Ninepins

by Rosy Thornton

Deep in the Cambridgeshire fens, Laura is living alone with her 12-year-old daughter Beth, in the old tollhouse known as Ninepins. She's in the habit of renting out the pumphouse, once a fen drainage station, to students, but this year she's been persuaded to take in 17-year-old Willow, a care-leaver with a dubious past, on the recommendation of her social worker, Vince. Is Willow dangerous or just vulnerable? It's possible she was once guilty of arson; her mother's hippy life is gradually revealed as something more sinister; and Beth is in trouble at school and out of it. Laura's carefully ordered world seems to be getting out of control. With the tension of a thriller, Ninepins explores the idea of family, and the volatile and changing relationships between mothers and daughters, in a landscape that is beautiful but - as they all discover - perilous.

Genres: Fiction, British Literature

308 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

My first novel, 'More Than Love Letters' was published in paperback 2007, my second, 'Hearts and Minds', came out in 2008, my third, 'Crossed Wires', in 2009, and my fourth, entitled 'The Tapestry of Love', was published in paperback in October 2010 (all published by Headline Review). My fifth novel, 'Ninepins', was published by Sandstone Press in 2012, and won the East Anglian Book Awards prize for fiction in that year.

My first collection of short stories, entitled 'Sandlands' is due for publication by Sandstone Press in July 2016. The stories are all set in, and take their inspiration from, the landscape of the Suffolk coast, with its paradoxical mixture of shifting sands and deep unchangeability.

In what passes for real life I am a Fellow and lecturer in law at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. I live in a Cambridgeshire village with my partner and a small pack of spaniels. For my sins, I am also a season ticket holder at Ipswich Town FC.

Reviews

[Richard Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Dose of Redemption in the Dance of Mothers and Daughters


Ninepins was a departure from my usual genres, but one I'm very glad I made. First, the most abiding character seems to be the ever-pervasive damp and flat, open light of the fens, which Ms. Thornton's descriptive skills brought into sharp focus for me. The writing transporting me to a place I've never been, with unexpected familiarity. The setting is a force that Laura and her daughter do battle with daily. Their moods, fears and afflictions shift and flow as regularly as the water table rises. The featureless, almost dismal landscape is a perfect stage upon which to evoke disappointment, anxiety, and a mother's constant fear of having done the wrong thing. As conflicted, exhausted and repressed as Laura is, her daughter is on the verge of finding herself as an individual, an adult still in a child's body. Frustration broods conflict and anger in ever increasing degrees. Into this mix comes a boarder, a teen girl from a murky and decidedly troubled past who seems to stoke the fires of additional fears and worry. Throughout, the interactions of the single mother, her ailing daughter, the boarder and several intruders (welcome and not...) into their close little world, are portrayed with uncommon honesty. I recognized these people. Despite mounting uncertainty, the story carried me into a satisfying redemption and resolution. I also enjoyed the distinctly local writing voice and references. Someone living outside the English fens, may require a bit of thinking to puzzle them out. Still, Ninepins was an evocative, enjoyable read I would recommend to anyone with children approaching their teens.

[Adele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read all of Rosy Thornton's books and I think that this latest book is by far her best. The subject is much darker than her previous novels but the writing is compelling and atmospheric. Her description of the Cambridgeshire Fenlands is beautiful and you get a real sense of her love for the area.

She introduces us to Laura, a divorcee and mother to 12 year old Beth. I believe that any mother with teenagers will identify with Laura's struggle to let her daughter grow up as she moves from the relative safety of the contained environment in primary school to the myriad of new experiences of the secondary school. The child that depended on her for everything and who was the centre of her existence is making the first tentative steps to forging her own way in life and Laura struggles to find the compromise between keeping her daughter safe and letting her spread her wings. At times it made for uncomfortable reading as I recognised the mistakes she was about to make and knew that I would probably have done the exact same in her situation.

In contrast to the relationship between Beth and Laura we have Willow, who's experience of family life couldn't have been more different. She was brought up in a series of foster homes after her bipolar mother was unable to care for her and at 17 yrs old is supported by social services and placed in lodgings in Laura's pump house. We get a hint of something a little menacing in Willow's past which is heightened when her mother turns up uninvited at Ninepins.

A series of unfortunate events thrust the three women and Vince, (Willow's social worker) together and they all have to adapt their attitudes and learn to make adjustments to accommodate the needs of the others.

I would like to have been given a greater insight into Willow's thoughts and feelings, we get a few snip bits in flash backs but they do little to tell us what interests her. We are not told how she fills her days alone at the pump house, nor even what course she is supposed to be doing at the college, or very much about her reaction to certain events such as the arrival of her mother. We are lead to believe that the 2 girls become close and spend time together but at no point do we get any insight into what they actually talk about. At various points I wanted to know what Willow would say to Beth, about her experience of being bullied for example, and I wondered if Willow might not compare her own experiences to Beth's and tell the younger girl to be more grateful for what she already had.

There is a love interest in the book in the form of Vince. It is a subtle love story which I like because the main story has to be the relationship between the women, each of them vulnerable and damaged in their own ways. We don't get much of a picture of Laura's married life although her relationship with her ex husband is very amicable and she obviously remains fond of him, but it is very hard to visualise them actually living together as her life is so controlled and his is so chaotic. Vince is an altogether more robust, dependable character and he helps give Laura an insight into her daughter's problems. It's nice that Laura has him to bounce problems off but I'm glad he didn't become a main part of the story.

All in all I think that this is Rosy Thompson's most accomplished piece of writing to date.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Didn’t every kid deserve a chance?’

Ninepins is the old tollhouse where Laura lives with her 12-year-old daughter Beth. Laura often rents out the pumphouse next to her house to students, but the newest resident is to be someone different, a 17-year-old girl named Willow, who has been in care, and has been recommended for the accommodation by her social worker, Vince.

Laura has reservations and Willow coming to live at the pumphouse, and is nervous as to how the new arrangement will work, and what sort of influence Willow may be on Beth. Beth herself is bringing more than her share of worries into Laura’s life too, having started secondary school and making new friends who Laura knows little about, but what she does know doesn’t please her and makes her anxious about Beth. For Beth, there is the struggle to find her place amongst the teenage girls at school, to fit in and develop friendships with all the accompanying pressures amongst girls at that age.

I loved this novel. I liked the immediacy with which we were drawn straight into the story and the setting. I felt I was immersed in the wildlife and landscape of the Cambridgeshire fens, very nearby to where I live; they are vividly brought to life as the backdrop of this story; the author illustrates both the beauty and the dangers of the place. I found the characters intriguing and believable, and the dialogue equally convincing and apt. I felt that Rosy Thornton portrayed the love, the difficulties and confrontations between Laura and Beth very realistically, and depicted the strong, yet at times fraught, relationships between mothers and daughters very successfully. The author contrasts the loving, caring and concerned nature of Laura’s parenting of Beth, with her always having provided the necessities for a safe, warm welcoming home, even as a single-parent, with the at times ‘wonderful, magical, intoxicating’ behaviour of Willow’s mother, who nonetheless left Willow feeling that ‘She’d never just felt safe.’

There were poignant moments, in particular between Willow and Laura, as Laura discovers more about Willow’s younger years, and how unsettled life was for her with her mother, Marianne. There are so many times when we, as a reader, identify with elements of a novel, and this struck a chord with me, and I was moved by some of the passages, as Laura realised what life must have been like for Willow: ‘If Willow at times seemed older than her years, this might be the reason. If the mother could not be a mother, how should the child be a child?’ As both Laura and the reader learn more about Willow’s mother and her past, the tension and sense of foreboding builds.

It’s an absorbing story that I enjoyed returning to every time I picked the book up again, more than anything I think because of how much I was immersed in the setting of the novel and intrigued and convinced by the characters and the development of the relationships between them, whether it was those between parent and child, adult and young adult, or the elements of gentle romance and attraction between adults. This is the first novel I have read by this author, and it has certainly encouraged me to want to go back and dip into her earlier works. This is assured storytelling and a satisfying read.

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosy Thornton's fifth and latest novel is set in a majestic and wholly believable fenland landscape, and concerns Laura and her daughter Beth, who live in a unique situation next to a lode. Part of the property is a separate building, a pump house, which Laura lets out. Their latest tenant is Willow, an enigmatic care leaver with a chaotic past, who under the eye of her social worker Vince is taking a first step towards independent living.

Rosy Thornton, as ever, displays what a beautiful writer she is, and how well she reveals the inner life of her characters. Once again, she writes of women (and I include the 12 year old Beth in this) who are negotiating change in their lives with resilience and and courage. At the same time, the reality of growing up with all its angst, feeling the temptation to be cool, and experiencing the unique brand of cruelty that young girls mete out to one another, are described with perception and precision. Even as she appears trailing mystery and slight menace, I found myself rooting for the 17 year old Willow. It is obvious how much Thornton empathises with her young characters and as a result makes them so believable. She also manages to avoid a stereotype with a credible scenario of social care, in Vince, Willow's social worker, getting it right, getting it wrong, but doing his best to embody a figure of trust after an ambiguous start - and later something more?

As with The Tapestry Of Love, the landscape is pretty well a character in its own right. Lovingly yet fearlessly described, the fens formed a visible backdrop in my mind's eye as I read the novel, sometimes taking centre stage, as when the waters that are kept in check with such difficulty rise up and flood the pump house. Laura's deep love for this rebarbative countryside, with its enormous sky and straight lines, makes her decision to continue living in such isolation all of a piece with her undoubted strength of character. It almost seems recklessly brave - I know I'd have taken the better part and moved back to Cambridge. (While we're on the subject, another aspect of Laura's heroic qualities that I could never emulate is her tolerance of her ex - I'd have found it almost too hard to refrain from crowning him with a heavy object.)

Yet again, Rosy Thornton explores the sacrificial and the civilised in family breakdown, which is so heartening. Her writing goes from strength to strength, and, while this novel moves into darker territory of mental illness and the pain of growing up in chaos, she reminds us of the bonds of love that can bind us and how much there can be left over to share.

[Geoffrey Gudgion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atmospheric, gently paced but with totally believable and engaging characters, with a powerful sense of place. A delightful read.

[anonymousreader]

to-read

[Lorna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit laboured

[Michelle]

Rosy Thornton's latest novel, Ninepins, opens upon the world of the Cambridgeshire fens - earthen dikes that hold vigil over ancient moors and peat bogs, keeping battling against Mother Nature to keep the sea at bay. Enter Laura, a single mother trying to maintain her orderly world, but her twelve-year-old daughter is proving difficult to understand. The addition of Willow, a teenage girl with her own secrets and problems, only adds to the tension and confusion.

As in other novels, Ms. Thornton skillfully manages to create a complete world in a few powerful sentences. Each sentence in Ninepins is masterfully constructed to establish a painstaking attention to detail that allows the reader to create vivid mental images with a minimal amount of words. A reader could step onto the Cambridgeshire fens in real life and recognize certain sites based on their descriptions alone. These details also extend to Laura, her motivations, thoughts, and desires, as well as the minutest details of her apartment. It is akin to looking at a home movie, except there are no images to help fuel the reader's imagination.

Gloria is the type of heroine with whom mothers everywhere can relate, although liking her is something completely different. She is the quintessential mother hen, clucking after her chick and always prepared to viciously defend her. However, unlike a true mother hen, Gloria's problems stem from the fact that she finds it difficult to navigate the waters of teenage drama and struggles with learning to let go of the parenting reins. At the same time, she waffles between being the parent and being the child in her relationship with her daughter. It is a bit disconcerting to watch Laura complicate issues further because she is afraid to take a stand against her twelve-year-old. To that end, Vince is the perfect foil and thankfully adds some much-needed common sense to the entire equation. Without him, the story would have a distinctly YA feel, where the parents are afterthoughts to the teen’s antics.

Ninepins is the type of novel that draws a reader into a scene and makes them feel like they are a direct player in it. Readers will want to knock some sense into the characters because their actions can be almost painful to watch unfold. They can smell the pasta boiling, feel the dampness of the water-soaked earth, hear the chirping of the birds, and taste the multiple bottles of wine drunk throughout the novel. It is the type of semi-active participation within a novel that enhances a story. In Ninepins, the reader’s involvement within the novel serves to offset the bitter aftertaste left by some of Laura’s more annoying behaviors.

Ninepins is exactly what readers have come to expect from Ms. Thornton. As always, her prose is absolutely beautiful, with its poetic and lush descriptions and piercing dialogue that drives to the heart of her characters. She embraces the flaws in each of her characters, making them all the more realistic while offsetting some of the exoticness of her chosen locale. There is also a thoroughness to her explanations that guarantee readers have a thorough understanding of each of the main characters' motivations and thought processes. Readers may have issues with characters' actions, or lack thereof, but they cannot complain that they do not understand why a character acts a certain way. The result is a gorgeous exploration of relationships and their ever-changing nature.

Acknowledgments: Thank you to the author for my review copy!

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

If characters were perfect, there wouldn’t be much material for a book. On the other hand, one can’t make them too obnoxious, or readers wouldn’t want to hang out with them for the length of the story. In Ninepins, Rosy Thornton had me right at the brink of “too irritating” with her primary protagonist, Laura.

Laura, a divorced mom with primary custody of her daughter Beth, who has just turned twelve, has never heard of the notion that mothers may, in fact, discipline their daughters. Beth is going through rough times – not only because she wants so much to be “normal” and fit in, but because she is hanging out in school with a very bad group of girls who have somehow convinced her they are desirably cool. Beth starts getting into a great deal of trouble, including smoking although she has asthma, skipping choir practice and letting down the whole group, shoplifting, yelling at her mother and other adults to “shut up!” and at one point, even shouting at her mother that she was “a miserable, controlling old cow.” No matter: Laura doesn’t say a word, nor does she deny Beth anything she wants. There is no docking of allowance, no abrogation of privileges, not even a lecture. It drove me crazy!

Still, I liked Laura (aside from her methods of parenting), and wanted to see how it would all come out (and, especially, if she would acquire some backbone).

Overly kind-hearted in addition to being a pushover, Laura rents out a room at her homestead (called “Ninepins”) to a troubled 17-year-old, Willow, who was suspected of arson, and whose mentally ill mother, Marianne, has been deemed unable to care for her. Laura also becomes friends with Willow’s social worker, Vince.

As all of them get to know one another, even Willow notices how reluctant Laura is to “parent” Beth: "She [Laura] was always the one to appease and ingratiate; Willow has seen it over and over. It was pathetic, really, creeping around her kid, trying to please her all the time, as if Beth were the mother and Laura the child.”

And although Willow eventually gets close to Beth, she looks down on her outrageous provocations of Laura:

"Whining, crying – as if she had anything to complain about. Princess Beth with her perfect life, who had everything and took it all for granted; stupid, thoughtless Beth who had it all but was determined to wreck it, to chuck it all away. She would ruin everything, and not only for herself.”

The five main characters – Laura, Beth, Willow, Vince, and Willow’s mother Marianne – do a long slow minuet from being strangers or estranged to learning about each others’ pasts and starting to think in terms of each others’ futures. But with two troubled teens, one psychotic mother, one inadequate mother, and one lonely social worker, the road is difficult and even dangerous.

Evaluation: Rosy Thornton is a skillful portrayer of family dynamics, but her stories move along at a languid pace. This characteristic is something many readers appreciate. I, being both a Type A personality and a Type A reader, am more inclined not to be the best audience for this type of writing. But I don’t mean at all to disparage the book. It’s a good character study and a good exploration of the pressures of parenting. It's just not necessarily a good fit for my own predilections as a reader.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most people would probably agree that, despite all good advice, they generally do judge a book by its cover to a certain extent. When you go to the library or the book shelf for a browse, the books with the appealing covers tend to stand out; whilst I wouldn't buy a book based solely on its cover, first impressions do count for a lot.

I came across Ninepins, not in a book shop, or on a library shelf, but at my book group. Being a library book group, we tend to read things that the librarian can get in sufficient numbers, and this book was readily available. When I saw the cover, I was less than enthralled. To me, it looks a bit like something I could have knocked up myself on Photoshop at home. Sure, sunsets are nice, but they are a little generic, and that's what I worried the book was going to be. I had never read any of Rosy Thornton's novels before, and I couldn't actually see myself reading this one.

But with the next book group meeting looming, and recognising that I hadn't read last month's assigned book either, I thought I should at least give it a go. It took about two chapters for me to realise that it is with good reason that the age-old advice of not judging a book by its cover is age-old: it's sound advice.

For me, the main attraction of Ninepins was the atmosphere that Rosy Thornton manages to create. Laura lives in an old tollhouse on the Cambridgeshire fens with her twelve-year-old daughter. Laura and Beth's simple life is disrupted when Laura agrees to rent her pumphouse to seventeen-year-old Willow, a troubled teenager who is under the care of a social worker, Vince. Laura has problems of her own to deal with, as Beth, having just started secondary school, is making new friends and beginning to test the boundaries as only teenage (or near-teenage) girls know how.

This disruption and unease are reflected perfectly in the everchanging environment of the fens. Oppressive heat, excessive rain, perilous ice; they all wield their power over the tollhouse and its inhabitants. All the while, with Laura knowing that Willow was once guilty of arson, the threat of fire looms over their heads as Laura tries to keep her daughter safe, and finds herself increasingly involved in Willow's life.

The romance of the plot is nicely handled too, as Laura finds herself attracted to Vince. The reader is probably aware of the growing attraction before Laura is, and after a few minor stumbling blocks, the relationship is on track (albeit implicitly) by the end of the novel. The romance is a sub-plot, however, and never threatens to overshadow the more important relationships in the novel; the one between mothers and daughters.

I thoroughly enjoyed Ninepins, it was such a pleasant surprise after I had unfairly judged the book based solely on a photograph of a sunset.

[LindyLouMac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ninepins is only the second novel I have read by this author and I have already discovered how important the role of the landscape plays in her writing. In The Tapestry of Love she brought the countryside of the French Cévennes alive on the printed page and this time she does it again with the very contrasting countryside of the Cambridgeshire Fens. Along with the strong sense of place Rosy Thornton also writes about characters that one feels are realistically portrayed. There is quite a strong element of suspense in Ninepins as the story unfolds as she explores the mother and daughter relationship that has become complicated by the arrival in their lives of a stranger with a very troubled past.

For some reason all the time I was reading this novel I kept thinking it had familiarities with a novel I had read previously. I was right if you have read Watershed you will understand what I mean as in that novel storms fire and floods cause some personal watersheds to be reached. The author also brings her story alive with her descriptions and details of the wildlife, landscape and flood defences of the Somerset levels. Ninepins might be set in the Cambridgeshire Fens but it certainly covers similar issues, so if you enjoyed Maggie Makepeace's novel I have no doubt you will also enjoy this one.

Ninepins is the name of the house nestled deep in the fens that is home to Laura and her daughter Beth. In the annexe to their home, an old pump house they usually have a lodger. The latest of these is Willow a teenager leaving a care home to live alone for the first time, who has been recommended to Laura as a suitable lodger by the girls social worker Vince. The story centres around the three females and the emotional tangle of their situations as the world that Laura previously thought so orderly seems to be spiralling out of control. A daughter growing up too fast and wanting more independence than Laura is prepared to grant her plus a vulnerable older teenager who seems to be a volatile threat to their family life. Will it all end in disaster, I recommend you read it to find out.

As a novel about mother daughter relationships and how we have to adapt to change within these relationships it will especially appeal to those already parents. Although that does not mean those without children will not enjoy it but just relate to the story in a different way.

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[Best Crime Books & More · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all of Rosy Thornton’s books and one of my favourites was her last book Tapestry of Love. I was looking forward to her new book with its particularly enticing cover. Ninepins tells the story of Laura who lives with her 12 year old daughter Beth at an old Tollhouse known as Ninepins. The pump house is an extra source of income for her so she rents it out to 17 year old Willow. What she isn’t prepared for is the change to her orderly life that Willow will bring. From early on Rosy takes us on the beautifully descriptive ride through the Cambridgeshire Fens. What I love about her books is that they are so easy to read yet so descriptive; you could almost be sitting there looking down over Laura’s house and life. Laura is a somewhat neurotic mother and with Willow on the scene we start to see changes with both Beth and their lives in general as Willow becomes more ingrained in their day to day lives. Willow was a really interesting character and there was a certain sense of mystery to her and her past life.

The story caught me very early on and there is a certain element of something dark and sinister that surrounds the story. Willow has a man named Vince from Social Services who wants the best for Willow. Laura isn’t sure whether Willow is a damaged and vulnerable young woman, or somebody who has become a danger to herself and others through her past secrets surrounding her mother. The story was something of a mystery to me in one respect, but in another it made perfect sense. Yes, I know, sometimes I don’t make sense even in my own head! There are certain events that take place which set to shock the reader, and I especially didn’t like one event which puts Beth in danger! The story certainly has lots going on, but overall it seems to be more the journey of a mother and daughter, and a very withdrawn 17 year old catapulted into their home and the way they make things work.

I particularly liked Vince, and although Laura irritated me sometimes (I wanted to tell her to get some backbone) I think the book is meant to make you feel like that. It’s certainly a book that looks closely at relationships and emotions. As usual I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was disappointed when it finished. I still think Tapestry of Love is my all time favourite, but this certainly comes a close second.

[Laurel-Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the opening pages of this story of the struggles of life set in the English wetlands, "Ninepins" spotlights a single mother arriving home from her work as an academic researcher to find strangers waiting for her.

They have come to look at the pumphouse, which Laura Blackwood often lets out to students; the income from the rental helps Laura support herself and her 12-year-old daughter Beth. Her ex-husband Simon's support is sporadic at best, since he has a second family with three sons.

Surprisingly, the strangers are not ordinary renters, but a social worker who is there to "place" his seventeen-year-old charge Willow. Even as the situation slowly unfolds during the meeting, the enormity of it doesn't completely insert itself into Laura's awareness until some time later. By then, she is irretrievably entangled in the arrangement.

Over the next several months, the world around Laura and her brood will unravel in increasingly more dangerous ways. The dangers from the world outside through floods are only the first of many such events. Then there are the shifts in family dynamics that herald other dangers.

Will Beth's sudden rebellions reveal an underlying negative influence? What, if anything, does Willow have to do with the young girl's acting-out behavior? What secrets are both Willow and Beth keeping, and how will these inadvertent untruths impact and imperil their lives? And how will the recurring presence of Willow's birth mother, Marianne, affect all of the characters?

As the reader comes to understand some of the secrets and to evaluate the relationships, the characters will begin to show themselves and their true colors.

The author's prose was beautiful, describing the world in which the characters lived, as well as their interactions. The dialogue very typically exemplified the difficulties of the single-parent family, and how adding or subtracting elements from the mix can cause irrevocable shifts. The environment and its unpredictable floods seemed metaphorical for the shifting family dynamics. Five stars for this story that brought up all the emotions I have experienced as a single parent, unsure of the effects of others upon my children, and powerless to change what is happening in the world outside the home.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely read, quite difficult to categorize in a way, its a gentle romance but not slushy or sleazy in any way. It's character driven and the characters are extremely well drawn and realistic. There is a subtle tension which runs through it although I wouldn't class it as a thriller as such but there is certainly an air of suspense which builds throughout the unfolding story and the wonderful bleak, misty and menacing setting of the Cambridgeshire Fens, is so well painted that I felt I'd just spent some time there despite never having set foot in that area in my life!
Mostly this is a story about motherhood, womanhood, female relationships and adapting to change and will appeal to a wide range of readers although especially Mums with teenage daughters.
The Mum in the story, Laura, is a divorced single Mother to Beth, 12 years old, who is riddled with pre teen angst, puberty and asthma. Her struggles to fit in, avoid being bullied and attempts to be one of the in crowd, mirror her Mums struggles to say and do the right things to her daughter and often end up making cringingly awful yet minor mistakes which alienate rather than support.
It took me right back to my early teen years!
Into their lives floats Willow, a teenager in care with a bit of a past at 17 young enough to be a friend to Beth, but will her influence be a good one and when she becomes a tenant of the small pump house cottage owned by Laura bringing her social worker Vince, and her own teenage insecurities into their lives what repercussions will this have.
Rosy Thornton is a highly accomplished author, drawing on her own experiences and her skills with words to create an environment we instantly feel at home in and characters we feel we know even though they might not be ones we can completely relate to.
If you enjoy beautifully constructed descriptions, characters created with finesse and skill and a story which builds to a satisfactory climax you should enjoy this latest offering from Rosy.

[Jessica (thebluestocking) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free from the publisher. All content and opinions are my own.

Rosy Thornton is a well-loved British author. And deservedly so. I thoroughly enjoyed her last novel, The Tapestry of Love. So, when Ms. Thornton contacted me about her newest work, Ninepins I eagerly awaited the package from Royal Mail.

Laura is a single mother to 12-year-old Beth. They live in the Cambridgeshire fens at an old tollhouse known as Ninepins. To bring in extra income, Laura usually rents the pumphouse out to students. This year, though, she's persuaded by a social worker, Vince, to board 17-year-old Willow, who is leaving foster care.

If I had only two words to describe this book, they would be domestic and subtle. It was very much centered on the day-to-day, on the relationships among the characters. Laura and Beth are forging a new relationship, leaving behind Beth's childhood. This story line about broke my heart. Likely because my 2-year-old is finding some independence and it's hard to let go. Laura and Vince's relationship is very slow and kind of sneaked up on me. And then there is Willow and her mother, Marianne. This is obviously a very nuanced relationship, as Marianne is mentally ill, and Willow was severely neglected as a child.

I enjoyed seeing how these (and other) relationships played out. And the landscape was an interesting character in and of itself. But the book as a whole just didn't quite come together for me. Perhaps it was because this is a very British book and the landscape and some of the language were unfamiliar to me. But mostly, I think, because it contained small scenes that were interesting but sometimes didn't feel like they built up to anything. And, really, that is how real life is. I just don't know how I feel about it in books.

Overall, though, I enjoyed Ninepins and would recommend it as a good, calm read.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ninepins was published on 19 April 2012 and is Rosy's fifth novel, and her first to be published by Sandstone Press.


The story is set in the Cambridgeshire Fens, and the Ninepins of the title is home to single-mother Laura and her 12 year old daughter Beth. Laura and Beth have been alone since Beth's father Simon left when she was just a small baby. Laura earns a little extra income by renting out the pumphouse in her garden as student accommodation. Her latest tenant is 17 year old Willow, a care-leaver with something of a mysterious past.

Rosy Thornton is expert at creating a real sense of place with her words, the vast and desolate, yet beautiful Fens of Cambridgeshire are brought to life in this story, the reader can almost feel the chill and the damp air when reading her description of the landscape.
Descriptive scenery however, are not her only gift; her creation of three very different, yet extremely strong female characters is excellent. Laura, Beth and Willow; the adult, the teen and the child are the perfect cast of characters to play out what is often a fairly tense story. Beth's anguish as she starts secondary school and encounters the 'politics' of pre-pubescent girls is at times heart-breaking, and although it is well over 30 years since I experienced those feelings myself Rosy's writing really did bring some quite harsh memories back. Beth's internal battles with herself - whether to appear 'cool' to her new peers or to obey her mother Laura are so so real, as are Laura's feelings when she realises that her little girl is growing up and no longer is she the centre of her world.
Add Willow, with her vulnerability covered by harsh words to this mix and Rosy Thornton has served up a novel with many themes.
I enjoyed Ninepins very much, it is very different in style to The Tapestry of Love, showing the diversity of Rosy Thornton's writing ability.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: If I could use a half-star, this would be a 4.5!

Laura is a single mother who has suddenly found her life to be much more complicated than it was before. Not only has she agreed to a 17-year old tenant, Willow, but her daughter Beth is showing symptoms of the “terrible tweens”, a condition that leaves the “terrible twos” in its hormone-ridden dust. Ninepins is their home, situated at the edge of both the town and of the fens (a type of wetland, for those Americans not familiar with the term). Their isolation is both a blessing and a curse, providing them with privacy but causing problems at times, especially when it comes to Beth, newly trying to assert her independence. When Willow’s supposedly-institutionalized mother shows up, it’s clear they are not isolated enough.

Rosy Thornton has a way of writing that I can only describe as gentle. When you open one of her books, she takes you by the hand and leads you through her story in a way that makes it almost impossible to put the book down. She has a lot to say here about family, and what that word means. Inside of that there is a lot about the relationship between mothers and daughters, and the expectations within. There are many tightropes being walked and eggshells walked upon as these three women figure out how to navigate their new lives.

There is a nice amount of tension throughout the book, but for me it doesn’t quite reach the level of “thriller”, as mentioned in the blurb. That may be because I read a lot of mysteries and thrillers, so my expectations are a bit different than others. Also, on a personal note, once I got a chapter or two into the book I realized how refreshing it is to read a book where the main characters have normal names. Just “Laura” and “Beth”, solidly traditional. Not a misplaced “y” or boy’s nickname or extra “i” to be found anywhere. Another testament to the strength of Thornton’s writing — no gimmicks necessary.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. This will be the second book that I've read by Rosy Thornton. What I loved about Tapestry of Love is the same things that I loved in her latest release, Ninepins. Thornton has a wonderful way of making you care deeply about the characters. They quickly begin to feel like people that you could know and that you care about.

The main characters of Ninepins are all great. You feel for Willow because of her life, which leaves much to be desired. She basically had to mother herself because her mother was too mentally ill to really give her stability. I love stories about flawed characters. None of us are perfect and I think it makes characters easier to relate to. Willow is definitely a character that you will find yourself pulling for. Her story was definitely the most gripping in the book although I did like the other story lines as well.

You feel for Laura because she's beginning to contend with probably the most difficult part in any parents life: when their kids begin to get to the age where they want to grow up way too fast and do things that are going to get them into trouble. Laura is conflicted whether to let Beth figure out things on her own or to try to shield her from the bad things. You feel for Beth because she's going through the time period that so many pre-teens go through where all they want is to fit in, which, of course, comes at a price. All of the issues that the characters deal with are very realistic and you can connect with them on some level.

I loved this story. At its base, it's really a story about love and relationships. Thornton draws you in, makes you love the characters, and then leads you through the story with her fantastic writing. In a way, Thornton's writing is sort of understated but beautiful.

Bottom line: This is a great story with great characters.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Ninepins’ is the name of an old house in the Cambridgeshire fens. It’s near a dyke, and has a pump-house which works as a guest flat, and has been let out to a series of students. We meet Laura, the owner, as she hurries home from work to meet a new potential tenant: 17-year-old Willow; she's there with her social worker Vince.

Despite initial reservations, Laura decides to accept Willow. Laura has an eleven-year-old daughter, Beth, and is amicably divorced from Beth’s father who has a new family and pops in and out of their lives through the book. Laura lives in reasonable comfort, but evidently needs the money from a lodger, and the extra bonus from social services is useful....

The blurb describes this as having the tension of a thriller, but (thankfully) I didn’t feel that way at all. It’s more of a character-based domestic book; much revolves around the kitchen and Laura’s need to look after her daughter and, gradually, Willow too. Laura is caring and kind, but a bit too pushy at times; I wanted to nudge her arm sometimes, to tell her to listen more to Beth’s point of view. It’s a sign of a highly believable character.

Rosy Thornton writes very well; some of the descriptions left me a bit cold, but then I’m not a visual person. I was none the wiser as to what dykes or fens looked like even after finishing the book, but it didn’t particularly matter. I could vaguely imagine the pump house and the kitchen; I suspect a good picture was painted, however, for those who are more drawn to sensory detail.

It took me a while to get into the story, and nearly ten days to finish it; but all in all, I enjoyed this book very much.

[Carol W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laura, single mum to Beth aged 12 takes on a new lodger for the pumphouse next to her remote house in The Fens. Previous tenants have always been students, but due to the persuasion of Vince allows a young 17 year old, Willow, leaving care to move into the pumphouse.

Willow has had a difficult past and as Laura and her daughter Beth get to know her more about her past is known. Vince, is Willow's social worker and spends quite of bit of time with the family as they help Willow to make the move from care to independence.

As a fan of Rosy Thornton's novel The Tapestry of Love I was delighted to read Ninepins, which is in the same style of storytelling. The setting, in this case the very rural landscape of The Fens in Cambridgeshire, is as much a part of the story as the characters. The Fens is a very unpredictable landscape, one I drive through sometimes on my way to Ely or the coast, but would not want to live in for that very reason. I read this novel fearing what would happen next knowing that bad weather or the dark can change The Fens very quickly and make it perilous.

In this novel mother-daughter relationships are explored through Willow's story and Beth's story. The author captures the fears of a mother with an asthmatic child, who is becoming more independent, very accurately.

I loved this novel, not only because I could identify with Laura, but also because it was set in a familiar setting.

review copy

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laura and her asthmatic daughter, Beth live in a secluded part of the fens. Their lives are turned upside with the arrival of seventeen year old Willow, a girl with a troubled past and a social worker in tow. Laura is already struggling to come to terms with her daughter's demands for more independence and now with Willow and her bi-polar mother, she finds herself questioning her own abilities as a mother.

I finished this book in less than twenty-four hours, unusually short for someone who is easily distracted. The descriptive prose is enticing: 'The trodden earth of the path, though iron beneath, gave under their boots to a depth of a millimetre or so; the water of the lode might not be stone, but a lip of ice lined both banks and here and there in patches in midstream the surface had a treacherously glassy, criss-crossed look. On the north flank of the dyke, away from the sun, the tussocky grass still harboured pockets of white at its roots.'

The characters are entirely believable and Thornton's treatment of the social worker and the psychiatric ward completely up to date, accurate and sympathetic. This is a complex story of motherhood and adolescence carefully and cleverly told, which as it unfolds will hold you in suspense right up to the last chapter.

[David Hebblethwaite · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cambridge academic Laura Blackwood and her twelve-year-old daughter Beth live in Ninepins, a former tollhouse build atop a dyke out in the fens. To help make ends meet, Laura has been renting out the adjoining old pumphouse. As the novel begins, her latest tenant arrives: Willow Tyler, a seventeen-year-old care-leaver. Laura is wary of taking Willow on, because she’s younger than previous tenant, and there are whispers of arson in her past – but she wants to give the girl a chance, and Social Services will pay more rent than would a private tenant. But the subsequent months bring problems with the weather,Willow’s estranged mother, and Beth and her friends.

The sense of place is vivid in Rosy Thornton’s new novel – the damp atmosphere of the fens and the remoteness of Ninepins come straight off the page. The dislocated setting provides a fitting background and mirror to the story: Laura starts to feel increasingly distanced from Beth, who’s now getting into trouble in ways she never previously did; and Willow is trying (though not always succeeding) to leave her mother behind. Besides this, the whole book moves along nicely, all adding up to an engaging read.

[Catherine Cavendish · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the stunning cover onwards, this is a book you just want to keep on reading. The strange, brooding atmosphere of the East Anglian fens is perfectly matched by this story of relationships. The sometimes strained, but deeply loving relationship between Laura and her daughter, Beth, complicated by the introduction of the troubled Willow and the desire of the mother to protect her sick child. But Beth will soon be a child no longer as she is about to enter her teens, with all the rebellion and angst that brings. So Laura must choose whether to cocoon Beth, keep her safe and, in so doing, rob her of the trials, highs and lows of growing up normally, or whether to allow her freedom to discover for herself, make her own mistakes and, if necessary, pay the price for them. But this tells only part of the story. The landscape itself plays a critical part as it can be a dangerous, lonely place, at the mercy of nature - the weather and the perils of living on ever-shifting land. A wonderful, compelling read from an author whose books I have grown to await with much anticipation.

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ninepins is set in the fens where Laura a divorcee lives with her twelve year old daughter Beth. Willow who is now seventeen needs somewhere to live after spending the last four years in care and rents the 'pumphouse' from Laura with the support from her Social Worker Vince.

The story that follows is billed as having the tension of a thriller; I'm not sure this is the really the case, to me it is mainly about an anxious mother learning to let her daughter grow up. Laura comes across as a sympathetic, if a little fussy, character but Willow and Beth remain a little more indistinct.

This book about relationships has them all, the mothers and daughters, ex-husbands, pets and budding romances are all there to be explored in this book. An easy comfortable read.

[Elizabeth Ashworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosy Thornton's descriptions of the fens are atmospheric and beautifully written. As with her last book, A Tapestry of Love, the sense of place is vivid. Her female characters too, are rounded and well expressed. The story explores the relationships between Laura, her daughter Beth and lodger Willow, and it is the dynamics of these relationships rather than a fast moving plot which form the core of the book. Thoughtfully written and addressing difficult subjects in an intelligent and informed manner, this is a novel which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, my first by the author Rosy Thornton. It was strong on character and relationships, even if, as some reviewers have mentioned, the main character, Laura, can make you want to shake her. I found the descriptions of the Fens very evocative. The plot rattled along at a good pace and the ending was very satisfying. I did want to know why Laura had split with her husband when their daughter, Beth, was so young - but that's just a tiny thing.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ninepins is an absolute gem. The countryside of the fens is described with such passion that it becomes a character in its own right, adding a subtle underlying menace. The characters are engaging and interesting and all so very human. The pacing is gentle but draws you in with its undertones that things are not quite right.

If you want a book that is a pleasure to read, beautifully written and utterly gripping then this is the book for you.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read! The characters were real people who lead fairly normal lives doing normal things so you could relate to them. There is suspense, family relationships and teenage (or young people) angst. Lots you can identify with and sympathise with. Very scenic with excellent description of the local area as well. Definatley a book to keep your interest. My first by this author but I will be looking for more.

[Pgchuis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Laura lives with her 11 year old daughter Beth in a remote home in the fens. She lets out the pump house in her grounds to a new tenant, Willow, a 17 year old in care.

I don't know if I just wasn't in the mood, but everything was just so miserable. Willow's story was tragic. Beth treated Laura like dirt and seemed rather "mature" for an 11 year old. I skimmed most of it as it began to read like social issues dressed up with a bit of a storyline.

[Nancy (essayist) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slow moving but thoughtful novel exploring the often uneasy relationships between mothers and daughters. The setting is almost another character here, and one of the delights of "Ninepins" for me was getting to know the fens, a locale totally unfamiliar to me. Thornton's books, not always easy to categorize, are always worth reading.