Lullaby Beach
On sale
3rd February 2022
Price: £8.99
‘Faultless storytelling . . . Wise, generous, atmospheric’ Observer
Growing up after the war in Westmere, an English seaside town, Kitty has been sheltered by her parents, but meeting Danny changes all of that. She decides to leave everyone and everything she knows to follow Danny to London, in pursuit of glamour and opportunity, and this sets in motion a series of events that will echo down the generations. Over fifty years later, when Kitty’s body is found in her beach hut with a suicide note by her side, her great-niece will help to unravel all the secrets which the family has kept hidden over the decades.
‘Explores familial legacy, generational secrets and the effects of long-lasting trauma with a distinct tenderness’ New Statesman
‘A portrait of sisterhood . . . powerful’ Daily Mail
‘A writer who never lets you down’ Ali Smith
Growing up after the war in Westmere, an English seaside town, Kitty has been sheltered by her parents, but meeting Danny changes all of that. She decides to leave everyone and everything she knows to follow Danny to London, in pursuit of glamour and opportunity, and this sets in motion a series of events that will echo down the generations. Over fifty years later, when Kitty’s body is found in her beach hut with a suicide note by her side, her great-niece will help to unravel all the secrets which the family has kept hidden over the decades.
‘Explores familial legacy, generational secrets and the effects of long-lasting trauma with a distinct tenderness’ New Statesman
‘A portrait of sisterhood . . . powerful’ Daily Mail
‘A writer who never lets you down’ Ali Smith
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Reviews
Nobody turns the screw of tension tighter than Stella Duffy
A suicide in a sleepy English seaside town exposes family secrets that have lain dormant for three generations in this
atmospheric novel . . . The action is set in the present day and the 1950s. We meet Kitty as an idealistic young girl keen to escape the monotony of her small-minded seaside existence. She elopes with an unsuitable man and starts a new life in London. But it doesn't quite match up to her expectations and she comes running back home, licking her wounds. The narrative masterfully interweaves her story with that of other women in her family, leading to a dramatic finale
Whether it's down to the sure rhythm of Duffy's faultless storytelling or the faded backdrop of the south coast of England, her latest novel is a comforting tale despite some gritty subject matter. It opens as eighty-something Kitty takes her own life, leaving behind not just a gaping hole in the world of her two great-nieces, but a mystery, too. Four dates contained in a note seem to hold the key, concealing secrets that bind three generations of Beth and Sara's family. Wise, generous and atmospheric
Duffy writes with a judicious combination of power and subtlety
A powerful talent
Lullaby Beach explores familial legacy, generational secrets and the effects of long-lasting trauma with a distinct tenderness
Duffy is a fearless writer ... A portrait of sisterhood in the wider sense - one that's as powerful and gritty as it is wise and celebratory
A writer who never lets you down
Sharp insights and sharper wit
A versatile and gifted novelist
First class