Shortlisted for the Authorsā Club Best First Novel Award
āA therapeutic dose of high-strength emotionāGUARDIAN
At six, sheās memorising the dictionary. At seven, sheās correcting her teachers. At eight, she spins the globe and picks her favourite country on the sound of its name: .Burundi
And now that she's an adult, Augusta has no interest in the goings-on of the small town where she lives with her parents and her beloved twin sister, Julia.
When an unspeakable tragedy upends everything in Augusta's life, she's propelled headfirst into the unknown. She's determined to find where she belongs ā but what if her true home, and heart, are half a world away?
āItās going to be all over every book club in Britain before you can say BurundiāTHE TIMES
āFull of the reality of hope and despair in everyoneās livesāMIRANDA HART
This gem of a novel entertains and moves in equal measureāāDAILY MAIL
Keep the tissues closeāāGOOD HOUSEKEEPING
An irresistible message of redemption and belongingāā magazineRED
Heartening and hopefulāā JESS KIDD, author ofThings in Jars
Mesmerizingly beautifulāā SARAH HAYWOOD, author ofThe Cactus
An extraordinary masterpieceāā ANSTEY HARRIS, author ofThe Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton
āGutsy, endearing and entertainingāDEBORAH ORR
āAbsolutely brilliantāGAVIN EXTENCE, author ofThe Universe Versus Alex Wood
Augusta Hope has never felt like she fits in.
Flora
2-3-2022
Extremely long-winded and melodramatic. Many descriptions of very momentous events in the story are written with so little accuracy to human emotion that they simply fall flat. I found my eyes hurting from rolling them back into my head and my cringe muscles aching by the end of the story. The main character is an irredeemable egomaniac who the author tries to redeem without much success. She is self-centered, vapid, and one dimensional. It is incredibly tiresome to listen to this audiobook and if it were not for the dual narrative of a Burundian refugee who is actually interesting and not so self-absorbed I would have given up very early on. The narrative hinges on incredibly unlikely and unconvincingly written events to the point that the reader can no longer suspend their disbelief.