilliant technique, as Laura’s mental health issues and issues with alcohol make her quite unreliable. This makes it difficult for the reader to be sure that the things Laura sees, hears and remembers are real. Despite her issues, I did feel sympathy for her as a character and I wanted her to find the truth about Jim and find the confidence to step outside. 

The story is set in the early 1990s and flips between this time and the mid 1980s when Laura and Jim first met. This gives the reader a glimpse into what Jim is like, and the guy made my skin crawl. He’s a walking red flag and there were times when I wanted to jump into my Kindle and shake Laura – but this just demonstrates how good the writing is! I’m not sure why the author chose to set the novel thirty years ago, but it did bring back some nostalgic memories like calling a landline and leaving the phone off the hook! 

At the centre of The World Outside My Window is a mystery and I did enjoy trying to piece it all together using the clues from the different neighbours (who are all wonderful characters). I did guess what was going on quite early in the story, but I still found it an engaging and thought provoking novel. 

The World Outside My Window is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: