Review: Dot by Araminta Hall

The remarkable new novel from the bestselling author of Everything and Nothing is a warm and heartbreaking tale of three generations of women.

In a higgledy-piggledy house with turrets and tunnels towering over the sleepy Welsh village of Druith, two girls play hide and seek. They don’t see its grandeur or the secrets locked behind doors they cannot open. They see lots of brilliant places to hide.

Squeezed under her mother’s bed, pulse racing with the thrill of a new hiding place Dot sees something else: a long-forgotten photograph of a man, his hair blowing in the breeze. Dot stares so long at the photograph the image begins to disintegrate before her eyes, and as the image fades it is replaced with one thought: ‘I think it’s definitely him.’

DOT is the story of one little girl and how her one small action changes the lives of those around her forever.

Paperback, 320 pages

Expected publication: August 19th 2014 by The Borough Press

Kristine's Thoughts:

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

This is a book about family, the history that shapes them, making mistakes and the consequences of those actions. It centralises around Dot but it is not just her story. We also hear the voices of her mother and grandmother, her absentee father, her best friend Mavis as well as both of her parents. Intertwined, these voices clarify how these families have ended up the way they are.

A big part of the story is how Dot wants to know who her father is but it is really a whole lot bigger than that. It is about family chemistry, love, secrets and the ties that bind us. Basically it is a story about relationships in all of its forms. Hall does a fabulous job at penning the turmoil and chaos within each characters life so that the reader fully understands. Her use of multiple narratives works wonderfully in creating a well developed family drama.

I personally really liked the way the story flowed and how the book was written. I though the characters were well developed. I liked some and I disliked others but I understood all of them. It was sometimes happy and sometimes sad and quite a bit complicated just as life always is.

Over all it was a charming book that I think will appeal to a wide range of readers.

About the Author

Araminta Hall has worked as a journalist since 1994 at some of Emap’s biggest titles, including Bliss Magazine and New Woman. Since 2000 she has freelanced for a variety of magazines and British newspapers. She lives in Brighton with her husband and three children.