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The Trick to Time
A heart-wrenching love story from the internationally bestselling author of
My Name Is Leon
Mona is a young Irish girl in the big city, with the thrill of a new job and a room of her own in a busy boarding house. On her first night out in 1970s Birmingham, she meets William, a charming Irish boy with an easy smile and an open face. They embark upon a passionate affair, a whirlwind marriage - before a sudden tragedy tears them apart.
Decades later, Mona pieces together the memories of the years that separate them. But can she ever learn to love again?
The Trick to Time is an unforgettable tale of grief, longing, and a love that lasts a lifetime.
Mona is a young Irish girl in the big city, with the thrill of a new job and a room of her own in a busy boarding house. On her first night out in 1970s Birmingham, she meets William, a charming Irish boy with an easy smile and an open face. They embark upon a passionate affair, a whirlwind marriage - before a sudden tragedy tears them apart.
Decades later, Mona pieces together the memories of the years that separate them. But can she ever learn to love again?
The Trick to Time is an unforgettable tale of grief, longing, and a love that lasts a lifetime.
264 pages, Paperback
First published March 29, 2018
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August 6, 2021
4★
“‘. . . one day, you will want these hours back, my girl. You will wonder how you lost them and you will want to get them back. There’s a trick to time.’
. . .
‘You can make it expand or you can make it contract. Make it shorter or make it longer,’ he says.”
Mona is a little girl who wants to play on the beach instead of spend time with her sick mother. Perfectly natural for a child.
The story follows Desdemona, Mona, a young Irish girl, only child, and young William, a young Irish lad she meets when she leaves her widowed father at home to try her luck in England. They are a happy pair, absolutely penniless, but so content in each other’s company. They are like a pair of puppies, rumbling and tumbling and cuddling and walking hand-in-hand without a brass razoo between them, as the saying goes in Australia.
We have met Mona as a little girl and as a young woman, but the main character is the adult Mona, turning 60. Her good pal tells her:
“’We’re still young, Mona, for God’s sake.’
‘Are we?’
‘Sixty’s the new forty they say, even if it feels like fifty-nine.’”
How can you not have a chuckle? But tragedy struck her in her youth (why does it always ‘strike’, I wonder?), and the adult Mona is alone. For readers who don’t live in the UK or Ireland, it’s easy to forget how violent things were for the Irish in England. We can be dreadful to each other for all sorts of reasons, can’t we?
She now makes dolls of a quite specific nature. They seem to be made according to some baby’s birthweight, and the clients are sent by a counsellor of some sort. Mona simply chats to them a bit, draws them out, and finally asks for a weight. We have to figure this part out ourselves.
There is a carpenter not far away who is pretty taciturn but meticulous with his selection of the right colours and weights of timber for each doll, depending on how light or heavy, how pale or dark Mona wants. He won’t take “payment” as such, but she manages to reimburse him somehow. It’s an odd relationship, but it works, and Mona spends a lot of time painting the dolls and making intricate clothes.
[Disclaimer: I have a friend who makes dolls which look like real children – I mean eerily like real children, and people clamour to get them and take them home. People will push them around in prams, the smaller dolls. They are gorgeous, and a little scary. But I digress.]
Meanwhile, Mona often wakes early, goes to her window, high above the street with her coffee, and one day notices an older gentleman in a nearby building doing likewise. He nods, they salute cups, and they gradually develop a relationship. He is a dapper German, while she tends to be more casual.
“He has a cashmere coat over his shoulders, impossibly elegant, and Mona wonders if she has dresses enough to keep up.”
He calls by unannounced one day, and she’s in old clothes with paint-spattered arms from working on a doll. He sits on the sofa and she joins him.
“The cushions feel hard and unused and she realizes it is many years since she sat on the sofa, maybe only when she bought it and when was that? She looks at her chair and sees that differently too. It looks like a pathetic throne, taking up too much space with the delicate nest of tables at an angle, with the lamp and the TV remote control just at hand, as if an invalid sits there alone night after night, watching quiz shows and shopping channels. She is ashamed again and wonders if he sees her like that.”
I think anyone who’s lived alone (or doesn’t have visitors to speak of) will identify with this. I, too, have a comfy armchair with everything, including all digital devices, at hand, and it’s been referred to as my “nest”, which it very much is! But yes, it is a bit of an embarrassing mess sometimes.
The narrative weaves back and forth between Mona’s childhood, her young womanhood with William, and her adult life now, entertaining the thought of getting to know a new man. As an older woman once said to her:
“‘I had the chance of him, my darling. I had the chance of him. And let me tell you this. The chance of something is a good meal when you’re starving.’”
As an adult, Mona still loves the beach and the sea, although the kind of weather there doesn’t appeal to me.
“Mona never covers her hair. Cold. She pulls her scarf round her neck, too tight, and has to ease it off a little. Wet. Sea-sodden air and giant curls of water pushing in, over and over, black-and-white slaps of sea as loud as a train, as a thousand trains. She loves the sting of wet sand on her skin and the sharp lick of salt on her tongue.”
There was a place in the early part where I thought this might end up some kind of cloying romance, but I very much enjoyed the author’s earlier My Name is Leon, and I know her background in Social Services, so I trusted there would be more to it. And there was.
I do hope the finished version has clearer breaks between chapters or sections, as the preview copy didn’t. It wasn’t all that hard to tell which part of her life we were in, but it helps me to have a demarcation.
I very much enjoyed this and am looking forward to her next one, as I’m sure others will, too. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books/Viking for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.
P.S. The author just tweeted that she's got a book of short stories coming out next, one of which is Bridie's - yay! She's the one who made the comment about the chance of something being a good meal when you're starving. Good character.
P.P.S. Here's an interesting interview in the Guardian with the author.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
“‘. . . one day, you will want these hours back, my girl. You will wonder how you lost them and you will want to get them back. There’s a trick to time.’
. . .
‘You can make it expand or you can make it contract. Make it shorter or make it longer,’ he says.”
Mona is a little girl who wants to play on the beach instead of spend time with her sick mother. Perfectly natural for a child.
The story follows Desdemona, Mona, a young Irish girl, only child, and young William, a young Irish lad she meets when she leaves her widowed father at home to try her luck in England. They are a happy pair, absolutely penniless, but so content in each other’s company. They are like a pair of puppies, rumbling and tumbling and cuddling and walking hand-in-hand without a brass razoo between them, as the saying goes in Australia.
We have met Mona as a little girl and as a young woman, but the main character is the adult Mona, turning 60. Her good pal tells her:
“’We’re still young, Mona, for God’s sake.’
‘Are we?’
‘Sixty’s the new forty they say, even if it feels like fifty-nine.’”
How can you not have a chuckle? But tragedy struck her in her youth (why does it always ‘strike’, I wonder?), and the adult Mona is alone. For readers who don’t live in the UK or Ireland, it’s easy to forget how violent things were for the Irish in England. We can be dreadful to each other for all sorts of reasons, can’t we?
She now makes dolls of a quite specific nature. They seem to be made according to some baby’s birthweight, and the clients are sent by a counsellor of some sort. Mona simply chats to them a bit, draws them out, and finally asks for a weight. We have to figure this part out ourselves.
There is a carpenter not far away who is pretty taciturn but meticulous with his selection of the right colours and weights of timber for each doll, depending on how light or heavy, how pale or dark Mona wants. He won’t take “payment” as such, but she manages to reimburse him somehow. It’s an odd relationship, but it works, and Mona spends a lot of time painting the dolls and making intricate clothes.
[Disclaimer: I have a friend who makes dolls which look like real children – I mean eerily like real children, and people clamour to get them and take them home. People will push them around in prams, the smaller dolls. They are gorgeous, and a little scary. But I digress.]
Meanwhile, Mona often wakes early, goes to her window, high above the street with her coffee, and one day notices an older gentleman in a nearby building doing likewise. He nods, they salute cups, and they gradually develop a relationship. He is a dapper German, while she tends to be more casual.
“He has a cashmere coat over his shoulders, impossibly elegant, and Mona wonders if she has dresses enough to keep up.”
He calls by unannounced one day, and she’s in old clothes with paint-spattered arms from working on a doll. He sits on the sofa and she joins him.
“The cushions feel hard and unused and she realizes it is many years since she sat on the sofa, maybe only when she bought it and when was that? She looks at her chair and sees that differently too. It looks like a pathetic throne, taking up too much space with the delicate nest of tables at an angle, with the lamp and the TV remote control just at hand, as if an invalid sits there alone night after night, watching quiz shows and shopping channels. She is ashamed again and wonders if he sees her like that.”
I think anyone who’s lived alone (or doesn’t have visitors to speak of) will identify with this. I, too, have a comfy armchair with everything, including all digital devices, at hand, and it’s been referred to as my “nest”, which it very much is! But yes, it is a bit of an embarrassing mess sometimes.
The narrative weaves back and forth between Mona’s childhood, her young womanhood with William, and her adult life now, entertaining the thought of getting to know a new man. As an older woman once said to her:
“‘I had the chance of him, my darling. I had the chance of him. And let me tell you this. The chance of something is a good meal when you’re starving.’”
As an adult, Mona still loves the beach and the sea, although the kind of weather there doesn’t appeal to me.
“Mona never covers her hair. Cold. She pulls her scarf round her neck, too tight, and has to ease it off a little. Wet. Sea-sodden air and giant curls of water pushing in, over and over, black-and-white slaps of sea as loud as a train, as a thousand trains. She loves the sting of wet sand on her skin and the sharp lick of salt on her tongue.”
There was a place in the early part where I thought this might end up some kind of cloying romance, but I very much enjoyed the author’s earlier My Name is Leon, and I know her background in Social Services, so I trusted there would be more to it. And there was.
I do hope the finished version has clearer breaks between chapters or sections, as the preview copy didn’t. It wasn’t all that hard to tell which part of her life we were in, but it helps me to have a demarcation.
I very much enjoyed this and am looking forward to her next one, as I’m sure others will, too. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books/Viking for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.
P.S. The author just tweeted that she's got a book of short stories coming out next, one of which is Bridie's - yay! She's the one who made the comment about the chance of something being a good meal when you're starving. Good character.
P.P.S. Here's an interesting interview in the Guardian with the author.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
August 13, 2019
The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal.
‘Some moments you want to last forever. Some moments shape a life.’
This novel is set in two time periods. Current day, as our main character Mona is approaching her 60th birthday and the past, covering Mona’s childhood in Ireland and later years when she moves to Birmingham. I found the sections set in the past to be the strongest and most interesting.
In the 70’s, Mona meets and falls in love with William. Living in Birmingham, they marry and Mona falls pregnant, then tragedy strikes.
Current day - Mona has a small shop where she creates and sells handmade dolls. Women drift into the shop and somehow the dolls instigate deep conversations. The women all want to share memories and upsets from their past. I found these sections strange and hard to relate to.
Although this book had its ups and downs for me, I enjoyed the book overall ......but I have a feeling I might have missed some underlying element as I was confused by the ending.
‘Some moments you want to last forever. Some moments shape a life.’
This novel is set in two time periods. Current day, as our main character Mona is approaching her 60th birthday and the past, covering Mona’s childhood in Ireland and later years when she moves to Birmingham. I found the sections set in the past to be the strongest and most interesting.
In the 70’s, Mona meets and falls in love with William. Living in Birmingham, they marry and Mona falls pregnant, then tragedy strikes.
Current day - Mona has a small shop where she creates and sells handmade dolls. Women drift into the shop and somehow the dolls instigate deep conversations. The women all want to share memories and upsets from their past. I found these sections strange and hard to relate to.
Although this book had its ups and downs for me, I enjoyed the book overall ......but I have a feeling I might have missed some underlying element as I was confused by the ending.
Read
May 12, 2018This is a beautiful book. Video review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgZmi...
March 29, 2018
Mona is a doll maker. She crafts beautiful wooden dolls in her workshop. Every doll has a name. And every doll has a hidden meaning., from a past Mona has never accepted.
Mona is approaching sixty years old. She creates wooden dolls with the help of the local carpenter. The story jumps from the present to Mona's past as a young girl/woman., when she falls in love with William. They both leave Ireland for a new life in Birmingham. But things go wrong the night of the IRA bombings. There is a fantastic bunch of characters in this book who rallied round in Mona's time of need. This is a beautifully written and emotional read. This is the first book I have read by Kit de Waal but I have already downloaded three of he books to my kindle. I do recommend this book!!
I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Books (UK) and the author Kit de Waal for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Mona is approaching sixty years old. She creates wooden dolls with the help of the local carpenter. The story jumps from the present to Mona's past as a young girl/woman., when she falls in love with William. They both leave Ireland for a new life in Birmingham. But things go wrong the night of the IRA bombings. There is a fantastic bunch of characters in this book who rallied round in Mona's time of need. This is a beautifully written and emotional read. This is the first book I have read by Kit de Waal but I have already downloaded three of he books to my kindle. I do recommend this book!!
I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Books (UK) and the author Kit de Waal for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 22, 2018
I love it when a novel surprises me. I’m not specifically talking plot twists – although, this book does have a big one towards the end which I didn’t anticipate. It’s more that feeling when I’m reading a book and the writing is fine, but I’m not sure I see the point of the story. But then it gets to a section where it emotionally grips me and breaks my heart and pieces it back together bit by bit. The best example of this I always go back to is Colm Tóibín’s “Brooklyn” which made me flip and fall in love with it halfway through. But now I can say the same about Kit De Waal “The Trick to Time”. This novel slides effortlessly between the early and later life of Mona, a girl from Ireland who eventually moves to England and spends many years making elegant handcrafted dolls as well as emotionally assisting bereaved women in their grieving process. It’s a deceptively simple story that makes big statements about loss, relationships and the power imagination can play in rescuing us from the ravages of time.
Read my full review of The Trick of Time by Kit De Waal on LonesomeReader
Read my full review of The Trick of Time by Kit De Waal on LonesomeReader
July 21, 2018
If I can summarise the book very shortly, I can tell it's emotionally moving and heart breaking. It's well written, touching your heart.
Mona is our main character, who falls in love with William at a very young age, and they get married. We start listening to the story from her when she's stepping into her 60th birthday and she's reflecting on her past. We go back and forth to different periods of her life and try to bring the pieces together to learn about her current state. She runs a doll shop and also helps women cope with tragic losses, knowing what it is herself. I love books in which we go back and forth in time to complete a story. So, I enjoyed it s lot. And I enjoyed De Waal's writing a lot. It was beautiful and moving. I didn't see the twist at the end of the book. That was a big surprise for me, which I thought was very clever. I loved Mona as a character.
The only criticism I have for the book is, it felt a bit incomplete by not knowing the story from William's side. I really would have loved to know more of what he's been through and how he ended up where he did. I felt it was a bit disorganised and there were gaps where we could get more out of the story completing the picture.
But, overall, I really liked the book and Mona's story.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin publishers for granting a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Mona is our main character, who falls in love with William at a very young age, and they get married. We start listening to the story from her when she's stepping into her 60th birthday and she's reflecting on her past. We go back and forth to different periods of her life and try to bring the pieces together to learn about her current state. She runs a doll shop and also helps women cope with tragic losses, knowing what it is herself. I love books in which we go back and forth in time to complete a story. So, I enjoyed it s lot. And I enjoyed De Waal's writing a lot. It was beautiful and moving. I didn't see the twist at the end of the book. That was a big surprise for me, which I thought was very clever. I loved Mona as a character.
The only criticism I have for the book is, it felt a bit incomplete by not knowing the story from William's side. I really would have loved to know more of what he's been through and how he ended up where he did. I felt it was a bit disorganised and there were gaps where we could get more out of the story completing the picture.
But, overall, I really liked the book and Mona's story.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin publishers for granting a copy in exchange for an honest review.
April 5, 2018
I read this book due to its longlisting for the 2018 Women’s Prize.
The book is written from the third party viewpoint of Mona, starting just before her sixtieth birthday in an English seaside town where she runs a toy shop and an internet business selling hand-made dolls, crafter by a local carpenter (a loner with whom she has an ambiguous relationship) and then painted by her and beautifully dressed in clothes she makes from second hand clothes.
At the book’s start she spots an elderly and seemingly elegant man in a flat opposite and the two start a slow-burning friendship, marked by the man Karl (a German, who over time reveals that his almost lifelong friend - a rich man - died recently) who is as dapper and refined as she first imagined him. Their relationship becomes more awkward as they explore it turning into more of a relationship (Mona’s ambiguous relationship with the carpenter seemingly being one of the blockers).
Occasionally her shop is visited by women sent by a counsellor - reluctantly revealing a birth weight to her and giving her a precious keepsake. We quickly realise that Mona gets the carpenter to craft a doll in the weight of the women’s stillborn baby and uses the doll (which inevitably reminds them of holding their bay shortly after its death) to help them to therapeutically explore the life their child might have led.
Mona looks back across her life: her mother dies when she was a child just before which her father urges her to make the most of her time with her mother and shares his trick of time (“You can make it expand or make it contract. Make it shorter or make it longer” - as Mona later adds “You can make the most of what you have”); later when she emigrates to Birmingham from Ireland in the 1970s, meeting and marrying William and becoming pregnant with his child (something William panics about - seemingly concerned he will be as bad a parent as his own largely absent and often mentally ill father).
A key part of the book is Mona’s habit of invention and her clear affinity with those who will share that habit with her: of imagining with a quite joy the future (as she does with William when they are first married - walking past rich houses and imagining the life they would lead there); or exploring a possible alternative present (with Karl she visits an antiques fair and the two pretend to be living in a house containing the antiques); or most poignantly re-ineventing an alternative past (as she does with mother’s of still born babies and at the book’s end with her own child).
The book is well if not brilliantly crafted, deeply affecting with some heart-wrenching scenes and some memorably sketched side characters (particularly Mona and William’s female relatives) and with a plot which just about manages to avoid crossing the boundary into melodrama, but which relies a little too much on a third party viewpoint withholding crucial information.
The book is written from the third party viewpoint of Mona, starting just before her sixtieth birthday in an English seaside town where she runs a toy shop and an internet business selling hand-made dolls, crafter by a local carpenter (a loner with whom she has an ambiguous relationship) and then painted by her and beautifully dressed in clothes she makes from second hand clothes.
At the book’s start she spots an elderly and seemingly elegant man in a flat opposite and the two start a slow-burning friendship, marked by the man Karl (a German, who over time reveals that his almost lifelong friend - a rich man - died recently) who is as dapper and refined as she first imagined him. Their relationship becomes more awkward as they explore it turning into more of a relationship (Mona’s ambiguous relationship with the carpenter seemingly being one of the blockers).
Occasionally her shop is visited by women sent by a counsellor - reluctantly revealing a birth weight to her and giving her a precious keepsake. We quickly realise that Mona gets the carpenter to craft a doll in the weight of the women’s stillborn baby and uses the doll (which inevitably reminds them of holding their bay shortly after its death) to help them to therapeutically explore the life their child might have led.
Mona looks back across her life: her mother dies when she was a child just before which her father urges her to make the most of her time with her mother and shares his trick of time (“You can make it expand or make it contract. Make it shorter or make it longer” - as Mona later adds “You can make the most of what you have”); later when she emigrates to Birmingham from Ireland in the 1970s, meeting and marrying William and becoming pregnant with his child (something William panics about - seemingly concerned he will be as bad a parent as his own largely absent and often mentally ill father).
A key part of the book is Mona’s habit of invention and her clear affinity with those who will share that habit with her: of imagining with a quite joy the future (as she does with William when they are first married - walking past rich houses and imagining the life they would lead there); or exploring a possible alternative present (with Karl she visits an antiques fair and the two pretend to be living in a house containing the antiques); or most poignantly re-ineventing an alternative past (as she does with mother’s of still born babies and at the book’s end with her own child).
The book is well if not brilliantly crafted, deeply affecting with some heart-wrenching scenes and some memorably sketched side characters (particularly Mona and William’s female relatives) and with a plot which just about manages to avoid crossing the boundary into melodrama, but which relies a little too much on a third party viewpoint withholding crucial information.
March 12, 2021
This book sure did surprise me.
I liked that is was Irish which fitted in with the Irishbookathon I joined in. And that they had moved to Birmingham.
We get two timelines.
One when Mona is young and when she’s many years older. The back and forth was easy to follow.
There’s a layer of sadness that emulates throughout the story but also hope.
Totally loved this book. I was so sceptical as I loved the authors previous book and wasn’t sure if she could better it.
You get much more than you expect from this.
I liked that is was Irish which fitted in with the Irishbookathon I joined in. And that they had moved to Birmingham.
We get two timelines.
One when Mona is young and when she’s many years older. The back and forth was easy to follow.
There’s a layer of sadness that emulates throughout the story but also hope.
Totally loved this book. I was so sceptical as I loved the authors previous book and wasn’t sure if she could better it.
You get much more than you expect from this.
June 29, 2020
For my full review, visit me at https://mrsbrownsbooks.wordpress.com/...
This was an emotionally charged read. I struggled to get into it initially and then found I was absorbed into the narrative. It made me weepy and sad, so I guess it wasn’t the most of heart-lifting books I could read!
For my full review, visit me at https://mrsbrownsbooks.wordpress.com/...
This was an emotionally charged read. I struggled to get into it initially and then found I was absorbed into the narrative. It made me weepy and sad, so I guess it wasn’t the most of heart-lifting books I could read!
For my full review, visit me at https://mrsbrownsbooks.wordpress.com/...
May 8, 2018
A middle-of-the-road read. Good, not great. Very lukewarm feelings about this.
When I started The Trick to Time, I was optimistic. I loved the polished, concise writing style. I was intrigued by the fact that its protagonist was a doll-maker (how cool is that!). As the novel's story progressed I was like okay, this could be interesting. let's wait and see how this pans out. So I waited, and waited, and then waited some more, but the standout moments I wanted to see just never materialized. Even worse, I got increasingly bored and restless. At the heart of The Trick to Time is an exploration of the acute mental and emotional effects that losing a baby can have—that I thought was poignantly done. The rest, however, was wishy-washy more than anything. The characters weren't anything special—there was one in particular that felt completely superfluous to the story, not to mention irritating. The plot, which is split into present and past sections, was fine, though I thought the "present" sections were far inferior to the "past" ones. As a whole, The Trick to Time was just okay. I can't really say much more about it other than that.
When I started The Trick to Time, I was optimistic. I loved the polished, concise writing style. I was intrigued by the fact that its protagonist was a doll-maker (how cool is that!). As the novel's story progressed I was like okay, this could be interesting. let's wait and see how this pans out. So I waited, and waited, and then waited some more, but the standout moments I wanted to see just never materialized. Even worse, I got increasingly bored and restless. At the heart of The Trick to Time is an exploration of the acute mental and emotional effects that losing a baby can have—that I thought was poignantly done. The rest, however, was wishy-washy more than anything. The characters weren't anything special—there was one in particular that felt completely superfluous to the story, not to mention irritating. The plot, which is split into present and past sections, was fine, though I thought the "present" sections were far inferior to the "past" ones. As a whole, The Trick to Time was just okay. I can't really say much more about it other than that.
May 31, 2018
I read the first 70 pages. There’s nothing wrong with the book per se; I just wasn’t compelled to read more. Mona is a lonely 60-year-old who runs a toy shop in a seaside town and devotes herself to making custom-designed dolls. There are some major losses in her past, at first just hints and then whole stories. Her father once told her there’s a trick to time: “You can make it expand or you can make it contract.” In memory Mona can relive the limited moments she had with her loved ones. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to fans of Rachel Joyce – the story line is particularly reminiscent of
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
and The Snow Garden – but I wonder if de Waal’s previous book would feel more original.
March 23, 2018
Towards the end of last year I wrote about books I was looking forward to reading this year. Kit de Waal's new book, The Trick to Time, was among them. I loved her previous book, My Name is Leon, but I absolutely adored reading this wonderful book.
"One day, you will want these hours back, my girl. You will wonder how you lost them and you will want to get them back. There's a trick to time. You can make it expand or you can make it contract. Make it shorter or make it longer."
Mona is approaching her 60th birthday and is a dollmaker. She lives a solitary life with only a few friends. She works with a carpenter who makes the dolls, to very exact specifications, while she creates their clothes and paints their features. Many of the dolls she makes have a hidden meaning known only to the people who buy them. Mona arrived from Ireland as a young girl, so excited to be living in Birmingham and with a new job. When she meets William at a dance, it is love between them almost instantly and they soon marry. A tragedy tears them apart and woven through the chapters of this book, Mona looks back at significant moments in her own and their life together.
In Mona, Kit de Waal has created a character I think many women can empathise with. She has known hardship, has known joy and has known great sorrow and loss. The subject matter may be very close to home for many women and for that reason might be difficult for some to read as it could bring back painful memories. It was at times hard to read as I knew that something terribly sad was going to happen. Yet, Kit de Waal has written with such insight and sensitivity that the book is never overly emotional but instead is moving and powerful.
Although Mona is the main focus of the book, it would not be right to review this without mentioning just some of the other characters who add so much to the story. In particular, William's aunts Teresa and Margaret, (who he dubbed Pestilence and Famine!) proved to be a true support to Mona in her time of need, as did Bridie a family friend. The compassionate Nurse Archer showed much emotional intelligence at a time when women who had experienced loss were just supposed to get on with things.
The Trick to Time is a beautifully written, powerful and poignant account of loss and grief yet above all an account of enduring love. Without doubt, this will appear on my Top Reads list at the end of this year.
"One day, you will want these hours back, my girl. You will wonder how you lost them and you will want to get them back. There's a trick to time. You can make it expand or you can make it contract. Make it shorter or make it longer."
Mona is approaching her 60th birthday and is a dollmaker. She lives a solitary life with only a few friends. She works with a carpenter who makes the dolls, to very exact specifications, while she creates their clothes and paints their features. Many of the dolls she makes have a hidden meaning known only to the people who buy them. Mona arrived from Ireland as a young girl, so excited to be living in Birmingham and with a new job. When she meets William at a dance, it is love between them almost instantly and they soon marry. A tragedy tears them apart and woven through the chapters of this book, Mona looks back at significant moments in her own and their life together.
In Mona, Kit de Waal has created a character I think many women can empathise with. She has known hardship, has known joy and has known great sorrow and loss. The subject matter may be very close to home for many women and for that reason might be difficult for some to read as it could bring back painful memories. It was at times hard to read as I knew that something terribly sad was going to happen. Yet, Kit de Waal has written with such insight and sensitivity that the book is never overly emotional but instead is moving and powerful.
Although Mona is the main focus of the book, it would not be right to review this without mentioning just some of the other characters who add so much to the story. In particular, William's aunts Teresa and Margaret, (who he dubbed Pestilence and Famine!) proved to be a true support to Mona in her time of need, as did Bridie a family friend. The compassionate Nurse Archer showed much emotional intelligence at a time when women who had experienced loss were just supposed to get on with things.
The Trick to Time is a beautifully written, powerful and poignant account of loss and grief yet above all an account of enduring love. Without doubt, this will appear on my Top Reads list at the end of this year.
November 27, 2018
A simple but beguiling story. 4.5 stars.
In The Trick to Time, author Kit de Waal takes us back to Birmingham in the 70s, during the time of the IRA pub bombings. While the events of the time are pivotal to the story of the tragedy that unfolds in this book, they occur off to the side, with de Waal, instead, bringing her focus to the personal misfortunes of two characters: 20-something Irish immigrants Mona and William. At first, this is a story of love at first sight, but it soon develops into a beautifully tender story of marriage and grief, suffering and long-term devotion.
The story is told through Mona in concurrent past and present narratives. In the present day, Mona is turning 60 and living in a seaside town in England. Childless and living alone, she runs a specialised doll-making business, the premise of which is both intriguing and heartrendingly sweet. Without giving too much away, this business helps people who are suffering from loss and eventually hints at the compelling truth of Mona's sad tale. As soon as I read about Mona's endeavors and the manner in which she creates these dolls, I was mesmerised by this book. Lovers of de Waal's debut novel may say Leon is a difficult book to follow but, for me, the impact of this sophomore effort is even greater.
When we venture into the past with Mona, we learn about her mother's early death from cancer and the love she had for her father, which held onto her even when she yearned to flee her stifling Wexford hometown. We witness her eventual move to Birmingham and the overwhelming guilt she feels when a shock phone call brings her home again. We see her meet William and delight in her happiness when their relationship develops into something meaningful. But, sadly for Mona, loss is never too far away.
The emotional connection I experienced with these characters was intense. De Waal has a major talent in the effortless way she makes you care about the fictional community she creates. Every character in this story has a unique voice and we want to listen to them all: the caring, grieving father, raising his young daughter alone; the busybody relation in Wexford who eventually reveals her truth; the teenage assistant who works in Mona's shop; and, of course, Mona's husband, William, who breaks our heart. The care we have for these characters translates to a genuine fear for their well-being and, subsequently, a gentle suspense, which for me is far more effective than a story reliant on cliff hangers. I needed to know what happened Mona and William, and I needed to know that Mona would be okay, which made it impossible for me to put this book down.
The Trick to Time is a simple but utterly beautiful tale that really pulls on your heartstrings. It is about love and loss, and the burden of dealing with other people's tragedies. The dialogue is authentic and snappy, the pacing is perfect. There is nothing complex about the structure and the story flows perfectly. The story is emotional but not sentimental, with enough flourishes of humour to keep it from becoming too heavy. It is a truly special story and one that will certainly stay with me. Highly recommended.
In The Trick to Time, author Kit de Waal takes us back to Birmingham in the 70s, during the time of the IRA pub bombings. While the events of the time are pivotal to the story of the tragedy that unfolds in this book, they occur off to the side, with de Waal, instead, bringing her focus to the personal misfortunes of two characters: 20-something Irish immigrants Mona and William. At first, this is a story of love at first sight, but it soon develops into a beautifully tender story of marriage and grief, suffering and long-term devotion.
The story is told through Mona in concurrent past and present narratives. In the present day, Mona is turning 60 and living in a seaside town in England. Childless and living alone, she runs a specialised doll-making business, the premise of which is both intriguing and heartrendingly sweet. Without giving too much away, this business helps people who are suffering from loss and eventually hints at the compelling truth of Mona's sad tale. As soon as I read about Mona's endeavors and the manner in which she creates these dolls, I was mesmerised by this book. Lovers of de Waal's debut novel may say Leon is a difficult book to follow but, for me, the impact of this sophomore effort is even greater.
When we venture into the past with Mona, we learn about her mother's early death from cancer and the love she had for her father, which held onto her even when she yearned to flee her stifling Wexford hometown. We witness her eventual move to Birmingham and the overwhelming guilt she feels when a shock phone call brings her home again. We see her meet William and delight in her happiness when their relationship develops into something meaningful. But, sadly for Mona, loss is never too far away.
The emotional connection I experienced with these characters was intense. De Waal has a major talent in the effortless way she makes you care about the fictional community she creates. Every character in this story has a unique voice and we want to listen to them all: the caring, grieving father, raising his young daughter alone; the busybody relation in Wexford who eventually reveals her truth; the teenage assistant who works in Mona's shop; and, of course, Mona's husband, William, who breaks our heart. The care we have for these characters translates to a genuine fear for their well-being and, subsequently, a gentle suspense, which for me is far more effective than a story reliant on cliff hangers. I needed to know what happened Mona and William, and I needed to know that Mona would be okay, which made it impossible for me to put this book down.
The Trick to Time is a simple but utterly beautiful tale that really pulls on your heartstrings. It is about love and loss, and the burden of dealing with other people's tragedies. The dialogue is authentic and snappy, the pacing is perfect. There is nothing complex about the structure and the story flows perfectly. The story is emotional but not sentimental, with enough flourishes of humour to keep it from becoming too heavy. It is a truly special story and one that will certainly stay with me. Highly recommended.
July 30, 2019
Mona broke my heart! Wonderful story of love and loyalty.
May 14, 2018
This is a novel that makes you think and it packs a lot of feeling and depth of emotion into less than three hundred pages.
We meet Mona, in her present situation, coming up to sixty years old and living alone in a seaside town and creating and decorating special wooden dolls for her shop with the help of a local carpenter, each doll with a significance, and we meet Mona in the past, as a little girl in Ireland and then as a young woman in Birmingham in 1972, just starting to make her way in the world, and falling in love with young Irishman William, marrying and falling pregnant, and the tragedy that ensues. The threads of Mona's life are intermingled throughout the narrative, taking us back and forth, moments from the past becoming memories and reflections in the present, with the most heartbreaking moment of all becoming a memory that has been too hard to confront.
In The Trick to Time, Kit de Waal writes of many things, of falling in love and the joy and happiness it can bring, of loneliness and terrible sadness and immense loss, grief that lasts a lifetime, of mental health and the hidden, mostly invisible nature of this pain, of leaving home and the connections to where we come from, memories that haunt us, the excitement yet also the anxiety and doubt surrounding the forging of new relationships whilst still feeling the bonds and pull of the past strongly.
How, when there is one thing above all else in the world that hurts us to think about or see, that is so often the only thing we can seem to see and notice in the world around us.
Such a moving tale, I felt such sadness for Mona and for William, for what happened in their young lives. Sometimes I felt I wanted to be drawn closer to some of the characters surrounding Mona, but this is very much her life and her story. I feel I preferred My Name is Leon to this novel overall but admired qualities in the writing of both.
Two passages that I liked in particular:
...'one day, you will want these hours back, my girl. You will wonder how you lost them and you will want to get them back. There's a trick to time.'
Everything is beautiful from a distance, even our memories. Even the memories that were not once so good can be appreciated over time, don't you think?'
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced ecopy of this book.
We meet Mona, in her present situation, coming up to sixty years old and living alone in a seaside town and creating and decorating special wooden dolls for her shop with the help of a local carpenter, each doll with a significance, and we meet Mona in the past, as a little girl in Ireland and then as a young woman in Birmingham in 1972, just starting to make her way in the world, and falling in love with young Irishman William, marrying and falling pregnant, and the tragedy that ensues. The threads of Mona's life are intermingled throughout the narrative, taking us back and forth, moments from the past becoming memories and reflections in the present, with the most heartbreaking moment of all becoming a memory that has been too hard to confront.
In The Trick to Time, Kit de Waal writes of many things, of falling in love and the joy and happiness it can bring, of loneliness and terrible sadness and immense loss, grief that lasts a lifetime, of mental health and the hidden, mostly invisible nature of this pain, of leaving home and the connections to where we come from, memories that haunt us, the excitement yet also the anxiety and doubt surrounding the forging of new relationships whilst still feeling the bonds and pull of the past strongly.
How, when there is one thing above all else in the world that hurts us to think about or see, that is so often the only thing we can seem to see and notice in the world around us.
Such a moving tale, I felt such sadness for Mona and for William, for what happened in their young lives. Sometimes I felt I wanted to be drawn closer to some of the characters surrounding Mona, but this is very much her life and her story. I feel I preferred My Name is Leon to this novel overall but admired qualities in the writing of both.
Two passages that I liked in particular:
...'one day, you will want these hours back, my girl. You will wonder how you lost them and you will want to get them back. There's a trick to time.'
Everything is beautiful from a distance, even our memories. Even the memories that were not once so good can be appreciated over time, don't you think?'
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced ecopy of this book.
February 15, 2018
I was lucky enough to be given this book to read by Net Galley. It has taken me days to write this review and I am not sure I can do the book justice. A beautiful story that deals with a subject people don’t talk about, the life altering grief that comes with the loss of a baby and the suffering of a still birth.
This is Mona’s story but every single character in this book is beautifully drawn and has depth, each one adds a layer to the book that draws you in and creates her well rounded life, that at first could seem so empty.
I know it’s early in 2018 but I am pretty sure this one will rate in my top 2010
This is Mona’s story but every single character in this book is beautifully drawn and has depth, each one adds a layer to the book that draws you in and creates her well rounded life, that at first could seem so empty.
I know it’s early in 2018 but I am pretty sure this one will rate in my top 2010
March 6, 2018
It's not often that a book makes me cry but The Trick to Time did. A beautifully written story about a love affair remembered by 60 year old Mona who lives alone and works with a local carpenter crafting dolls for women who have suffered the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or cot death.
Although Mona has friends she is quite solitary and when she begins a relationship with a neighbour, Karl life looks up. But Mona spends much of her time thinking about her first love, her husband, William. They both left Ireland for a new life in Birmingham but things go badly wrong on the night of the IRA bombings. The ending of her story is as unexpected as it is uplifting and I loved the portrayal of a strong female character who is able to overcome obstacles against all the odds.
The Trick to Time will appeal to readers who enjoyed Brooklyn. I'm sure Kit de Waal's many fans will not be disappointed in her second novel and hope it is as successful as My Name Is Leon. It is undoubtedly one of my books of 2018. Thanks to Netgalley and Viking for the opportunity to read and review this remarkable story.
Although Mona has friends she is quite solitary and when she begins a relationship with a neighbour, Karl life looks up. But Mona spends much of her time thinking about her first love, her husband, William. They both left Ireland for a new life in Birmingham but things go badly wrong on the night of the IRA bombings. The ending of her story is as unexpected as it is uplifting and I loved the portrayal of a strong female character who is able to overcome obstacles against all the odds.
The Trick to Time will appeal to readers who enjoyed Brooklyn. I'm sure Kit de Waal's many fans will not be disappointed in her second novel and hope it is as successful as My Name Is Leon. It is undoubtedly one of my books of 2018. Thanks to Netgalley and Viking for the opportunity to read and review this remarkable story.
June 26, 2018
Thank you to the publishers for providing an ARC of this book through NetGalley.
DNF at 25%.
I loved the setting of this book. How could I not? It’s where I’m from. I loved the familiarity with the area and it really felt like the author knew the area and understood the socio-cultural style of the area. I also loved the Irish aspect of the character. It brought another dimension to the character.
But the book itself was just pretty meh. It was slow, it was a bit boring and I couldn’t see where it was going at all. I wasn’t compelled to finish this book at all.
DNF at 25%.
I loved the setting of this book. How could I not? It’s where I’m from. I loved the familiarity with the area and it really felt like the author knew the area and understood the socio-cultural style of the area. I also loved the Irish aspect of the character. It brought another dimension to the character.
But the book itself was just pretty meh. It was slow, it was a bit boring and I couldn’t see where it was going at all. I wasn’t compelled to finish this book at all.
July 19, 2022
Lost for words... wow! I loved this book! For only 260 pages it felt epic! Most of the books I have read recently have felt a little too long. This book however, created its world and characters in such a short amount of pages. Each page was a masterpiece at tugging the heartstrings. So Sentimental and so real and true! Loved this!!! You HAVE TO READ THIS!!
One of the best, if not THE best book I have read so far this year! Beautiful!!!
One of the best, if not THE best book I have read so far this year! Beautiful!!!
March 30, 2018
Love and loss are the big questions that most of us have to deal with in life which on the one hand makes them universal but of course each love is different as is each loss. Kit de Waal has penned an almost understated story populated by seriously lovely characters devoted to the subject.
Mona sits in her flat in London staring at the day dawning when she notices a man in the block across the way from her. He is also awake and looking out, perhaps reaching out to those around him.
I wanted to both be friends with Mona and mother her, an odd combination particularly as she celebrates her sixtieth birthday during the course of this book. She’s a doll-maker, real old-fashioned dolls are made from wood by the carpenter and painstakingly painted and dressed by Mona and then sold, often to overseas buyers in Japan and America. Each doll is unique with a similarly unique wardrobe. Mona has a shop too and here she works day in day out with young Joley with her big boots and crop tops assisting her. Twice a year she meets her old friend Val from Birmingham, where Mona lived in the early 70s.
Mona also offers a personalised service for bereaved mothers and this is her side-line. Not one that is advertised or has a website like the dolls, but one where people are referred for help when a baby has died. In short Mona is a lovely lady with a big heart and whilst that had probably always been the case, we learn what led her to both professions by going back to the beginning when a young girl crossed the Irish Sea and made a life for herself in Birmingham. Living in a boarding house over time she meets William and so this becomes their story.
This is a gentle book which doesn’t mean boring, in fact far from it. The Trick to Time is fearsomely well-written and despite the subject matter it never descends into mawkishness, but rather I was impressed by Mona’s strength, although like her friend Val couldn’t help but feel that perhaps she should put herself first once in a while.
The book shifts backwards and forwards in time pulling in the details of Mona’s childhood, her mother’s illness, her father’s steadfastness and the ongoing sense of obligation to her distant relation Bridie. Ireland was too stifling for many youngsters at the time and so they moved to Birmingham where they stayed in boarding houses and missed their homes. Mona’s time in Birmingham is full of colour, of love and telephone calls across the water, but nothing stays the same, the trick to time is making the most of the good times.
Although this review mentions just a few characters, there are lots, all exquisitely detailed, and on the whole they are lovely people, unlike the majority that perhaps populate my normal reading matter. This is, like My Name is Leon, undoubtedly a character led novel with a message, but not one that the author feels she needs to force, her writing gives us all and I think that The Trick of Time will touch many people’s lives on a personal level, after all, most of us will love and lose throughout our lives.
Mona sits in her flat in London staring at the day dawning when she notices a man in the block across the way from her. He is also awake and looking out, perhaps reaching out to those around him.
I wanted to both be friends with Mona and mother her, an odd combination particularly as she celebrates her sixtieth birthday during the course of this book. She’s a doll-maker, real old-fashioned dolls are made from wood by the carpenter and painstakingly painted and dressed by Mona and then sold, often to overseas buyers in Japan and America. Each doll is unique with a similarly unique wardrobe. Mona has a shop too and here she works day in day out with young Joley with her big boots and crop tops assisting her. Twice a year she meets her old friend Val from Birmingham, where Mona lived in the early 70s.
Mona also offers a personalised service for bereaved mothers and this is her side-line. Not one that is advertised or has a website like the dolls, but one where people are referred for help when a baby has died. In short Mona is a lovely lady with a big heart and whilst that had probably always been the case, we learn what led her to both professions by going back to the beginning when a young girl crossed the Irish Sea and made a life for herself in Birmingham. Living in a boarding house over time she meets William and so this becomes their story.
This is a gentle book which doesn’t mean boring, in fact far from it. The Trick to Time is fearsomely well-written and despite the subject matter it never descends into mawkishness, but rather I was impressed by Mona’s strength, although like her friend Val couldn’t help but feel that perhaps she should put herself first once in a while.
The book shifts backwards and forwards in time pulling in the details of Mona’s childhood, her mother’s illness, her father’s steadfastness and the ongoing sense of obligation to her distant relation Bridie. Ireland was too stifling for many youngsters at the time and so they moved to Birmingham where they stayed in boarding houses and missed their homes. Mona’s time in Birmingham is full of colour, of love and telephone calls across the water, but nothing stays the same, the trick to time is making the most of the good times.
Although this review mentions just a few characters, there are lots, all exquisitely detailed, and on the whole they are lovely people, unlike the majority that perhaps populate my normal reading matter. This is, like My Name is Leon, undoubtedly a character led novel with a message, but not one that the author feels she needs to force, her writing gives us all and I think that The Trick of Time will touch many people’s lives on a personal level, after all, most of us will love and lose throughout our lives.
April 12, 2019
Kit de Waal was born in Birmingham,England of an Irish mother and an African-Caribbean father and she grew up in the Irish section of Birmingham. She is a dual Irish/British citizen.This is her second novel, her first published in 2016. De Waal worked as a magistrate in family courts for 15 years, experience which informed her first novel. This novel is quite a departure as the first focuses on a biracial boy in foster care.
This novel centers on the story of two Irish immigrants, Mona and William, who meet in Ireland and marry. Mona works in a factory and William is a construction worker. Their life is very happy until tragedy strikes. The story moves between past and present to construct the history of Mona and William. Mona lost her mother as an adolescent and was very close to her loving father. Her life in Wexford, however, was limited so she went to England. William was from County Galway, but did not have a happy family life. It is William's past that contributes to their sad future.
At the time of her 60th birthday, Mona works as a doll maker. She also makes "special" dolls, the meaning of which is revealed little by little. It is a sad story, but my book club members were pretty unanimous in liking the novel. But another member and I were hoping the novel would feature more of Birmingham and the Irish community. The 1974 IRA bombing in Birmingham is a central event in the story, and describes the impact that this terrorist attack had on Irish people living in Birmingham in the aftermath. I'd love to see a future novel by de Waal that focuses on the Irish of Birmingham.
This novel centers on the story of two Irish immigrants, Mona and William, who meet in Ireland and marry. Mona works in a factory and William is a construction worker. Their life is very happy until tragedy strikes. The story moves between past and present to construct the history of Mona and William. Mona lost her mother as an adolescent and was very close to her loving father. Her life in Wexford, however, was limited so she went to England. William was from County Galway, but did not have a happy family life. It is William's past that contributes to their sad future.
At the time of her 60th birthday, Mona works as a doll maker. She also makes "special" dolls, the meaning of which is revealed little by little. It is a sad story, but my book club members were pretty unanimous in liking the novel. But another member and I were hoping the novel would feature more of Birmingham and the Irish community. The 1974 IRA bombing in Birmingham is a central event in the story, and describes the impact that this terrorist attack had on Irish people living in Birmingham in the aftermath. I'd love to see a future novel by de Waal that focuses on the Irish of Birmingham.
February 11, 2018
Kit de Waal’s writing deals with emotionally harrowing themes with a sensitive and delicate touch. This is a sad, sad story of stillbirth and its effect on the people involved. Without any hint of lecturing her audience, she shows how social attitudes to stillbirth and the counselling care available to parents have changed since the 1970s.
The two main characters cry out equally for our sympathy - though they handle it very differently, Mona and William’s lives are defined by their experience. Mona is such an appealing character - resourceful and resilient for herself, caring and practical for others, she is just the friend anyone would want. Following her journey over half a century was a real pleasure. If there was a downside to the story for me, it would be the character of Karl - the only jarring note in an otherwise truly engaging read.
A worthy follow-up to the magnificent achievement of ‘My Name is Leon’, one of my favourite books last year, and highly recommended.
Review copy courtesy of Penguin UK, Viking via NetGalley, many thanks.
The two main characters cry out equally for our sympathy - though they handle it very differently, Mona and William’s lives are defined by their experience. Mona is such an appealing character - resourceful and resilient for herself, caring and practical for others, she is just the friend anyone would want. Following her journey over half a century was a real pleasure. If there was a downside to the story for me, it would be the character of Karl - the only jarring note in an otherwise truly engaging read.
A worthy follow-up to the magnificent achievement of ‘My Name is Leon’, one of my favourite books last year, and highly recommended.
Review copy courtesy of Penguin UK, Viking via NetGalley, many thanks.
March 28, 2018
The Trick to Time is my first Kit De Waal novel and I wasn't sure what to expect. But, like any well-written novel, the first time I picked it up, I struggled to put it back down again until I had reached the last full stop. Mona is a dollmaker. Each doll is made to size and weight of her specific customers. But Mona is hiding a dark, heartbreaking, secret from her past. Fantastically written - The Trick to Time will stay with you long after you have reached the final full stop. 4 Stars.
September 30, 2018
Read this for my in person book club. Interesting exploration of ageing and memory, and very good at describing life behind the veneer of one's public persona. Interesting twist, which it took me a while to get.
April 18, 2018
I loved Kit de Waal’s writing from the moment I picked up My Name is Leon. Heartfelt, insightful and with a lovely turn of phrase, she’s got a knack for portraying the truth to human life, and so when I saw that The Trick to Time was coming out, I grabbed the ARC copy with much excitement.
From the off: this book was completely different to her first. Where My Name is Leon focusses on the struggles of growing up in foster care as a biracial boy, The Trick to Time is all about the story of Mona, an aging Irish dollmaker who lives in a sleepy English seaside town, who has a close, yet distant, relationship with the local carpenter, and who has an uncanny knack for helping grieving mothers navigate the loss of their stillborn children.
But that’s not all to Mona’s story, and gradually the book takes us back in time to Mona’s childhood in Ireland, to life as an Irish immigrant in Birmingham during the IRA bombings of 1972, of falling in love with William, and of the heartbreaking pregnancy that sees her life fall apart afterwards. As each layer is revealed to us, we learn not only more about Mona, but about the people that have shaped her life. Kit de Waal is such an observant writer, and brilliantly evocative: through the lens of William and Mona’s relationship, she writes about love, loss, loneliness and sadness, of the power of memory- and how it impacts you even years later.
Though this is very much Mona’s story, de Waal creates a plethora of memorable characters that you grow to care about almost as much as the main character, from William to Karl, the aging man who starts to pursue a relationship with Mona. The whole book is suffused with a kind of poignant longing- regret for the past, maybe- and watching Mona try to open up throughout the novel is really heartbreaking. As a character, she’s easily one of the most memorable I’ve recently read- not just because of how her past and future interlink so seamlessly, but because she’s a strong, fearless heroine who has coped with everything life has thrown at her and more. Though at times she can come across as indecisive and hesitant, she’s also so relatable: she feels like a real person, with a real person’s regrets, life experiences and past.
The ending, when it comes, is a real shocker- if a tad gratuitous, but that’s me being picky- and really ties up the novel in a way that hammers the emotion home. In anybody else’s hands, the book would perhaps be overly emotional, but de Waal makes it into something that’s sad and powerful in equal measure. Though it can be slow-paced at times, The Trick to Time also packs real punch: read it!
From the off: this book was completely different to her first. Where My Name is Leon focusses on the struggles of growing up in foster care as a biracial boy, The Trick to Time is all about the story of Mona, an aging Irish dollmaker who lives in a sleepy English seaside town, who has a close, yet distant, relationship with the local carpenter, and who has an uncanny knack for helping grieving mothers navigate the loss of their stillborn children.
But that’s not all to Mona’s story, and gradually the book takes us back in time to Mona’s childhood in Ireland, to life as an Irish immigrant in Birmingham during the IRA bombings of 1972, of falling in love with William, and of the heartbreaking pregnancy that sees her life fall apart afterwards. As each layer is revealed to us, we learn not only more about Mona, but about the people that have shaped her life. Kit de Waal is such an observant writer, and brilliantly evocative: through the lens of William and Mona’s relationship, she writes about love, loss, loneliness and sadness, of the power of memory- and how it impacts you even years later.
Though this is very much Mona’s story, de Waal creates a plethora of memorable characters that you grow to care about almost as much as the main character, from William to Karl, the aging man who starts to pursue a relationship with Mona. The whole book is suffused with a kind of poignant longing- regret for the past, maybe- and watching Mona try to open up throughout the novel is really heartbreaking. As a character, she’s easily one of the most memorable I’ve recently read- not just because of how her past and future interlink so seamlessly, but because she’s a strong, fearless heroine who has coped with everything life has thrown at her and more. Though at times she can come across as indecisive and hesitant, she’s also so relatable: she feels like a real person, with a real person’s regrets, life experiences and past.
The ending, when it comes, is a real shocker- if a tad gratuitous, but that’s me being picky- and really ties up the novel in a way that hammers the emotion home. In anybody else’s hands, the book would perhaps be overly emotional, but de Waal makes it into something that’s sad and powerful in equal measure. Though it can be slow-paced at times, The Trick to Time also packs real punch: read it!
April 12, 2018
Irish fiction often seems to have a way of getting deep under my skin, right down into my bones where I end up feeling the story in a way that makes it impossible to truly ever let go of. The Trick to Time is such a gem of a novel, so incredibly moving and uniquely insightful.
Mona is sixty, lives in a nice apartment with a view, is financially secure, has a successful small business creating unique collectable dolls, and enjoys the company of a group of friends and acquaintances on a regular basis. She also has a gift: she knows the trick to time and teaches it to others. How she developed such an ability and why she teaches it to others is a story that will break your heart.
“Mona takes a breath.
‘It was only the kindness of a stranger that gave me the time to say goodbye. And that kindness gave me forty-five minutes with my child and I turned that forty-five minutes into a lifetime, into all the days and hours and weeks and years that we would never have together.’
The French windows rattle against the frame and Mona stands up to lock them.
‘There is a trick to time, Sarah. You can make it expand or you can make it contract. You can make the most of what you have.’”
The Trick to Time is a novel about love, hope, loss and grief. It shows how eternal love is, how grief may dim over time but never truly be extinguished. It shows how to live again when all ahead seems lost. Kit de Waal’s words are seemingly infused with magic, her prose filled with the beauty of truth and an insight that will leave you breathless and aching for more. This is a novel where the less you know about the story ahead of reading, the better. You will appreciate it all the more.
Thanks is extended to Penguin Random House Australia for providing me with a copy of The Trick to Time for review.
Mona is sixty, lives in a nice apartment with a view, is financially secure, has a successful small business creating unique collectable dolls, and enjoys the company of a group of friends and acquaintances on a regular basis. She also has a gift: she knows the trick to time and teaches it to others. How she developed such an ability and why she teaches it to others is a story that will break your heart.
“Mona takes a breath.
‘It was only the kindness of a stranger that gave me the time to say goodbye. And that kindness gave me forty-five minutes with my child and I turned that forty-five minutes into a lifetime, into all the days and hours and weeks and years that we would never have together.’
The French windows rattle against the frame and Mona stands up to lock them.
‘There is a trick to time, Sarah. You can make it expand or you can make it contract. You can make the most of what you have.’”
The Trick to Time is a novel about love, hope, loss and grief. It shows how eternal love is, how grief may dim over time but never truly be extinguished. It shows how to live again when all ahead seems lost. Kit de Waal’s words are seemingly infused with magic, her prose filled with the beauty of truth and an insight that will leave you breathless and aching for more. This is a novel where the less you know about the story ahead of reading, the better. You will appreciate it all the more.
Thanks is extended to Penguin Random House Australia for providing me with a copy of The Trick to Time for review.
July 5, 2019
There’s a point in life - perhaps it arrives at different times for different people, but certainly most of us must experience it by middle-age - when time seems to speed up: another summer gone by again, and surely it’s not Christmas already? And perhaps as the experiences and memories pile up, the past seems always to be with us - and it becomes increasingly difficult to just live in the present moment.
When this story begins, the protagonist Mona (‘Desdemona’) is on the eve of turning 60. She lives in an English seaside town and she owns a small shop which sells her handmade dolls. (This is the second book I’ve read this year where the main character is a doll-maker - the first being An American Marriage. In this book, though, Mona’s occupation has a very special significance in the story.). Although Mona obviously has friends in the community, she seems lonely. Chapters which hearken back to the past quickly establish that Mona is Irish, an only child, and that her mother died when she was young. A flirtation with a neighbour seems promising, but her initial worries seem to do with losing her only other staff (a young woman who takes care of all of the administrative side of the business) and with not having any plans for her upcoming birthday.
As the story begins to unfold, more chapters about Mona’s past become interleaved between the chapters dealing with the present. The narrative follows Mona’s early days in England, when she comes to Birmingham to find some work and adventure, and where she falls in love with her husband William. After an initial period of happiness, their marriage is hit by a double tragedy - and the reader gradually learns about how the past still intrudes and makes itself felt in Mona’s life.
I don’t think many people get to the age of 60 without sadnesses, and losses of some kind, but this book is about a life that has been very directly haunted by the past - and is at a turning point of moving forward. It’s an unexpectedly moving story, and the straightforward writing style makes for an engrossing and fast read. 3.75 stars
When this story begins, the protagonist Mona (‘Desdemona’) is on the eve of turning 60. She lives in an English seaside town and she owns a small shop which sells her handmade dolls. (This is the second book I’ve read this year where the main character is a doll-maker - the first being An American Marriage. In this book, though, Mona’s occupation has a very special significance in the story.). Although Mona obviously has friends in the community, she seems lonely. Chapters which hearken back to the past quickly establish that Mona is Irish, an only child, and that her mother died when she was young. A flirtation with a neighbour seems promising, but her initial worries seem to do with losing her only other staff (a young woman who takes care of all of the administrative side of the business) and with not having any plans for her upcoming birthday.
As the story begins to unfold, more chapters about Mona’s past become interleaved between the chapters dealing with the present. The narrative follows Mona’s early days in England, when she comes to Birmingham to find some work and adventure, and where she falls in love with her husband William. After an initial period of happiness, their marriage is hit by a double tragedy - and the reader gradually learns about how the past still intrudes and makes itself felt in Mona’s life.
I don’t think many people get to the age of 60 without sadnesses, and losses of some kind, but this book is about a life that has been very directly haunted by the past - and is at a turning point of moving forward. It’s an unexpectedly moving story, and the straightforward writing style makes for an engrossing and fast read. 3.75 stars
March 25, 2018
I received a free copy of this book from Penguin Ireland exchange for an honest review.
A young Irish girl meets a young Irish boy as the two of them travel to England to find their fortunes. Predictably, they fall in love but soon a tragedy tears them apart. Over 40 years later, Mona is helping other women overcome their trauma, while still grieving for her own loss.
This book is just a wonderful, gentle, and moving novel that honestly just took my break away. I loved how hooked i got into Mona’s story, as tragic as it was, and how much I yearned to just gather her, both the young and old versions of her, in my arms to help her and console her.
Mona was truly a lovely character who I just felt for a lot, and it was obvious she was someone who could easily connect to people. She was a seriously gentle soul who deserved all the love and kindness the world had to offer her.
There are a lot of subtle reveals in this book that seem obvious but the way everything is eventually uncovered just flows really nicely. This is a book that will definitely leave you with some tears in your eyes when you’re finished!
A young Irish girl meets a young Irish boy as the two of them travel to England to find their fortunes. Predictably, they fall in love but soon a tragedy tears them apart. Over 40 years later, Mona is helping other women overcome their trauma, while still grieving for her own loss.
This book is just a wonderful, gentle, and moving novel that honestly just took my break away. I loved how hooked i got into Mona’s story, as tragic as it was, and how much I yearned to just gather her, both the young and old versions of her, in my arms to help her and console her.
Mona was truly a lovely character who I just felt for a lot, and it was obvious she was someone who could easily connect to people. She was a seriously gentle soul who deserved all the love and kindness the world had to offer her.
There are a lot of subtle reveals in this book that seem obvious but the way everything is eventually uncovered just flows really nicely. This is a book that will definitely leave you with some tears in your eyes when you’re finished!
June 21, 2018
I love to find books set in my hometown of Birmingham. This was such an emotionally charged book that will have a lasting effect on me. It deals with love and grief over many years. It slips in time for different eras of Mona's life.
The dolls she makes have many secrets to tell. They are wonderful wooden dolls They are from parts of her life. Each doll takes her back to a certain time.
The dolls she makes have many secrets to tell. They are wonderful wooden dolls They are from parts of her life. Each doll takes her back to a certain time.
May 14, 2018
3.5 stars. I became so much more emotionally invested in Mona and her story towards the end of this one. A plot twist (that I honestly did not see coming) is to thank for that. There is definitely 'a trick to time' played here though - so much so that I got a little confused at what was real and what was imagined in the last few pages of the novel.
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