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Entanglement
A wise debut’ Observer
‘A hugely impressive debut’ Stella Duffy
‘Beautifully written’ Hannah Beckerman
‘A really accomplished debut’ Red Magazine
On a hot October day in a London park, Stella sits in her red wedding dress opposite John. Pregnant and lost in thoughts of the future, she has no idea that lying in the grass, a stone’s throw away, is a man called Charlie. From this moment, Stella and Charlie’s lives are bound together in ways they could never imagine. But all they have is a shared glance and a feeling: have we met before?
Entanglement is a bewitching novel of love and sacrifice which explores how our choices can reverberate across the generations, and the sparks of hope they can ignite.
‘A hugely impressive debut’ Stella Duffy
‘Beautifully written’ Hannah Beckerman
‘A really accomplished debut’ Red Magazine
On a hot October day in a London park, Stella sits in her red wedding dress opposite John. Pregnant and lost in thoughts of the future, she has no idea that lying in the grass, a stone’s throw away, is a man called Charlie. From this moment, Stella and Charlie’s lives are bound together in ways they could never imagine. But all they have is a shared glance and a feeling: have we met before?
Entanglement is a bewitching novel of love and sacrifice which explores how our choices can reverberate across the generations, and the sparks of hope they can ignite.
- GenresFictionContemporary
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 20, 2018
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189 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
March 17, 2018
2007: at the end of a momentous day, Charlie, Stella and John cross paths under the arches of Paddington Station. As Charlie lo keys with Stella across the platform, a brief, powerful spark of recognition flashes between them. Plunging back thirty years we watch as, Unknown to them all, the lives of Stella and John, and Charlie and his girlfriend Beth are pulled even closer., an invisible thread connecting them across the decades, and through London's streets.
We Lear the ups and downs the couples experience, love, happiness, betrayal, loss and living with mental and physical illness, to name a few. This story begins in 1977 and covers thirty years. This is a beautifully written and emotion read.
I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins,UK, HarperFiction and the author Katy Mahood for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
We Lear the ups and downs the couples experience, love, happiness, betrayal, loss and living with mental and physical illness, to name a few. This story begins in 1977 and covers thirty years. This is a beautifully written and emotion read.
I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins,UK, HarperFiction and the author Katy Mahood for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 26, 2018
Book reviews on www.snazzybooks.com
This story absolutely blew me away. I felt myself experience a range of emotions from laughter and happiness at the characters' high points to surprise and sadness - many tears were shed in the reading of this novel, but I loved every moment!
The characters (two couples: Stella and John, and Charlie and Beth) completely drew me in; I felt like I knew them so well by the end of the book. It begins in 1977, and I loved reading about life in London (one of my favourite cities!) during that time and in the 30 years after that is covered by the novel. There's something about following the same characters over a long length of time - observing through the pages the key points in their adult life - which makes the reader (or me, anyway!) feel so much more invested. That's not to say I particularly liked all of the characters in this book, I just found them incredibly interesting in their own ways, and wanted to read more about them.
The plot is unique in the way that it combines the theory of quantum physics (this idea that particles which became connected can remain so, even when far apart from eachother - this is coming from someone with no scientific understanding, but it's all presented in a way that makes sense in the pages of Entanglement) with completely everyday, identifiable life events: relationships, careers, having kids, dealing with loss and grief... many things that will, unfortunately, affect many of us at some point in our lives, and therefore is so relatable. The lives of the characters overlap in various ways and at many points over the years thereafter - someone will glimpse someone else for just a second, and at other times their connections become more fixed.
I loved reading about the 'near misses' some of the characters have with almost meeting, and the possibilities that this brings. Katy Mahood's beautiful writing meant this novel was, for me, just perfect.
Many thanks to HarperCollins for providing a copy of this novel on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.
This story absolutely blew me away. I felt myself experience a range of emotions from laughter and happiness at the characters' high points to surprise and sadness - many tears were shed in the reading of this novel, but I loved every moment!
The characters (two couples: Stella and John, and Charlie and Beth) completely drew me in; I felt like I knew them so well by the end of the book. It begins in 1977, and I loved reading about life in London (one of my favourite cities!) during that time and in the 30 years after that is covered by the novel. There's something about following the same characters over a long length of time - observing through the pages the key points in their adult life - which makes the reader (or me, anyway!) feel so much more invested. That's not to say I particularly liked all of the characters in this book, I just found them incredibly interesting in their own ways, and wanted to read more about them.
The plot is unique in the way that it combines the theory of quantum physics (this idea that particles which became connected can remain so, even when far apart from eachother - this is coming from someone with no scientific understanding, but it's all presented in a way that makes sense in the pages of Entanglement) with completely everyday, identifiable life events: relationships, careers, having kids, dealing with loss and grief... many things that will, unfortunately, affect many of us at some point in our lives, and therefore is so relatable. The lives of the characters overlap in various ways and at many points over the years thereafter - someone will glimpse someone else for just a second, and at other times their connections become more fixed.
I loved reading about the 'near misses' some of the characters have with almost meeting, and the possibilities that this brings. Katy Mahood's beautiful writing meant this novel was, for me, just perfect.
Many thanks to HarperCollins for providing a copy of this novel on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.
March 12, 2018
A story inspired by a concept from quantum physics? Well, yes. Put simply (thank you, Wikipedia), quantum entanglement is the idea that entangled particles remain connected and that actions performed on one affect the other even when separated by great distances. It’s what Albert Einstein dubbed ‘spooky action at a distance’. Katy Mahood uses this concept as the inspiration for the story of two couples whose life journeys overlap, mirror and just occasionally come into brief contact with each other. Following the chance presence of Stella and Charlie, two complete strangers, at one momentous event, it’s a story of repeated ‘almost encounters’ that may be no more than a fleeting glance or a glimpse from a park bench. Ships passing unnoticed in the night, as it were.
The reader witnesses the ups and downs of their lives as both couples experience joy and loss, love and betrayal, and struggle with mental and physical illness, alcoholism and unfulfilled dreams. The author recently spoke in an interview for The Daily Mail about how her own husband’s illness became the motivation to write the book. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/art...
I’ve loved being entangled in the lives of these two couples for the past few days and seeing how, if at all, their stories might converge. It's an emotional journey that is beautifully described and feels absolutely true to life and authentic.
I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, The Borough Press, in return for an honest and unbiased review.
The reader witnesses the ups and downs of their lives as both couples experience joy and loss, love and betrayal, and struggle with mental and physical illness, alcoholism and unfulfilled dreams. The author recently spoke in an interview for The Daily Mail about how her own husband’s illness became the motivation to write the book. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/art...
I’ve loved being entangled in the lives of these two couples for the past few days and seeing how, if at all, their stories might converge. It's an emotional journey that is beautifully described and feels absolutely true to life and authentic.
I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, The Borough Press, in return for an honest and unbiased review.
June 1, 2018
Sorry, I didn't enjoy this in the least. Every page has a mention of sex, drink, drugs or swearing, warranted or not. The characters don't do anything that I can see except obsess about themselves, weddings and a funeral directors' strike. One character is pregnant at the start, which is some excuse for her, but there are many references to studying in Edinburgh in the past - then not seemingly doing much with the skills.
Name checks of London streets and Tube stations are so frequent as to make us giddy while chapters average a couple of pages long, skipping among characters. In other words no absorbtion in a setting or scene, even during the bomb blast. The main couple live in Kilburn and we follow them at disjointed intervals through the years from 1977 to 2006. This kind of book is being written by people who are on twitter and social media feeds non stop, causing short attention spans and lack of beauty. The author also tries to write affectedly, with occasional present tense third person and then past tense third person, but still falls into the trap of It was... It had been... There were. She also dangles prepositions frequently. I am sure she put a lot of work into her book but I suggest she should dump the social media if she wants to write long form.
Other readers may of course enjoy this modern adult fiction more than I did.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.
Name checks of London streets and Tube stations are so frequent as to make us giddy while chapters average a couple of pages long, skipping among characters. In other words no absorbtion in a setting or scene, even during the bomb blast. The main couple live in Kilburn and we follow them at disjointed intervals through the years from 1977 to 2006. This kind of book is being written by people who are on twitter and social media feeds non stop, causing short attention spans and lack of beauty. The author also tries to write affectedly, with occasional present tense third person and then past tense third person, but still falls into the trap of It was... It had been... There were. She also dangles prepositions frequently. I am sure she put a lot of work into her book but I suggest she should dump the social media if she wants to write long form.
Other readers may of course enjoy this modern adult fiction more than I did.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.
April 5, 2018
‘Some paths cross but never collide’
Entanglement by Katy Mahood is, quite simply, a gorgeous book. It is incredibly a debut and is published by The Borough Press. The premise of the book is loosely based on the theory of Quantum Entanglement ‘which states once two particles have collided they remain forever interlinked, even when separated.’ Katy Mahood explores this theory through the lives of two couples whose paths cross multiple times…yet never meet.
Entanglement is a novel that encompasses much of what I love when I pick up a book. Written with the most poetic of hands, this novel is about people and the invisible threads that bring them together.
It’s 2007 at Paddington Station. Stella and John, rushing for a train. cross paths with Charlie. For some inexplicable reason, Charlie feels an instantaneous connection with Stella, yet he has no recollection of ever meeting her before. There is a connecting thread over a thirty year period that has gently woven it’s way through the fabric of their lives, yet none have any knowledge of why or how.
Stella and John had a whirlwind romance when they met in 1977. Both looking to establish themselves in their careers in academia, their future was bright. After marrying and starting a family, Stella realises that she is loosing herself after putting her dreams of a successful career on hold. As John’s work escalates in the Physics lab, immersed in his studies of Quantum Entanglement, he moves a little further away from Stella. He seems almost oblivious to all she has sacrificed, not quite grasping that she too had dreams.
‘No one had explained it would be so hard…..That some part of being a parent is a bereavement, grieving the loss of a life that is light to the touch, weighed down as you now are with fear…Stella battled with a creeping sense of loneliness that she didn’t want to look in the eyes, for fear of what might happen.’
There are a few pages in this particular section of the book that I think many mothers will completely empathise with. It makes for quite a poignant read, so just be warned.
For Stella, life throws an additional challenge at her, when John suffers from a virus that has a detrimental impact on his health. As a couple they are faced with life altering decisions and changes that neither had ever expected or anticipated. Stella looks back on her carefree days and remembers John as he was, the man she fell in love with. Her pure grit and determination drives her forward, but the flashbacks to her life as it could have been are heart breaking.
Meanwhile Charlie meets Beth. 1977 for Charlie is a very different experience. Growing up in a home where love was difficult to find, Charlie carries around very sad memories of his youth. His love for his only sister Annie shines off the pages, as they struggle to come to terms with the hand of cards dealt them. Charlie is a survivor and is almost incredulous when he meets Beth. She is everything and more for Charlie….and she loves him.
Charlie experiences a horrendous event that has a domino effect on how his future years pan out. ‘He was only twenty-five, but he’d been an adult for so long: the person who was always responsible, the one who made things right.’ Was this new challenge just one step too far for Charlie?
Charlie and Beth have a daughter, Effie, whom they both love dearly. Yet, even Effie wasn’t enough for Charlie, to assuage the guilt and the feelings of loss he continuously suffered on a daily basis. My heart went out to Charlie as I turned the pages witnessing his unraveling. He tries, he tries so hard and his experiences just feel so real, so raw. Tragically yet beautifully worded, Charlie’s story nearly broke me.
The lives of all these strangers literally become entangled as they navigate their own respective worlds and make choices that unwittingly impact each other.
Katy Mahood brings the notion of Quantum Physics to us all in this incredibly fascinating and powerful story. Entanglement is a story that plots the lives of strangers, a collision of particles and how there exists an everlasting connection that is almost magical in it’s telling.
Entanglement is quite a special book, a book that is a very emotional read, a book that really will make you think about your own life and the paths you may have crossed. It will make you look differently at the person next to you at the bus-stop, in the supermarket queue. It is a book that will challenge your thoughts, a book that will raise many questions on how we live, but ultimately it is an enchanting, remarkable and enthralling story of beauty, love and forgiveness.
Entanglement by Katy Mahood is, quite simply, a gorgeous book. It is incredibly a debut and is published by The Borough Press. The premise of the book is loosely based on the theory of Quantum Entanglement ‘which states once two particles have collided they remain forever interlinked, even when separated.’ Katy Mahood explores this theory through the lives of two couples whose paths cross multiple times…yet never meet.
Entanglement is a novel that encompasses much of what I love when I pick up a book. Written with the most poetic of hands, this novel is about people and the invisible threads that bring them together.
It’s 2007 at Paddington Station. Stella and John, rushing for a train. cross paths with Charlie. For some inexplicable reason, Charlie feels an instantaneous connection with Stella, yet he has no recollection of ever meeting her before. There is a connecting thread over a thirty year period that has gently woven it’s way through the fabric of their lives, yet none have any knowledge of why or how.
Stella and John had a whirlwind romance when they met in 1977. Both looking to establish themselves in their careers in academia, their future was bright. After marrying and starting a family, Stella realises that she is loosing herself after putting her dreams of a successful career on hold. As John’s work escalates in the Physics lab, immersed in his studies of Quantum Entanglement, he moves a little further away from Stella. He seems almost oblivious to all she has sacrificed, not quite grasping that she too had dreams.
‘No one had explained it would be so hard…..That some part of being a parent is a bereavement, grieving the loss of a life that is light to the touch, weighed down as you now are with fear…Stella battled with a creeping sense of loneliness that she didn’t want to look in the eyes, for fear of what might happen.’
There are a few pages in this particular section of the book that I think many mothers will completely empathise with. It makes for quite a poignant read, so just be warned.
For Stella, life throws an additional challenge at her, when John suffers from a virus that has a detrimental impact on his health. As a couple they are faced with life altering decisions and changes that neither had ever expected or anticipated. Stella looks back on her carefree days and remembers John as he was, the man she fell in love with. Her pure grit and determination drives her forward, but the flashbacks to her life as it could have been are heart breaking.
Meanwhile Charlie meets Beth. 1977 for Charlie is a very different experience. Growing up in a home where love was difficult to find, Charlie carries around very sad memories of his youth. His love for his only sister Annie shines off the pages, as they struggle to come to terms with the hand of cards dealt them. Charlie is a survivor and is almost incredulous when he meets Beth. She is everything and more for Charlie….and she loves him.
Charlie experiences a horrendous event that has a domino effect on how his future years pan out. ‘He was only twenty-five, but he’d been an adult for so long: the person who was always responsible, the one who made things right.’ Was this new challenge just one step too far for Charlie?
Charlie and Beth have a daughter, Effie, whom they both love dearly. Yet, even Effie wasn’t enough for Charlie, to assuage the guilt and the feelings of loss he continuously suffered on a daily basis. My heart went out to Charlie as I turned the pages witnessing his unraveling. He tries, he tries so hard and his experiences just feel so real, so raw. Tragically yet beautifully worded, Charlie’s story nearly broke me.
The lives of all these strangers literally become entangled as they navigate their own respective worlds and make choices that unwittingly impact each other.
Katy Mahood brings the notion of Quantum Physics to us all in this incredibly fascinating and powerful story. Entanglement is a story that plots the lives of strangers, a collision of particles and how there exists an everlasting connection that is almost magical in it’s telling.
Entanglement is quite a special book, a book that is a very emotional read, a book that really will make you think about your own life and the paths you may have crossed. It will make you look differently at the person next to you at the bus-stop, in the supermarket queue. It is a book that will challenge your thoughts, a book that will raise many questions on how we live, but ultimately it is an enchanting, remarkable and enthralling story of beauty, love and forgiveness.
February 18, 2019
Ich habe diese Geschichte als sehr melancholisch und schwermütig empfunden! Sie lies sich zwar gut und flüssig lesen, aber es passierte nicht wirklich etwas und mich hat sie auch viel vermissen lassen!
Ich musste mich zwischen durch immer wieder selbst zum weiter lesen ermuntern! Bis weit über die Mitte hinaus, haben sich die Wege auch nur sehr subtil gekreuzt, davon hatte ich mir laut des Klappentextes mehr versprochen!
Für mich war auch nicht erkennbar, was die kurzen Zitate zu Anfang der Kapitel über Quantenphysik mit der Handlung zu tun hatten!
Sehr schönes Cover, angenehmer Schreibstil, toller Titel aber die Geschichte war für mich etwas zu flach!
Ich musste mich zwischen durch immer wieder selbst zum weiter lesen ermuntern! Bis weit über die Mitte hinaus, haben sich die Wege auch nur sehr subtil gekreuzt, davon hatte ich mir laut des Klappentextes mehr versprochen!
Für mich war auch nicht erkennbar, was die kurzen Zitate zu Anfang der Kapitel über Quantenphysik mit der Handlung zu tun hatten!
Sehr schönes Cover, angenehmer Schreibstil, toller Titel aber die Geschichte war für mich etwas zu flach!
March 9, 2018
This book tells the story of two couples Stella and John and Beth and Charlie as they make their way through their lives. It delves into the highs and lows of relationships. What I liked most about this book was Mahood's description of everything. She is definitely a writer to watch with interest.
March 19, 2018
This was a strange book for me as it isn't really the type of book I would normally go for. But I have been getting stuck in a rut with my reading recently so I have been trying to diversify and part of that project is picking books that pique my interest from the blurb and seeing where they take me.
This is the story of two couples. Stella & John and Charlie & Beth. After witnessing Charlie and Stella having a moment of recognition at Paddington station, we rewind some thirty years and follow them from the start of their respective relationships and onward. These stories are both individual to each couple but overlap and juxtapose as they meander towards the present. Never quite coming together though.
The two couples are very different and follow very different paths in their loves and love. We see the highs and lows that they all experience, often in quite a voyeuristic way and it was hard not to emotionally invest in the characters as they were all very well drawn and developed nicely as time went on. It was also, for me, a book full of reminiscence. I remember with fondness quite a lot of what the characters saw and did through the book making this even more of an emotional read as it bordered into nostalgia quite a bit. Obviously along with the good memories were also some that I wasn't so delighted to have been reminded of but you can't rewrite history to suit, neither can you paint an unbalanced picture of life growing up so it was all perfect valid and included for balance.
it was also a book that didn't seem to amount to much as I was reading it. For the majority, it just ticked along nicely, and I had not much idea where we were going. But I was having a lovely journey so I just went with the flow and it wasn't until I had finished, when I say back and thought about it all as a whole that I realised exactly how powerful it had all been.
After finishing, I was so impressed with the style and content of what I had just read that I checked the author out as I was quite interested in seeing what else she had written. Disappointment turned to wonder as I found out that this is actually her debut novel. Making this all the more impressive a read as I though it spoke from a much more mature voice. I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait to see what she comes up with for her follow up.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
This is the story of two couples. Stella & John and Charlie & Beth. After witnessing Charlie and Stella having a moment of recognition at Paddington station, we rewind some thirty years and follow them from the start of their respective relationships and onward. These stories are both individual to each couple but overlap and juxtapose as they meander towards the present. Never quite coming together though.
The two couples are very different and follow very different paths in their loves and love. We see the highs and lows that they all experience, often in quite a voyeuristic way and it was hard not to emotionally invest in the characters as they were all very well drawn and developed nicely as time went on. It was also, for me, a book full of reminiscence. I remember with fondness quite a lot of what the characters saw and did through the book making this even more of an emotional read as it bordered into nostalgia quite a bit. Obviously along with the good memories were also some that I wasn't so delighted to have been reminded of but you can't rewrite history to suit, neither can you paint an unbalanced picture of life growing up so it was all perfect valid and included for balance.
it was also a book that didn't seem to amount to much as I was reading it. For the majority, it just ticked along nicely, and I had not much idea where we were going. But I was having a lovely journey so I just went with the flow and it wasn't until I had finished, when I say back and thought about it all as a whole that I realised exactly how powerful it had all been.
After finishing, I was so impressed with the style and content of what I had just read that I checked the author out as I was quite interested in seeing what else she had written. Disappointment turned to wonder as I found out that this is actually her debut novel. Making this all the more impressive a read as I though it spoke from a much more mature voice. I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait to see what she comes up with for her follow up.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
January 19, 2019
Katy Mahood’s debut novel, Entanglement, picks up on a couple of concepts from quantum physics to tell the story of two couples across three decades. Firstly, the idea that two ‘entangled’ particles can affect each other’s quantum states even when they are far apart, a peculiar finding because it involves travelling faster than the speed of light, which is impossible. Secondly, the Schrodinger’s cat idea that something only becomes fixed in a quantum state once it is observed, and, before then, is simultaneously in both states at once. However, clever as this might seem, this Versions of Us hook actually adds very little to what is otherwise a pretty conventional, if readable, novel.
Stella and John fall in love in London in the mid-1970s when he is studying theoretical physics and she English Literature. However, both of their lives are knocked off course – Stella’s in a wholly predictable way, when marriage and motherhood force her to abandon her studies, and John’s in a wholly unpredictable way, when a virus in his brain forces him to relearn concepts and speech from scratch. In a parallel thread, Charlie’s life is full of pain and turmoil after the sudden death of his sister, and the early struggles of his marriage to Beth. When he briefly passes Stella and John in the park, he is jealous of their happiness, not knowing he ought to be careful what he wishes for. As the novel continues, these two threads are tied together in an unexpected(-ish) way.
Mahood writes in a kind of lilting literary style that is flowing, but frustratingly vague. Characterisation is perfunctory - the big dilemmas that face these characters have been repeated in so many novels before, and aren’t illuminated any further here. The one strand of the novel that lifts away from this pattern is the bit that deals with John’s illness, which is genuinely touching, and I wasn’t surprised to find out after finishing the novel that this draws from Mahood’s own experience. However, it was annoying that the frequent references to missed chances, near-misses and quantum physics didn’t amount to anything more.
I received a free proof copy of this novel from the publisher for review.
Stella and John fall in love in London in the mid-1970s when he is studying theoretical physics and she English Literature. However, both of their lives are knocked off course – Stella’s in a wholly predictable way, when marriage and motherhood force her to abandon her studies, and John’s in a wholly unpredictable way, when a virus in his brain forces him to relearn concepts and speech from scratch. In a parallel thread, Charlie’s life is full of pain and turmoil after the sudden death of his sister, and the early struggles of his marriage to Beth. When he briefly passes Stella and John in the park, he is jealous of their happiness, not knowing he ought to be careful what he wishes for. As the novel continues, these two threads are tied together in an unexpected(-ish) way.
Mahood writes in a kind of lilting literary style that is flowing, but frustratingly vague. Characterisation is perfunctory - the big dilemmas that face these characters have been repeated in so many novels before, and aren’t illuminated any further here. The one strand of the novel that lifts away from this pattern is the bit that deals with John’s illness, which is genuinely touching, and I wasn’t surprised to find out after finishing the novel that this draws from Mahood’s own experience. However, it was annoying that the frequent references to missed chances, near-misses and quantum physics didn’t amount to anything more.
I received a free proof copy of this novel from the publisher for review.
March 15, 2018
Some paths cross but never collide...
It’s only now that I’ve finished reading this that I see just how perfect the cover is. The story begins in 1977 and charts 30 years in the lives of Stella, John and Charlie and their entanglement. There’s a line about someone with a 2p ready ‘for when the pips went’ and for some reason this was the image that made me feel nostalgic for the 70s. There is a quality to the writing that reminded me (in a good way) of a set text in school, possibly triggered by my nostalgia. I loved reading this and I’m going to miss the characters now that I’ve finished it. I highly recommend it and hope to read more by Katy Mahood in the future.
My thanks to The Borough Press for the arc of Entanglement received via NetGalley.
It’s only now that I’ve finished reading this that I see just how perfect the cover is. The story begins in 1977 and charts 30 years in the lives of Stella, John and Charlie and their entanglement. There’s a line about someone with a 2p ready ‘for when the pips went’ and for some reason this was the image that made me feel nostalgic for the 70s. There is a quality to the writing that reminded me (in a good way) of a set text in school, possibly triggered by my nostalgia. I loved reading this and I’m going to miss the characters now that I’ve finished it. I highly recommend it and hope to read more by Katy Mahood in the future.
My thanks to The Borough Press for the arc of Entanglement received via NetGalley.
March 30, 2018
Entanglement is the story of Stella and John, and Charlie, and how their lives cross, although they never meet.
The ‘almost’ encounters were the best bits, which I suppose justifies the references to Quantum Physics throughout. But I found the comparison between story and Physics difficult to deal with, as were the constant references to London areas, like an A-Z, which does little to help scene setting for many of us.
Struggling to relate to any character, I found in particular, the eventual direction of Stella and John hard to imagine.
Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK
The ‘almost’ encounters were the best bits, which I suppose justifies the references to Quantum Physics throughout. But I found the comparison between story and Physics difficult to deal with, as were the constant references to London areas, like an A-Z, which does little to help scene setting for many of us.
Struggling to relate to any character, I found in particular, the eventual direction of Stella and John hard to imagine.
Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK
March 22, 2018
Entanglement is the brilliant debut novel from Katy Mahood that begins on a train platform at London Paddington station in 2007 and three people’s lives cross and yet there is something about these three people and how they become linked. Primarily this is a novel about the choices people make and the encounters along life’s journey and just how they can all become connected.
The three people at the centre of this novel are Stella, Charlie and John. Is there a connection between the three people? Now this is where the novel now takes a backward step of thirty years and the lives of two couples during the 1970’s. This is a story of people’s lives of marriages that upset parents and shattered dreams and the horror of a London pub bombing and the carnage and aftermath that this brings. For Stella she has dreams of an academic career and all this is brought to an end as she faces up to becoming a young mum and the father John, how does he take to the idea of being a father so soon?
Then there is Charlie and Beth just an ordinary couple and the everyday struggles of life. These two couples are just ordinary people leading ordinary lives yet somehow inexorable linked. A story of connections over the course of decades and most of all as the story reaches its end a story of hope. At the end of the day hope is what we all cling onto in our everyday life and Katy Mahood weaves a captivating debut novel of chance encounters. Wonderful characters and so beautifully written.
320 Pages.
The three people at the centre of this novel are Stella, Charlie and John. Is there a connection between the three people? Now this is where the novel now takes a backward step of thirty years and the lives of two couples during the 1970’s. This is a story of people’s lives of marriages that upset parents and shattered dreams and the horror of a London pub bombing and the carnage and aftermath that this brings. For Stella she has dreams of an academic career and all this is brought to an end as she faces up to becoming a young mum and the father John, how does he take to the idea of being a father so soon?
Then there is Charlie and Beth just an ordinary couple and the everyday struggles of life. These two couples are just ordinary people leading ordinary lives yet somehow inexorable linked. A story of connections over the course of decades and most of all as the story reaches its end a story of hope. At the end of the day hope is what we all cling onto in our everyday life and Katy Mahood weaves a captivating debut novel of chance encounters. Wonderful characters and so beautifully written.
320 Pages.
April 7, 2019
"Trains don't stop at every station."
-- A mother's response to her child's query, from a moving railway carriage.
"Ships that pass in the night," as Longfellow wrote, are like all us humans "on the ocean of life," engaging with "only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence." Sometimes there is not even that look or voice, the encounter completely unconscious, and yet the voyagers may still have unforseeable influences on each other.
This is the kernel at the heart of Katy Mahood's impressive debut novel Entanglements. The title refers to a concept in quantum physics, a connection (as I understand it) whereby subatomic particles may be separated by distance but still affect one another; observation of this connection, paradoxically, causes it to change or even cease to be.
Of course, non-physicists see entanglement in a much more mundane way, along with the frustration that comes from strands of string or wool being intertwined, and this more prosaic aspect is present too as a potent symbol in this most engaging of novels.
Entanglement concerns two men, two women and two daughters, how their lives run like railway tracks in parallel or occasionally cross, though they themselves are rarely if ever aware of those crossing points. We meet Charlie, Beth and, eventually, daughter Effie, and also John, Stella and their daughter Hope. Over some three decades and more we follow one couple, then another, back and forth, observing how (unknown to them) their lives often intersect, how even Longfellow's "a look and a voice" may happen without any of them making a connection or even recognising one.
I'm making this sound contrived, but yet it's not. These are individuals with familiar hopes and fears, living lives in a Britain that slowly changes, forcing them to adapt or else be consigned to oblivion. There are infidelities and loyalties, addictions and crises, violent events and dreams revisited. The author's own life spans the decades covered by this novel: she faithfully captures the subtle changes in ambitions, in public attitudes and habits, she charts the often painful processes of maturing and the honest acknowledging of frailties.
The all too human foibles of the individuals are laid bare, and this reader wanted to shout at them for contrary behaviours, commiserate with them over setbacks, praise them for successes -- all strong indications of how well the author had invested in her protagonists. There is a lingering sadness behind the final redemptive optimism that to me felt true to life, with the various journeys brought to a satisfying conclusion.
And entanglement metaphors and similes reach from the pages into real life. Railway stations feature strongly as individuals travel north to York and Edinburgh, south to Cornwall, west from London to Oxford, Bristol and South Wales, places known to the author either from her academic or subsequent career. Implied lines in novels submitted for publication and melodic lines in orchestral scores hint at further interlacing of ideas; and a further real-life intertwining comes, post-publication, with the present reviewer finally meeting the author at a literary festival, following a quarter century gap since teaching her music at secondary school.
With such entanglings are all our lives marked. May it be that they are not all followed by darkness and silence.
July 1, 2018
An Exceptional Book - Literature at its very best:
Seldom does a book excite me as much as Entanglement did. It is Katy Mahood's debut novel and what a stunner. It is modern literature at its very best.
The book has everything: structure; flowing, intelligent prose; superb characterisation; themes to make you think and a great storyline.
The Entanglement of the title is the essence of the book: Mahood regularly keeps the reader focussed by regularly quoting the physics of the theory of particle entanglement whilst her story elucidates the title in relation to human relationships.
Throughout the book chance encounters between seemingly unrelated individuals and couples follow that same rule of physics till the inevitable unification symbolised by Effie and Hope.
Mahood demonstrates her own singular writing style and as a debut novel the quality is breathtaking.
Entanglement begins in London in August 1977 and concludes in the London of 2007: a generation later. So many changes were to happen to the book's main characters in that period. Some good and some bad. We follow the lives of Stella, John, Beth and Charlie and share their ups and downs. And, as we enter the latter part of the period, those of their offspring. Mahood reminds us of the changes that occurred. The London of 1977 was an IRA bombing target. By 2007 London was a very different place from what it had been a mere thirty years earlier. A City more at ease with itself. The political landscape had changed. As had technology which was set to exponentially change our world. Lurking ahead was the growth of a technological behemoth which was to change forever the way we communicate and interact with one another. But the technology we take for granted today and continues to change the way we interact with one another was just slowly starting to impact on society back in 2007 (a mere ten years ago).
In 1977 both John and Charlie had the world at their feet and yet thirty years on tragically neither had reached where they would have expected. Both were incredibly intelligent people set to fail but for different reasons. John through illness and Charlie through alcoholism. Despite career failings both managed to create two magical legacies: their daughters: Hope and Effie.
Mahood explores the different ways we cope with that which life throws at us. Mahood does this by creating a comparative parallel as we watch the relationships of Stella and John and Beth and Charlie, flourish and wither respectively. They both suffer their own problems but deal with them differently. I can't do justice to Entanglement in a few paragraphs but read the book for yourself and enjoy.
Once read Entanglement is one of those rare books which you will not forget.
(My review was based on an eBook file provided to me by the publisher. My review is totally independent.)
Seldom does a book excite me as much as Entanglement did. It is Katy Mahood's debut novel and what a stunner. It is modern literature at its very best.
The book has everything: structure; flowing, intelligent prose; superb characterisation; themes to make you think and a great storyline.
The Entanglement of the title is the essence of the book: Mahood regularly keeps the reader focussed by regularly quoting the physics of the theory of particle entanglement whilst her story elucidates the title in relation to human relationships.
Throughout the book chance encounters between seemingly unrelated individuals and couples follow that same rule of physics till the inevitable unification symbolised by Effie and Hope.
Mahood demonstrates her own singular writing style and as a debut novel the quality is breathtaking.
Entanglement begins in London in August 1977 and concludes in the London of 2007: a generation later. So many changes were to happen to the book's main characters in that period. Some good and some bad. We follow the lives of Stella, John, Beth and Charlie and share their ups and downs. And, as we enter the latter part of the period, those of their offspring. Mahood reminds us of the changes that occurred. The London of 1977 was an IRA bombing target. By 2007 London was a very different place from what it had been a mere thirty years earlier. A City more at ease with itself. The political landscape had changed. As had technology which was set to exponentially change our world. Lurking ahead was the growth of a technological behemoth which was to change forever the way we communicate and interact with one another. But the technology we take for granted today and continues to change the way we interact with one another was just slowly starting to impact on society back in 2007 (a mere ten years ago).
In 1977 both John and Charlie had the world at their feet and yet thirty years on tragically neither had reached where they would have expected. Both were incredibly intelligent people set to fail but for different reasons. John through illness and Charlie through alcoholism. Despite career failings both managed to create two magical legacies: their daughters: Hope and Effie.
Mahood explores the different ways we cope with that which life throws at us. Mahood does this by creating a comparative parallel as we watch the relationships of Stella and John and Beth and Charlie, flourish and wither respectively. They both suffer their own problems but deal with them differently. I can't do justice to Entanglement in a few paragraphs but read the book for yourself and enjoy.
Once read Entanglement is one of those rare books which you will not forget.
(My review was based on an eBook file provided to me by the publisher. My review is totally independent.)
April 5, 2019
As soon as I read her opening description of a murmuration, I knew that I was going to enjoy Katy Mahood’s debut novel, Entanglement. It’s the first of many such arresting images in this novel about those ‘moments’ we share with complete strangers.
Both the title and premise for Katy Mahood’s book derive from a quantum mechanics theory in which (and I am paraphrasing very loosely here) two entities temporarily share a space or interact, due to some indefinable pull, creating a link between them. That may be the science behind it but the book’s appeal lies in how recognisable and relatable this phenomenon is. We’ve all experienced times where we’ve shared a smile, an eye roll or more with a stranger, before continuing on our separate ways. And in Entanglement, Katy Mahood traces those fleeting moments when our lives bump up against those of others.
Entanglement follows the divergent paths of Stella, John and Charlie through almost thirty years from October 1977 to August 2007. It’s a span of time which will take in all the highs and lows of life from falling in love to near breakups to divorce, the joy, the boredom, the mistakes people make and the things they get right. How people change and grow together or apart, the compromises and adjustments they make along the way, how they deal with unfulfilled hopes and dreams and what they consider to be a successful or fulfilling life. It looks at the contrast between what’s important when you’re young and how that alters at different life stages or in the face of a milestone event.
Perhaps it’s because they first share a moment in Paddington station on my birthday that it’s Stella and Charlie’s characters who most captured my imagination. I had a real sense that shared moments gently reverberated through their lives, even if only a faint echo, and that other characters missed out on this by not being as open or present in that moment.
One of my favourite parts of the book is where Katy Mahood shares both Stella and Charlie’s version of the same event. It doesn’t always happen concurrently but seeing the other side of each encounter helped me to understand how these two affected each other. It changed something in me when I read it, and made me look more closely at my random interactions with other people, and even view them in a light. I became more aware of how I was behaving towards others, as well as how they affected my mood.
Entanglement is a quietly perceptive novel about the connections we make, along with those ‘almost’ moments and near-misses, which we all experience. It’s bittersweet, almost melancholy in tone, but flashes of Katy Mahood’s beautiful description help lift this debut into something altogether more hopeful.
Both the title and premise for Katy Mahood’s book derive from a quantum mechanics theory in which (and I am paraphrasing very loosely here) two entities temporarily share a space or interact, due to some indefinable pull, creating a link between them. That may be the science behind it but the book’s appeal lies in how recognisable and relatable this phenomenon is. We’ve all experienced times where we’ve shared a smile, an eye roll or more with a stranger, before continuing on our separate ways. And in Entanglement, Katy Mahood traces those fleeting moments when our lives bump up against those of others.
Entanglement follows the divergent paths of Stella, John and Charlie through almost thirty years from October 1977 to August 2007. It’s a span of time which will take in all the highs and lows of life from falling in love to near breakups to divorce, the joy, the boredom, the mistakes people make and the things they get right. How people change and grow together or apart, the compromises and adjustments they make along the way, how they deal with unfulfilled hopes and dreams and what they consider to be a successful or fulfilling life. It looks at the contrast between what’s important when you’re young and how that alters at different life stages or in the face of a milestone event.
Perhaps it’s because they first share a moment in Paddington station on my birthday that it’s Stella and Charlie’s characters who most captured my imagination. I had a real sense that shared moments gently reverberated through their lives, even if only a faint echo, and that other characters missed out on this by not being as open or present in that moment.
One of my favourite parts of the book is where Katy Mahood shares both Stella and Charlie’s version of the same event. It doesn’t always happen concurrently but seeing the other side of each encounter helped me to understand how these two affected each other. It changed something in me when I read it, and made me look more closely at my random interactions with other people, and even view them in a light. I became more aware of how I was behaving towards others, as well as how they affected my mood.
Entanglement is a quietly perceptive novel about the connections we make, along with those ‘almost’ moments and near-misses, which we all experience. It’s bittersweet, almost melancholy in tone, but flashes of Katy Mahood’s beautiful description help lift this debut into something altogether more hopeful.
February 10, 2019
Die Geschichte ist am Anfang wie ein riesiges Gemälde. Es ist alles total detailliert ausgemalt und hat zig Schnörkel. Da bleibt kein Platz mehr für die eigene Fantasie. Man wird förmlich mit den ganzen Einzelheiten erschlagen. Jede Figur ist präzise gezeichnet, doch trotz dieser Präzision, waren sie mir zu keiner Zeit richtig nah. Sie existieren zwar, aber leben irgendwie nicht. Die Verbindung hat mir ebenso gefehlt, wie eine gewisse Sympathie. Dies und die Tatsache, dass der Schreibstil mehr als gewöhnungsbedürftig ist, hat mir zunächst nur den Start sehr erschwert. Auch im weiteren Verlauf verliert sich Katy Mahood in den Beschreibungen und lässt keine richtiges Tempo aufkommen. Ihre Geschichte zu lesen, erinnerte mich etwas an einen Motor, der ständig ins Stocken gerät, was es mir sehr erschwert hat, überhaupt weiter lesen zu wollen. Hinderlich daran war ebenfalls die ständigen Erzählersprünge.
Unentbehrlich zu sein gab ihr ein Gefühl der Macht. Mehr noch: Sie fühlte sich dadurch lebendig.
Zitat aus: "Die Wege, die wir kreuzen"
Alles, wirklich alles an „Die Wege, die wir kreuzen“ ist äußerst düster und deprimierend. Egal, an welcher Stelle man ankommt, es gibt auf jeden Fall etwas, was einen selbst als Leser total runterzieht. Da ist nichts, was die düstere Stimmung mal aufhellt. Kein Licht am Horizont erkennbar. Nur absolut Düsternis, Gewitterwolken und jede Menge Regen. Ich habe es noch nie erlebt, dass mich ein Buch derart runter zieht. Dass ich keine Lust habe, die Geschichte weiter zu lesen, weil ich genau weiß, dass die Figuren eh nur aneinander vorbei leben, keiner mit sich selbst oder dem anderen zufrieden ist und eigentlich eh alles nur schlimm ist. Ich hätte mir mehr Hoffnung gewünscht. Dass der Schleier abgezogen wird und die bunten Farben wieder zum Erleuchten gebracht werden. Aber das passiert auf keine der 304 Seiten. Bei mir kam leider überhaupt nichts an. Weder irgendwelche Emotionen, wenn etwas Schlimmes geschehen ist, und davon passiert hier einiges, noch der Sinn hinter dieser ganzen Geschichte. Zwar treffen sich die Paare immer mal wieder flüchtig, dies hat allerdings keinerlei Auswirkung auf ihr weiteres Leben.
Fazit:
„Die Wege, die wir Kreuzen“ ist ein sehr düsterer Roman, der einen zutiefst deprimiert. Die Geschichte lässt sich sehr schwer lesen. Zudem ist es der Autorin zu keiner Zeit gelungen, mir ihre Figuren oder deren Gefühle nahe zu bringen.
Die Aussage: „Dass die Begegnungen der Protagonisten nicht ohne Folgen bleiben“, erschließt sich mir ebenso wenig. Ich hätte mir weitaus mehr hierzu gewünscht.
© www.booksandfamily.de
Unentbehrlich zu sein gab ihr ein Gefühl der Macht. Mehr noch: Sie fühlte sich dadurch lebendig.
Zitat aus: "Die Wege, die wir kreuzen"
Alles, wirklich alles an „Die Wege, die wir kreuzen“ ist äußerst düster und deprimierend. Egal, an welcher Stelle man ankommt, es gibt auf jeden Fall etwas, was einen selbst als Leser total runterzieht. Da ist nichts, was die düstere Stimmung mal aufhellt. Kein Licht am Horizont erkennbar. Nur absolut Düsternis, Gewitterwolken und jede Menge Regen. Ich habe es noch nie erlebt, dass mich ein Buch derart runter zieht. Dass ich keine Lust habe, die Geschichte weiter zu lesen, weil ich genau weiß, dass die Figuren eh nur aneinander vorbei leben, keiner mit sich selbst oder dem anderen zufrieden ist und eigentlich eh alles nur schlimm ist. Ich hätte mir mehr Hoffnung gewünscht. Dass der Schleier abgezogen wird und die bunten Farben wieder zum Erleuchten gebracht werden. Aber das passiert auf keine der 304 Seiten. Bei mir kam leider überhaupt nichts an. Weder irgendwelche Emotionen, wenn etwas Schlimmes geschehen ist, und davon passiert hier einiges, noch der Sinn hinter dieser ganzen Geschichte. Zwar treffen sich die Paare immer mal wieder flüchtig, dies hat allerdings keinerlei Auswirkung auf ihr weiteres Leben.
Fazit:
„Die Wege, die wir Kreuzen“ ist ein sehr düsterer Roman, der einen zutiefst deprimiert. Die Geschichte lässt sich sehr schwer lesen. Zudem ist es der Autorin zu keiner Zeit gelungen, mir ihre Figuren oder deren Gefühle nahe zu bringen.
Die Aussage: „Dass die Begegnungen der Protagonisten nicht ohne Folgen bleiben“, erschließt sich mir ebenso wenig. Ich hätte mir weitaus mehr hierzu gewünscht.
© www.booksandfamily.de
November 19, 2019
It is hard to comprehend that this is a debut novel as this understated story is so beautifully written and totally engrossing.
Quantum entanglement is a theory that particles which have become entangled, remain connected even when far away from one another. Each chapter is headed by parts of the theorem but don't worry, this is a very accessible story even as it illustrates how life imitates physics as remote connections and reactions occur. John and Stella, Charlie and Beth are unaware of crossing paths but there is a connection between the couples that reverberates down the years. The story opens in 2007 at the end of a momentous day when Charlie, Stella and John cross paths under the arches of Paddington Station. As Charlie and Stella lock eyes, a brief, powerful spark of recognition flashes between them. How and from where? Back thirty years and we see the lives of the two couples, separate yet interconnecting, facing triumph, joy and heartbreak. Beware though, it is incredibly painful in parts as illness, addiction and life choices bring challenges to both couples and repercussions echo though time. However, by the time we reach the brief meeting on Paddington Station again, there is optimism and we are quietly uplifted.
Quantum entanglement is a theory that particles which have become entangled, remain connected even when far away from one another. Each chapter is headed by parts of the theorem but don't worry, this is a very accessible story even as it illustrates how life imitates physics as remote connections and reactions occur. John and Stella, Charlie and Beth are unaware of crossing paths but there is a connection between the couples that reverberates down the years. The story opens in 2007 at the end of a momentous day when Charlie, Stella and John cross paths under the arches of Paddington Station. As Charlie and Stella lock eyes, a brief, powerful spark of recognition flashes between them. How and from where? Back thirty years and we see the lives of the two couples, separate yet interconnecting, facing triumph, joy and heartbreak. Beware though, it is incredibly painful in parts as illness, addiction and life choices bring challenges to both couples and repercussions echo though time. However, by the time we reach the brief meeting on Paddington Station again, there is optimism and we are quietly uplifted.
April 20, 2018
Entanglement was an unexpected joy of a novel for me. When I first started it I was a little apprehensive as it took me a while to get used to the characters and how their lives were interwoven with one another.
Stella and John. Charlie and Beth. London, 1977. Two new couples starting their journeys together in life whose life’s are changed forever by two totally separate events.
The first is the bombing of a London pub by the IRA. The second an unexpected but not necessarily unwanted pregnancy. Both couples are very young and ultimately unprepared to deal with the very adult decisions that they must now face.
The tales of these two couples are effortlessly interwoven by this author, and as their paths cross through the following years that become irretrievably entangled in one another’s lifes. Though they don’t discover this until much later in the novel.
It’s hard to say too much more without giving anything away. So I will leave it there, I will however say that;
Entanglement is a beautifully written novel spanning some thirty years. It is an impressive debut, and I look forward to this authors next novel.
Stella and John. Charlie and Beth. London, 1977. Two new couples starting their journeys together in life whose life’s are changed forever by two totally separate events.
The first is the bombing of a London pub by the IRA. The second an unexpected but not necessarily unwanted pregnancy. Both couples are very young and ultimately unprepared to deal with the very adult decisions that they must now face.
The tales of these two couples are effortlessly interwoven by this author, and as their paths cross through the following years that become irretrievably entangled in one another’s lifes. Though they don’t discover this until much later in the novel.
It’s hard to say too much more without giving anything away. So I will leave it there, I will however say that;
Entanglement is a beautifully written novel spanning some thirty years. It is an impressive debut, and I look forward to this authors next novel.
February 6, 2019
When I started reading, I was momentarily nervous because the epilogue and the chapter headings are scientific...however the story itself is wonderful and I thought it perfectly demonstrated the theory of entanglement.
This is the debut novel by Katy Mahood and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story primarily focuses on 2 couples, from the seventies through to the current day. We share their heartbreak, anger, excitement and disappointments. It is possible for life to change course at any second, life can throw anything at you.
I felt invested in all of the characters, it was very well written and full of emotion. The details are subtle but I found myself picturing the characters and where they were, trying to work out how everything would play out....which of course I got wrong!
I didn't predict how the story developed in the current day but I thought it was excellent. It was current, well managed and unfolded at a good pace to tie everything together.
Life is full of coincidences, we just don't recognise many of them.
This is the debut novel by Katy Mahood and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story primarily focuses on 2 couples, from the seventies through to the current day. We share their heartbreak, anger, excitement and disappointments. It is possible for life to change course at any second, life can throw anything at you.
I felt invested in all of the characters, it was very well written and full of emotion. The details are subtle but I found myself picturing the characters and where they were, trying to work out how everything would play out....which of course I got wrong!
I didn't predict how the story developed in the current day but I thought it was excellent. It was current, well managed and unfolded at a good pace to tie everything together.
Life is full of coincidences, we just don't recognise many of them.
March 25, 2018
Entanglement is the story of two couples who keep crossing paths but never meet. Their lives are entwined as they all wonder the streets of London in the 1970's, and try to navigate the ups and downs of their relationships.
I was pretty surprised by this book. I picked it up as a light read, a kind of pallet cleanser between heavier reads, but I ended up really enjoying it.
The characters are believable and extremely well written, (it's kind of impossible NOT to get invested in their lives) and the story never lingered on any event for so long that you could get bored of it, making the pacing perfect. I was really impressed.
The only reason I'm withholding that fifth star is the odd occasion on which there was an overused, cliched phrase. They weren't common, but they did make me wince a couple of times. Still if your thinking of reading this book I wouldn't let it put you off. All in all it's a wonderful story with fantastic characters; well worth the read.
I was pretty surprised by this book. I picked it up as a light read, a kind of pallet cleanser between heavier reads, but I ended up really enjoying it.
The characters are believable and extremely well written, (it's kind of impossible NOT to get invested in their lives) and the story never lingered on any event for so long that you could get bored of it, making the pacing perfect. I was really impressed.
The only reason I'm withholding that fifth star is the odd occasion on which there was an overused, cliched phrase. They weren't common, but they did make me wince a couple of times. Still if your thinking of reading this book I wouldn't let it put you off. All in all it's a wonderful story with fantastic characters; well worth the read.
March 30, 2018
Katy Mahood's debut novel begins with Charlie and Stella exchanging glances at Paddington Station one day in 2007. There is a spark of recognition but they cannot place where they might have met before. The novel then moves between 1977 and 2007, tracing the lives of Charlie, Stella and John and their families. It is an intriguing premise and makes for a moving tale of love and relationships; mental and physical illness; family breakdown, alcoholism, sexuality and acceptance.
It took a while to get into Entanglement but I'm glad I persevered. The reason for the 4* is because of the constant head hopping in the early section of the book. It made it hard to follow. I didn't really 'get' the quantum physics concept. For me, the story stands up well without it. I found the characters well drawn and believable. Many thanks to Net Galley and The Borough Press for the opportunity to read and review Entanglement.
It took a while to get into Entanglement but I'm glad I persevered. The reason for the 4* is because of the constant head hopping in the early section of the book. It made it hard to follow. I didn't really 'get' the quantum physics concept. For me, the story stands up well without it. I found the characters well drawn and believable. Many thanks to Net Galley and The Borough Press for the opportunity to read and review Entanglement.
March 18, 2018
This is a beautifully written story, and an impressive debut novel.
Using a theory from Quantum Physics, Katy Mahood recounts the lives of two couples who unknowingly cross paths over the course of 30+ years, until a wedding brings them together.
Beginning in the 1970's the book is very much character driven, and oh what characters they are. So well rounded you can picture them as you read, with almost perfect attitudes for the times, even as those times change and the world moves on, and both couples discover that the lives they imagined for themselves are not the lives they expected to have.
The strength of the author's writing is in her descriptive skills. She describes people, places, feelings, and events as though she were there observing from the sidelines throughout, as the decades change.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book via Netgalley.
Using a theory from Quantum Physics, Katy Mahood recounts the lives of two couples who unknowingly cross paths over the course of 30+ years, until a wedding brings them together.
Beginning in the 1970's the book is very much character driven, and oh what characters they are. So well rounded you can picture them as you read, with almost perfect attitudes for the times, even as those times change and the world moves on, and both couples discover that the lives they imagined for themselves are not the lives they expected to have.
The strength of the author's writing is in her descriptive skills. She describes people, places, feelings, and events as though she were there observing from the sidelines throughout, as the decades change.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book via Netgalley.
July 29, 2018
Entanglement is the story of two couples, John and Stella, and Beth and Charlie who don't know each other but whose lives are inextricably linked. It leads us through their highs and lows from the 1970's through to the present day.
It's fair to say not a huge amount happens in this book. It's about normal life, decisions and consequences, good and bad. But its never boring. For me it grabbed me and held me hostage for two hours while I devoured every page because from the very first page I really cared for the characters despite (or maybe because) of their flaws, especially for some odd reason Charlie, I really wanted things to work out for him and had to remind myself he's a fictional character! This would be an accomplished work for a seasoned author so for it to be a debut is just fantastic.
I received this from Netgalley for an honest review.
It's fair to say not a huge amount happens in this book. It's about normal life, decisions and consequences, good and bad. But its never boring. For me it grabbed me and held me hostage for two hours while I devoured every page because from the very first page I really cared for the characters despite (or maybe because) of their flaws, especially for some odd reason Charlie, I really wanted things to work out for him and had to remind myself he's a fictional character! This would be an accomplished work for a seasoned author so for it to be a debut is just fantastic.
I received this from Netgalley for an honest review.
April 11, 2018
I understand the concept here of showing how lives meet over the years without your awareness and how they ultimately come together, and it is clever how the author has equated this to John's work in Quantum physics, but really, the stories didn't have that much impact. Although I did form impressions of some of the characters. Charlie and Beth always had an unequal relationship, she seemed patronising and couldn't shake the attitude that she was better, whether intentional or not. Stella and John are probably typical of many couples, and it was heartening to see how they got through the curve balls life threw at them. I did wonder how the worlds would ultimately collide and it was a satisfying conclusion.
April 12, 2018
Quantum Entanglement and Fiction? To be honest this didn't sound as though it would be my type of book though I'm more than happy to try most fiction. It took a little getting into and I often got the couples mixed at the beginning. Once it got going I actually found it quite a depressing book with death, fits, alcohol abuse, etc, and I felt it would have been better as two novels. But there were shards of optimism as the novel neared its end. I'm pleased to have read it. Katy Mahood has shown a lot of talent in this debut novel, and I look forward to her second. Thank you to HarperCollins for setting up the competition for book-group copies!
February 21, 2019
I read this beautiful novel, but couldn’t find the right words for a review, so fatally left it till I could reread it. I have now done so. An interesting link with the concept of Quantum Entanglement from physics, that entangled particles stay connected and can affect each other even when separated.
The stories of Stella and John and Charlie and Beth meet and separate, then come together again years later. It’s a bittersweet tale, it really is. Especially Charlie and Beth, but there’s plenty of emotion in Stella and John’s story too. Manhood makes you care about the characters, and she doesn’t make it all happy ending (some, but not all), which is refreshing.
The stories of Stella and John and Charlie and Beth meet and separate, then come together again years later. It’s a bittersweet tale, it really is. Especially Charlie and Beth, but there’s plenty of emotion in Stella and John’s story too. Manhood makes you care about the characters, and she doesn’t make it all happy ending (some, but not all), which is refreshing.
March 18, 2018
Entanglement is the story of two couples spanning across thirty years and you find yourself wondering if their lives may intertwine at some point. This book is well written with lovely characters and all in all is a very pleasant read. This is the debut novel by Katy Mahood and look forward to reading more from her.
Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and the author for the chance to review.
Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and the author for the chance to review.
March 21, 2018
Entanglement is a bitter sweet story of two couples as they journey through life with everything that life throws at them ! The story begins in the 1970's and spans over 30 years .It tells the story of the lives of Stella and John and Charlie and Beth and their entanglement.This is not the usual type of book I usually read but it is so beautifully written I was drawn in right from the start and I absolutely loved it .This is one of those stories that stay with you long afterwards .
June 3, 2018
A saga of a sort featuring 2 couples, Stella + John and Beth + Charlie, their ups and downs and how gradually their lives entwine. Pleasant, easy to read but more of a descriptive than action story as it meanders through a 30 year timescale, just lightly touching various events. Not an obvious page turner but it works. A different from the norm book and well worth a look! I was given this ARC by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
April 18, 2018
A story entangled in quantum physics - don't let that put you off!! Beautifully written tale of two couples whose lives are completely separate though the keep encountering each other through the decades, without knowing. A beautifully written tale of life's trials and tribulations. Highly recommended.
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