The Last Cuckoo by Maria Frankland
Do you listen to your mother? Even after she's dead?
Anna Hardaker is following you …
This seemingly innocent Tweet fills Jamie Hardaker with confusion and fear. After all, his mother Anna has been dead for nearly three weeks.
What follows is an orchestrated Twitter campaign to lead those Anna loved, and didn’t love so much, to the truth behind her “accidental” death.
Review.
This book I ended up completely relating to. I lost my mum to cancer when I was 21 and all the emotions Jamie goes through I also went through. The confusion, the emptiness, the grief, the utter inability to accept that this has happened to you. Your mum should still be there for meet the person you are going to spend the rest of the life with etc. Even the bits about sorting the mortgage, Will, spending on shopping sprees and putting an emphasis on a new relationship were all things I also went through! It was seriously uncanny. Thankfully, the guy I met a week after my mum passed away is now my husband!
All the characters I found very relatable and well formed. The premise of the book I found very unusual. I remember my mum asking if she should give me a signal from the afterlife and I was like f*ck no, so I could imagine how freaked out people would be about tweets from beyond the grave! Yes, there are stories where people have left letters etc but I don’t remember anything about Twitter. I also loved that there was clues about his mums death included in the tweets.
I have a love/hate relationship with how this book resolved itself. But it’s about twist, one that is present in a lot of books, so it’s not a reflection on this book at all! It’s when you trust the narrative and then it all gets thrown up in your face! I love the twist but hate that I didn’t see it coming.
I really enjoyed this book and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to people!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Maria Frankland's life began at 40 when she escaped an unhappy marriage and began making a living from her own writing and becoming a teacher of creative writing.
The rich tapestry of life with all its turbulent times has enabled her to pour experience, angst and lessons learned into the writing of her novels and poetry.
She recognises that the darkest places can exist within family relationships and this is reflected in the domestic thrillers she writes.
She is a 'born 'n' bred' Yorkshirewoman, a mother of two and has recently found her own 'happy ever after' after marrying again.
Still in her forties, she is now going to dedicate the rest of her working life to writing books and inspiring other writers to also achieve their dreams too!
Twitter @writermaria2017
http://www.mariastephenson.com/
Maria is one of those authors I love! She took her time to email me before this tour saying she had read my blog AND when she sent me her book she also sent me a handwritten card! How sweet 👍
Ten Things About Me – Maria Frankland (Author of ‘The Last Cuckoo’)
1. I’ve just got married. (On Valentine’s Day!) I’m living proof that online dating works and that you can find happiness second time around in your forties. I used to think Valentine’s Day was utter commercial nonsense!
2. I dealt with the break up of my first marriage by writing ‘Poetry for the Newly Single 40 Something.’ Writing is wonderful therapy.
3. I love writing domestic thrillers and shining a light on the darkness that can exist within families and other close relationships. (Some of what I’ve experienced in younger life creeps into this.)
4. I teach classroom and online creative writing courses and love to inspire and motivate other writers to achieve their own writing dreams.
5. When I was 40, I wrote a living bucket list (that I’ll revisit at 50!) So far, I’ve done a skydive, had a go at horseriding, gone up the Eiffel Tower and next week, I am visiting Iceland to hopefully see the Northern Lights!
6. I have a gorgeous German Shepherd dog called Zoey and process many of my writing scenes in my head whilst I’m walking her.
7. I love walking challenges for charity. Last year I completed the National 3 Peaks, the year before, I completed the Yorkshire 3 Peaks and this year I’m doing the Dalesway walk over 5 days.
8. Because writing has now become my ‘day job,’ I’ve taken up ballroom and Latin dancing with my husband. We’ve a long way to go but absolutely love it.
9. I drive a Beetle. I could never drive a car without ‘personality.’ I listen to audio books whilst driving to get my reading time in. Readers make better writers!
10.I have to sacrifice watching TV and an hour or two of sleeping in order to make the time to write each day and do all the other jobs associated with it.
