We’re delighted to be sharing Laura’s thoughts about Sorry Isn’t Good Enough by Jane Bailey.
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- Publisher : Orion (3 Feb. 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1398704938
- ISBN-13 : 978-1398704930
‘The trouble is, we don’t recognise every danger when we see it. And that’s how Mr Man manages to creep into our lives.’
It is 1966, and things are changing in the close-knit Napier Road. Stephanie is 9 years old, and she has plans:
1. Get Jesus to heal her wonky foot
2. Escape her spiteful friend Dawn
3. Persuade her mum to love her
But everything changes when Stephanie strikes up a relationship with Mr Man, who always seems pleased to see her. When Dawn goes missing in the woods during the World Cup final, no one appears to know what happened to her – but more than one of them is lying.
May 1997, and Stephanie has spent her life trying to bury the events of that terrible summer. When a man starts following her on the train home from London, she realises the dark truth of what happened may have finally caught up with her.
Book Review
I absolutely loved Sorry Isn’t Good Enough.
The storyline is great, it’s fast paced and I enjoyed it was a dual timeline.
Told in the point of view of Stephanie as a 9 year old in 1966 and later as an adult in 1997.
I enjoyed her childhood views on life and felt saddened by her relationship with her mother. Stephanie was desperate to feel loved and made an unsuitable friendship with Mr Man and his dog Goldie.
With a religious father who during her infancy didn’t believe in vaccinations, allowed Stephanie to catch polio which resulted in her wonky leg. A friend Dawn who was quite often rude and mean and her mother who never shared much affection, I really felt for Stephanie.
I was captivated by her story.
During the World Cup final Stephanie made a choice. Years later after a work conference Stephanie felt threatened by a man following her on the train. She felt her past following her.
A gripping read that was hard to put down.
Jane Bailey was born and brought up in Gloucestershire, where she now lives. She has written seven novels, including Lark Song, What Was Rescued and Tommy Glover’s Sketch of Heaven, and has been shortlisted for the Dillons Fiction prize and the RNA award. She has edited four anthologies of work by young people as Writer-in-Residence for Cheltenham Festivals, First Story and Gloucestershire Hospitals Education Service.
