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How to Belong
How can home be found, when you are lost?
When two very different women find themselves sharing a home, they must confront their pasts in order to work out who they each are, and how they will survive.
Disillusioned with her high-flying London career, Jo has returned to the remote rural community of her childhood. Taking over her parents' beloved butcher shop, she works hard to save the family legacy, hoping to
also save herself.
Tessa has returned too, fleeing a chance of happiness to come to terms with a life filled with secrets and shame. Now her livelihood as a farrier is under threat from a mysterious and debilitating condition.
'A big-hearted novel about how we learn to belong despite ourselves.' Shelley Harris
'It really touched me, I can't stop talking about it. Your words spoke to somewhere deep inside me.' Warwick Books
When two very different women find themselves sharing a home, they must confront their pasts in order to work out who they each are, and how they will survive.
Disillusioned with her high-flying London career, Jo has returned to the remote rural community of her childhood. Taking over her parents' beloved butcher shop, she works hard to save the family legacy, hoping to
also save herself.
Tessa has returned too, fleeing a chance of happiness to come to terms with a life filled with secrets and shame. Now her livelihood as a farrier is under threat from a mysterious and debilitating condition.
'A big-hearted novel about how we learn to belong despite ourselves.' Shelley Harris
'It really touched me, I can't stop talking about it. Your words spoke to somewhere deep inside me.' Warwick Books
Paperback
First published May 28, 2020
10 people are currently reading
349 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Franklin
26 books23 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Elrena Evans holds an MFA from The Pennsylvania State University, and is co-editor of Mama, Ph.D.: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life (Rutgers University Press, 2008). Her writing has also appeared in Brain, Child, Hip Mama, MotherVerse, Literary Mama, Mamazine, and the anthologies Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers (Random House, 2006) and How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel (Seal Press, 2008). She is the Marketing and Publicity Manager for Literary Mama, where she also writes the monthly column Me and My House. She lives in Pennsylvania with her family and blogs at her website, http://www.elrenaevans.com. "
Elrena Evans holds an MFA from The Pennsylvania State University, and is co-editor of Mama, Ph.D.: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life (Rutgers University Press, 2008). Her writing has also appeared in Brain, Child, Hip Mama, MotherVerse, Literary Mama, Mamazine, and the anthologies Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers (Random House, 2006) and How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel (Seal Press, 2008). She is the Marketing and Publicity Manager for Literary Mama, where she also writes the monthly column Me and My House. She lives in Pennsylvania with her family and blogs at her website, http://www.elrenaevans.com. "
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
November 7, 2020
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Sarah Franklin’s second novel with its premise that promised to explore what it means to belong to a rural community in a rapidly changing world. To me this sounded rather oblique but Franklin illustrates it perfectly with this story of two very different women, a decade apart in age, both struggling to find a place to call home and feel like an integral and valued member of the community they live in. The result is a triumph and How to Belong is both a heart-warming and surprisingly insightful novel with superior characterisation and memorably authentic dialogue. Set against a backdrop of the Forest of Dean and a small, insular community where everybody knows each other, this unassuming novel with a strong sense of place and effortless prose left me feeling decidedly hopeful.
Jo Butler is a local girl made good who hails from the Forest of Dean and has spent the past decade living in London and working as a barrister. Disillusioned with the reality of her career and the life she is leading, Jo returns home for Christmas and her parent’s final year of running the butcher’s shop which has been in the family for two generations. Making an impetuous decision to return to the place where she feels she belongs, Jo convinces her parents to let her run the shop in the face of dwindling custom and soaring costs. Forced by circumstance to rent a room in a cottage occupied by aloof and taciturn farrier, Tessa Price, whom herself is isolated from the local community, Jo finds things are more difficult than she imagined. Her relationship with her long-term best friend, Liam, is strained, her parents have moved away and in the face of supermarket competition the business is on its knees. For Jo, feeling like she’s no longer welcome or belongs is a new and demoralising feeling, but for Tessa it’s something she knows well. A traumatic childhood with an abusive mother has left her suffering from low self-esteem and she is plagued by a mysterious and possibly debilitating physical condition that has led her to withdraw from the woman she loves and turn her back on society.
Despite both women being poles apart and the initial barriers to communication that Tessa uses to keep people who might care about her at arms length, an unlikely friendship begins. Life is at a crossroads for both of the women in very different ways and as they wrestle with what the future might hold for them it is Jo’s need to be useful and her perseverance that sees her make a breakthrough on identifying Tessa’s health issues. It is through assisting Tessa and enabling her to think beyond a lonely future within the four walls of the cottage that Jo starts to see that she can actually be useful in the Forest of Dean community that she treasures.
Chapters alternate between the perspectives of Jo and Tessa, both of whom are incredibly well-drawn and characters that I found sympathetic with appreciable dilemmas. From Jo’s initial concerns that she is letting everyone down by leaving her job in London and returning home through to her naive belief that her old friends would still be the same people she left behind and Tessa’s fear of being a burden, Franklin’s characters are honest and relatable and this drew me in to their story. A gentle vein of suspense runs throughout the novel with the future of both women up in the air, primarily from a personal angle for Tessa and in Jo’s case, a matter of her livelihood. My sole reservation about the novel came in the final stages and what I felt was a rather abrupt ending which jarred with the books gentle pace. On the strength of this second novel I will definitely be seeking out Sarah Franklin’s debut novel, Shelter.
Jo Butler is a local girl made good who hails from the Forest of Dean and has spent the past decade living in London and working as a barrister. Disillusioned with the reality of her career and the life she is leading, Jo returns home for Christmas and her parent’s final year of running the butcher’s shop which has been in the family for two generations. Making an impetuous decision to return to the place where she feels she belongs, Jo convinces her parents to let her run the shop in the face of dwindling custom and soaring costs. Forced by circumstance to rent a room in a cottage occupied by aloof and taciturn farrier, Tessa Price, whom herself is isolated from the local community, Jo finds things are more difficult than she imagined. Her relationship with her long-term best friend, Liam, is strained, her parents have moved away and in the face of supermarket competition the business is on its knees. For Jo, feeling like she’s no longer welcome or belongs is a new and demoralising feeling, but for Tessa it’s something she knows well. A traumatic childhood with an abusive mother has left her suffering from low self-esteem and she is plagued by a mysterious and possibly debilitating physical condition that has led her to withdraw from the woman she loves and turn her back on society.
Despite both women being poles apart and the initial barriers to communication that Tessa uses to keep people who might care about her at arms length, an unlikely friendship begins. Life is at a crossroads for both of the women in very different ways and as they wrestle with what the future might hold for them it is Jo’s need to be useful and her perseverance that sees her make a breakthrough on identifying Tessa’s health issues. It is through assisting Tessa and enabling her to think beyond a lonely future within the four walls of the cottage that Jo starts to see that she can actually be useful in the Forest of Dean community that she treasures.
Chapters alternate between the perspectives of Jo and Tessa, both of whom are incredibly well-drawn and characters that I found sympathetic with appreciable dilemmas. From Jo’s initial concerns that she is letting everyone down by leaving her job in London and returning home through to her naive belief that her old friends would still be the same people she left behind and Tessa’s fear of being a burden, Franklin’s characters are honest and relatable and this drew me in to their story. A gentle vein of suspense runs throughout the novel with the future of both women up in the air, primarily from a personal angle for Tessa and in Jo’s case, a matter of her livelihood. My sole reservation about the novel came in the final stages and what I felt was a rather abrupt ending which jarred with the books gentle pace. On the strength of this second novel I will definitely be seeking out Sarah Franklin’s debut novel, Shelter.
November 12, 2020
I was initially drawn to Sarah Franklin’s first novel, Shelter, because it was set during World War Two which is one of my favourite periods for historical fiction. I was also intrigued by the choice of location, the Forest of Dean. I loved the book and it left me keen to read whatever Sarah came up with next.
In How To Belong the location is once more the Forest of Dean but this time we’re very much in the present day. However, there is a sense of the timelessness of the Forest, even if much around it has changed and is still changing. Not only a source of recreation and employment, and a haven for wildlife, the Forest acts as a place for contemplation and reflection. As one character puts it, “The trees will restore the mess“.
The book switches between the points of view of Jo and Tessa, two women who are very different in terms of their life experience and character. Tessa is by nature an introvert whose one attempt at reaching out and expressing her true self ended in rejection, disappointment and a sense of failure, for reasons the reader will gradually discover. Jo, on the other hand, has forged a life for herself away from the Forest, a life that had been successful in many ways but which has left her unfulfilled and with a desire to return to her roots.
Jo returns with big plans for the family butcher’s shop but is disappointed to find it more difficult than she expects to be absorbed back into the community. The friends she grew up with have built their own lives – married, started families – and talk about people she doesn’t know. “The group’s shifted. She doesn’t know who she is or where she fits in. There’s nowhere left for her to go.” In particular, Jo struggles to understand the change in her relationship with her childhood friend, Liam, with whom she was once so close. “She’s homesick for happy Liam, who doesn’t exist anymore; perhaps never did outside her own naive bubble… Most of all, she’s homesick for her old self.” What Jo comes to realise is that it’s possible to be the repository of others’ hopes and dreams, not just your own.
Tessa has become used to living a life socially distant from others. From childhood, she’s instinctively felt different from her peers for reasons she couldn’t initially explain. Traumatic incidents in her past have left her with a misplaced sense of guilt as well as worries about her future.
Thrown together by chance, Jo and Tessa slowly discover they have more in common than they may have thought and that each can help the other find a way to achieve the sense of belonging they both crave. Whether that’s feeling a part of a community or a family, having a sense of security, fulfilling a dream or simply being comfortable in your own skin.
How To Belong is an engrossing human drama that shows it’s never too late to start again, if you just give yourself the chance.
In How To Belong the location is once more the Forest of Dean but this time we’re very much in the present day. However, there is a sense of the timelessness of the Forest, even if much around it has changed and is still changing. Not only a source of recreation and employment, and a haven for wildlife, the Forest acts as a place for contemplation and reflection. As one character puts it, “The trees will restore the mess“.
The book switches between the points of view of Jo and Tessa, two women who are very different in terms of their life experience and character. Tessa is by nature an introvert whose one attempt at reaching out and expressing her true self ended in rejection, disappointment and a sense of failure, for reasons the reader will gradually discover. Jo, on the other hand, has forged a life for herself away from the Forest, a life that had been successful in many ways but which has left her unfulfilled and with a desire to return to her roots.
Jo returns with big plans for the family butcher’s shop but is disappointed to find it more difficult than she expects to be absorbed back into the community. The friends she grew up with have built their own lives – married, started families – and talk about people she doesn’t know. “The group’s shifted. She doesn’t know who she is or where she fits in. There’s nowhere left for her to go.” In particular, Jo struggles to understand the change in her relationship with her childhood friend, Liam, with whom she was once so close. “She’s homesick for happy Liam, who doesn’t exist anymore; perhaps never did outside her own naive bubble… Most of all, she’s homesick for her old self.” What Jo comes to realise is that it’s possible to be the repository of others’ hopes and dreams, not just your own.
Tessa has become used to living a life socially distant from others. From childhood, she’s instinctively felt different from her peers for reasons she couldn’t initially explain. Traumatic incidents in her past have left her with a misplaced sense of guilt as well as worries about her future.
Thrown together by chance, Jo and Tessa slowly discover they have more in common than they may have thought and that each can help the other find a way to achieve the sense of belonging they both crave. Whether that’s feeling a part of a community or a family, having a sense of security, fulfilling a dream or simply being comfortable in your own skin.
How To Belong is an engrossing human drama that shows it’s never too late to start again, if you just give yourself the chance.
November 13, 2020
How To Belong is a beautifully written, engrossing story about friendship and what it means to belong. I was a huge fan of this author’s first book so I was very excited to see what she came out with next.
The story is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of Jo and Tessa. I warmed to these two characters quickly and felt a lot of sympathy towards them as I have been in a similar situation. It’s hard to return to your home town and find everything altered or that everyone has moved on. I thought the author did a great job of describing the feelings the two girls must have felt. They seemed very real to me and I wished that I could reach into the book and give them both a hug at times.
This isn’t a particularly fast paced book but it is a very engrossing one and quite a poignant one at times as we watch the two characters trying to find their place in the community. I enjoyed seeing the two woman become closer and giving each other the support they both needed.
Overall I really enjoyed this heartwarming read which had a lovely message at it’s centre of its never to late to find your place in life. I grew very fond of the two main characters and I felt very involved in their lives. I wanted to keep reading to find out how things ended up for them.
Huge thanks to Tracy for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Zaffre for my copy of this book via Netgalley.
The story is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of Jo and Tessa. I warmed to these two characters quickly and felt a lot of sympathy towards them as I have been in a similar situation. It’s hard to return to your home town and find everything altered or that everyone has moved on. I thought the author did a great job of describing the feelings the two girls must have felt. They seemed very real to me and I wished that I could reach into the book and give them both a hug at times.
This isn’t a particularly fast paced book but it is a very engrossing one and quite a poignant one at times as we watch the two characters trying to find their place in the community. I enjoyed seeing the two woman become closer and giving each other the support they both needed.
Overall I really enjoyed this heartwarming read which had a lovely message at it’s centre of its never to late to find your place in life. I grew very fond of the two main characters and I felt very involved in their lives. I wanted to keep reading to find out how things ended up for them.
Huge thanks to Tracy for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Zaffre for my copy of this book via Netgalley.
December 12, 2020
"He's changing the past, rewriting history to fit the present."
I've picked this book because of its title. Identity, belonging, feeling homesick for something/ somewhere/ someone even when you are where you think you belong, searching for your place on earth, trying to find out who you are... This book has had everything I could've asked for.
I've picked this book because of its title. Identity, belonging, feeling homesick for something/ somewhere/ someone even when you are where you think you belong, searching for your place on earth, trying to find out who you are... This book has had everything I could've asked for.
December 24, 2020
A sense of belonging - that phrase means something different to each one of us. Belonging is the theme of Sarah Franklin's latest novel, set like her first in the Forest of Dean.
Now I'll be completely honest this book is not one that I would usually pick up but as I thoroughly enjoyed the author's debut novel Shelter and as I lived in the Forest from the age of nine until I left in my late teens, I couldn't resist to go 'home' once more.
Jo also chose to return to her childhood home with the aim of taking over the family's butcher shop, leaving behind her life as a lawyer in London and embracing her squeamishness of raw meat. Meanwhile Tess is battling some scary symptoms as she struggles to fit back into following her first serious relationship with a woman living in Bristol.
A thoughtful novel that bought a tear to my eye more than once and stirred up some forgotten memories of a place I knew long ago. The characters were lifelike and the problems universal which made for an authentic read and the book has left me feeling a wee bit sad to leave the cottage in the woods...
Now I'll be completely honest this book is not one that I would usually pick up but as I thoroughly enjoyed the author's debut novel Shelter and as I lived in the Forest from the age of nine until I left in my late teens, I couldn't resist to go 'home' once more.
Jo also chose to return to her childhood home with the aim of taking over the family's butcher shop, leaving behind her life as a lawyer in London and embracing her squeamishness of raw meat. Meanwhile Tess is battling some scary symptoms as she struggles to fit back into following her first serious relationship with a woman living in Bristol.
A thoughtful novel that bought a tear to my eye more than once and stirred up some forgotten memories of a place I knew long ago. The characters were lifelike and the problems universal which made for an authentic read and the book has left me feeling a wee bit sad to leave the cottage in the woods...
January 6, 2021
Jo Is fed up of London and her life in law and on a whim moves back to the Forest of Dean to try to save the Butler family butchers shop when her parents retire.
She finds lodgings with the enigmatic Tessa in a tiny cottage.
Both has secrets and issues they need to confront, neither of them are finding acceptance in their community and slowly over time as they open up to one another they both realise the mistakes they have made and try desperately to put them right.
A touching story of two women floundering in life and trying to change their courses for the better within the framework of a small village mentality.
This was such a good read, probably not for everyone as its rather a slow burner and not many people enjoy that but I really appreciated the pace of the story mirroring a slower and more sedate way of life.
I liked and cared about the characters and the mysterious ways of Tessa, it was her I was drawn to as she was the more quirky and I feel misunderstood of the two ladies.
A really sweet tale.
She finds lodgings with the enigmatic Tessa in a tiny cottage.
Both has secrets and issues they need to confront, neither of them are finding acceptance in their community and slowly over time as they open up to one another they both realise the mistakes they have made and try desperately to put them right.
A touching story of two women floundering in life and trying to change their courses for the better within the framework of a small village mentality.
This was such a good read, probably not for everyone as its rather a slow burner and not many people enjoy that but I really appreciated the pace of the story mirroring a slower and more sedate way of life.
I liked and cared about the characters and the mysterious ways of Tessa, it was her I was drawn to as she was the more quirky and I feel misunderstood of the two ladies.
A really sweet tale.
January 1, 2021
Set in the Forest of Dean, this book brings together two unlikely women and their search to belong. Vivid setting and vivid characters, and a story which keeps you wondering, and hoping, to the very end.
April 11, 2021
I really enjoyed Shelter, so was looking forward to this sequel, which it isn't although it's set again in he Forest of Dean.
I was not disappointed, a beautifully written slow burner about friendship, love and place.
SPOILERS
I thought it was rather unlikely that the disease would have been undiagnosed for so long, and that Jo would come back to run the shop (and her parents would let her), but it was worth suspending disbelief for the rest of it.
I was not disappointed, a beautifully written slow burner about friendship, love and place.
SPOILERS
I thought it was rather unlikely that the disease would have been undiagnosed for so long, and that Jo would come back to run the shop (and her parents would let her), but it was worth suspending disbelief for the rest of it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 20, 2025
DNF. Why a 4 then? Because it’s a lovely book that draws you in and keeps you close. Unfortunately it’s not a story I want to be close to right now - purely a mismatch of book and mood.
April 7, 2021
This was a slow-build, character-driven book which unfortunately left me rather disappointed. Both Jo and Tessa are outsiders in their own ways. Jo, returning to her hometown in the Forest of Dean after working in London, takes on the (failing) family business and must find her new place in the community. Meanwhile Tessa has shut herself off after convincing herself, after a traumatic childhood, that she is a burden and danger to others.
This is a story of finding your place and a sense of 'belonging' in a community, and of self-awareness and friendship. The book deals with mental health, trauma, abuse, sexuality and family relationships, as well as the more 'mundane' aspects of small-town forest life.
I enjoyed the slow pace and the small-town storylines; there was a sense of how stifling the community could be, and how everyone has each other's backs but also knows each other's business.
I think my main problem was that I didn't find the storytelling compelling or convincing. The premise sounded really good but the execution didn't meet the mark, in my opinion. There was a lot of telling rather than showing, particularly in the form of flashbacks. Often the writing was waffly; towards the end especially I skim-read some pages.
While other readers say the characters are likeable, I have to disagree: I found Jo to be frustratingly self-centred (a flaw she admits to) and naive, whereas I perhaps had a little more sympathy for Tessa. The characters and their relationships were all fully formed, though.
The ending felt rushed and a cliched or over-dramatic; it was satisfying and there were many unanswered questions. This isn't a book which lends itself to a sequel, but an epilogue would have been a fitting way to bring some closure.
Overall, I can see where the intentions lay but this just didn't work for me. I might try Sarah Franklin's debut, Shelter , in the hopes that it has something How to Belong was missing.
This is a story of finding your place and a sense of 'belonging' in a community, and of self-awareness and friendship. The book deals with mental health, trauma, abuse, sexuality and family relationships, as well as the more 'mundane' aspects of small-town forest life.
I enjoyed the slow pace and the small-town storylines; there was a sense of how stifling the community could be, and how everyone has each other's backs but also knows each other's business.
I think my main problem was that I didn't find the storytelling compelling or convincing. The premise sounded really good but the execution didn't meet the mark, in my opinion. There was a lot of telling rather than showing, particularly in the form of flashbacks. Often the writing was waffly; towards the end especially I skim-read some pages.
While other readers say the characters are likeable, I have to disagree: I found Jo to be frustratingly self-centred (a flaw she admits to) and naive, whereas I perhaps had a little more sympathy for Tessa. The characters and their relationships were all fully formed, though.
The ending felt rushed and a cliched or over-dramatic; it was satisfying and there were many unanswered questions. This isn't a book which lends itself to a sequel, but an epilogue would have been a fitting way to bring some closure.
Overall, I can see where the intentions lay but this just didn't work for me. I might try Sarah Franklin's debut, Shelter , in the hopes that it has something How to Belong was missing.
March 12, 2020
‘How to Belong’ is the story of two very different women, neither of whom feel they belong. Set in the Forest of Dean, London lawyer Jo Butler has returned to take over the running of her parents’ traditional butcher’s shop in the High Street. Whilst it is still seen by locals as a much-loved shop, changes in eating habits and a new supermarket have meant that Jo’s parents are selling up and moving nearer to her brother. However, they’ve reckoned without Jo’s determination and she persuades them to allow her to take on the challenge of making a profit. Initially Jo sees herself as a very lucky person. She has come to loathe London and hopes to slot back in to childhood friendships and an easier way of life. But not everyone’s quite so excited about her return as she is.
Jo lodges with Tessa, a local farrier back in the Forest of Dean after a traumatic breakup with her partner Marnie. Tessa appears to be the opposite to outgoing sociable Jo. She keeps herself to herself and appears to resent Jo’s presence even though she desperately needs her money. Gradually we learn why Tessa is so anti-social and why her burden is so heavy.
Over the course of the novel these women form a strange bond. They come to know each other a little better and, in doing so, discover a little more about themselves too. This is a subtle portrayal of what it means to live with guilt and disappointment, with failure and loss, with expectation and disappointment. Sarah Franklin is a talented writer who brings her protagonists’ occupations to life with the lightest touch. Even more remarkable, she explores the most complex of relationships between parents and children, different generations, lovers and friends sensitively and compellingly.
My thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.
Jo lodges with Tessa, a local farrier back in the Forest of Dean after a traumatic breakup with her partner Marnie. Tessa appears to be the opposite to outgoing sociable Jo. She keeps herself to herself and appears to resent Jo’s presence even though she desperately needs her money. Gradually we learn why Tessa is so anti-social and why her burden is so heavy.
Over the course of the novel these women form a strange bond. They come to know each other a little better and, in doing so, discover a little more about themselves too. This is a subtle portrayal of what it means to live with guilt and disappointment, with failure and loss, with expectation and disappointment. Sarah Franklin is a talented writer who brings her protagonists’ occupations to life with the lightest touch. Even more remarkable, she explores the most complex of relationships between parents and children, different generations, lovers and friends sensitively and compellingly.
My thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.
May 29, 2020
I would like to thank NetGalley and Zaffre for letting me review this book ahead of its publication in November 2020.
How To Belong is not a guidebook on how to achieve a feeling most humans are striving and looking for most of their lives, but it's a wonderful rumination on how the actions we take, the people in our lives and our sense of self can impact where we feel we belong.
At a time where a lot of readers are no doubt feeling a sense of displacement in the world, be it young adults moving back in with their parents or older and ill people experiencing a more acute sense of loneliness from shielding, How To Belong captures the ups and downs of grappling what it feels like to live a life you feel you've built yourself against losing an identity of a former self that you can't, or perhaps don't want to, shake yet.
The story follows two women, Jo and Tessa, who have little in common beyond growing up the same town in the Forest of Dean, and what their 'belonging' to this town, the people within it, and each other means for them and how it changes their lives.
Sarah Franklin tells their story against the rural West Country backdrop of the Forest of Dean and manages to capture the same lovely-yet-oppressive small town feel that you may experience when watching a series like Broadchurch - although this novel does without a lot of the drama. Some of the setting choices seemed a bit bizarre to me at first; here we have Jo, a lawyer disillusioned with life in London and deciding to stay home after Christmas to take over her parents' failing butcher shop and moving in with Tessa, the stand-offish farrier in a cottage at the edge of town. The town and its inhabitants, and the way the story is told seems quaint and deliberate, yet the reality of the butcher shop and the cottage appear like choices out of a horror movie.
Jo's story line is the one that is a lot more universally relatable, but it's Tessa coming to grips with herself and that it's possible to belong to people without being a burden on them that really makes this story shine. Franklin offers a portrait of what it can be like grappling with issues of emotional alienation due to ill health, a different sexuality and childhood abuse that invites understanding and empathy. There are better accounts of these issues in literature out there, but those are notably with protagonists that invite a host of split opinions. We are always given enough context to make Tessa's initial refusal of help and deliberate isolation understandable, and while I feel that her journey to better mental health has at times be simplified and in the end over-dramatised, Franklin did the character justice by giving her her own voice on the issue in favour of how she is often perceived by others.
Overall, the characters in this novel are likeable and real, even though they sometimes slip into a slightly more omniscient narrative than they have a place to know, but I won't complain, because it kept the pace of this novel tightly together.
It's a great book for anyone who faces a long train-ride home, and wants a book that gets to its plot points and message with little fuss but sufficient suspense, and doesn't come with the gory imagery that a thriller or crime novel of similar length would have.
How To Belong is not a guidebook on how to achieve a feeling most humans are striving and looking for most of their lives, but it's a wonderful rumination on how the actions we take, the people in our lives and our sense of self can impact where we feel we belong.
At a time where a lot of readers are no doubt feeling a sense of displacement in the world, be it young adults moving back in with their parents or older and ill people experiencing a more acute sense of loneliness from shielding, How To Belong captures the ups and downs of grappling what it feels like to live a life you feel you've built yourself against losing an identity of a former self that you can't, or perhaps don't want to, shake yet.
The story follows two women, Jo and Tessa, who have little in common beyond growing up the same town in the Forest of Dean, and what their 'belonging' to this town, the people within it, and each other means for them and how it changes their lives.
Sarah Franklin tells their story against the rural West Country backdrop of the Forest of Dean and manages to capture the same lovely-yet-oppressive small town feel that you may experience when watching a series like Broadchurch - although this novel does without a lot of the drama. Some of the setting choices seemed a bit bizarre to me at first; here we have Jo, a lawyer disillusioned with life in London and deciding to stay home after Christmas to take over her parents' failing butcher shop and moving in with Tessa, the stand-offish farrier in a cottage at the edge of town. The town and its inhabitants, and the way the story is told seems quaint and deliberate, yet the reality of the butcher shop and the cottage appear like choices out of a horror movie.
Jo's story line is the one that is a lot more universally relatable, but it's Tessa coming to grips with herself and that it's possible to belong to people without being a burden on them that really makes this story shine. Franklin offers a portrait of what it can be like grappling with issues of emotional alienation due to ill health, a different sexuality and childhood abuse that invites understanding and empathy. There are better accounts of these issues in literature out there, but those are notably with protagonists that invite a host of split opinions. We are always given enough context to make Tessa's initial refusal of help and deliberate isolation understandable, and while I feel that her journey to better mental health has at times be simplified and in the end over-dramatised, Franklin did the character justice by giving her her own voice on the issue in favour of how she is often perceived by others.
Overall, the characters in this novel are likeable and real, even though they sometimes slip into a slightly more omniscient narrative than they have a place to know, but I won't complain, because it kept the pace of this novel tightly together.
It's a great book for anyone who faces a long train-ride home, and wants a book that gets to its plot points and message with little fuss but sufficient suspense, and doesn't come with the gory imagery that a thriller or crime novel of similar length would have.
November 17, 2020
Opening with the approach of Christmas in the busy village butchers’ shop in the Forest of Dean, perhaps the delayed publication of this book was always meant to be – but although the small family business has always been the heart of the rural community, the supermarkets on the edge of town have made life considerably more difficult. When Jo’s parents decide that the time has come to retire and move closer to family, she decides to take on the business: armed with spreadsheets and big ideas, challenging the way things have always been done, she walks away from her career as a junior barrister and seeks the comfort of the place – home – where she was happy.
Tessa has spent time away from the community too, although she’s always been rather on its periphery, her life blighted by a traumatic event in her youth that left her with pain and guilt: with the end of her relationship with Marnie and her life in Bristol, a rare time when she felt she belonged, now living in an isolated cottage on the edge of the forest, her sexuality and her increasing ill health have increased her isolation and social awkwardness, as she works as the local farrier and ekes a precarious living.
These two very different women are brought together when Jo needs somewhere to live, and Tessa decides that taking a lodger will both boost her finances and provide some reassurance as her health deteriorates. Initially, their relationship is difficult – Jo naturally bouncy and outgoing, Tessa shunning human contact and finding her presence distinctly unwelcome. But slowly, very slowly, the women draw closer to each other. Jo finds that coming home hasn’t been entirely what she’d hoped for, that place of warmth and sanctuary – life has changed, a childhood friendship she thought she could rely on just isn’t the support she expected it to be, and the challenge of running the business prove greater than she ever imagined. And Tessa finds Jo unexpectedly supportive, perhaps helping her find some hope for the future.
This is a story about home and belonging, about finding your place, discovering your self and what makes you happy – through the lives of these two sympathetically drawn women, both of whom captured my heart. The book has an exceptional sense of place, both the village high street fast becoming a relic of the past and the natural world of the forest, often a sanctuary but sometimes something quite other. The point of view alternates gently between them, interspersed with the memories that have shaped them both – the story isn’t fast paced, but I found it absolutely compelling and particularly engaging at an emotional level.
The writing is wonderful, sometimes focusing in detail on the ordinary and everyday – the forging and fitting of a horseshoe, the triumph of producing a line of perfect sausages – then dipping into the poignancy of a memory, examining an emotional response, setting a scene with an almost poetic beauty and turn of phrase. It’s a book that really makes you feel – and, despite that strong sense of place and the unfamiliarity of both women’s chosen paths, those feelings are universal, that powerful need to feel that you’ve come home and that you truly belong.
This might be the first of Sarah Franklin’s books I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last – I really loved this one, and recommend it highly.
Tessa has spent time away from the community too, although she’s always been rather on its periphery, her life blighted by a traumatic event in her youth that left her with pain and guilt: with the end of her relationship with Marnie and her life in Bristol, a rare time when she felt she belonged, now living in an isolated cottage on the edge of the forest, her sexuality and her increasing ill health have increased her isolation and social awkwardness, as she works as the local farrier and ekes a precarious living.
These two very different women are brought together when Jo needs somewhere to live, and Tessa decides that taking a lodger will both boost her finances and provide some reassurance as her health deteriorates. Initially, their relationship is difficult – Jo naturally bouncy and outgoing, Tessa shunning human contact and finding her presence distinctly unwelcome. But slowly, very slowly, the women draw closer to each other. Jo finds that coming home hasn’t been entirely what she’d hoped for, that place of warmth and sanctuary – life has changed, a childhood friendship she thought she could rely on just isn’t the support she expected it to be, and the challenge of running the business prove greater than she ever imagined. And Tessa finds Jo unexpectedly supportive, perhaps helping her find some hope for the future.
This is a story about home and belonging, about finding your place, discovering your self and what makes you happy – through the lives of these two sympathetically drawn women, both of whom captured my heart. The book has an exceptional sense of place, both the village high street fast becoming a relic of the past and the natural world of the forest, often a sanctuary but sometimes something quite other. The point of view alternates gently between them, interspersed with the memories that have shaped them both – the story isn’t fast paced, but I found it absolutely compelling and particularly engaging at an emotional level.
The writing is wonderful, sometimes focusing in detail on the ordinary and everyday – the forging and fitting of a horseshoe, the triumph of producing a line of perfect sausages – then dipping into the poignancy of a memory, examining an emotional response, setting a scene with an almost poetic beauty and turn of phrase. It’s a book that really makes you feel – and, despite that strong sense of place and the unfamiliarity of both women’s chosen paths, those feelings are universal, that powerful need to feel that you’ve come home and that you truly belong.
This might be the first of Sarah Franklin’s books I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last – I really loved this one, and recommend it highly.
November 14, 2020
This is a book full of insight into unusual situations firmly anchored to the realities of everyday life. Based on two lives that are brought together by chance rather than choice, Jo and Tessa are opposites that somehow link. It is the stories of their two lives in their contexts, how the actions and attitudes of others have shaped them, how they have seized opportunities which are now perhaps not what they want. I found their occupations fascinating; Jo begins the novel as a barrister, finding it frustrating and not having the real effects on lives that she had hoped. Tessa is a farrier, shoeing horses in the Forest of Dean, worrying about her health. Jo wants to make a change to her own life, to return to the family butchers business that her parents want to sell. As past loves and lives crowd into the minds of the two women, they look about them and see their world in a new way and from a new perspective.
This is a book written with care and appreciation of life in a forest, as well as life in a small town which is made special by a particular shop. Franklin has made a superb job of capturing some of the challenges that confront women in contemporary society and how they may react. It looks at the strain of illness, of growing up aware of difference, and long term guilt. It also shows awareness of the pressures of small town life, but also the isolation of living in London. I was very pleased to have the opportunity to read and review this very special novel.
The book begins with the scene in Butler’s butchers’ shop a few days before Christmas, as Jo has returned home from London. The large number of people who crowd in are not only interested in buying meat; they are there for the special atmosphere, the tots of sherry, the friendship expressed by Jo’s parents. Jo finds it especially significant as this is the last Christmas that they intend to be in the shop, as they have decided to move near to her brother. Having felt dissatisfied with her life in London, dealing with many cases that she feels had made little difference, she suddenly feels tempted to move back, take over the shop, return to her old life. Tessa meanwhile is working with her portable anvil at a riding stable, when a sudden shock has a dangerous effect on her. She recovers, but realises that it means another attack in a series which is getting worse. Arranging her life to reduce risk brings problems, and it means that she must find a lodger. When Jo moves into the small cottage with her, it will be difficult to keep her fears secret. Can the two women survive and thrive in a small place?
As other people have their say on the women’s situation, like Liam, the women begin to deal with the challenges. This is a detailed and realistic book which acknowledges that people have unspoken struggles, and I found it a deeply personal book which offers real insight into contemporary lives. I found Tessa’s situation particularly moving, with her doubts, unknown illness and much else. The descriptions of the work of a farrier are detailed and fascinating. I enjoyed this book of life in a small community, of love of various kinds, of the difficulty of explaining genuine feelings. I recommend it as a book which feels truthful and offers a real insight into women’s lives.
This is a book written with care and appreciation of life in a forest, as well as life in a small town which is made special by a particular shop. Franklin has made a superb job of capturing some of the challenges that confront women in contemporary society and how they may react. It looks at the strain of illness, of growing up aware of difference, and long term guilt. It also shows awareness of the pressures of small town life, but also the isolation of living in London. I was very pleased to have the opportunity to read and review this very special novel.
The book begins with the scene in Butler’s butchers’ shop a few days before Christmas, as Jo has returned home from London. The large number of people who crowd in are not only interested in buying meat; they are there for the special atmosphere, the tots of sherry, the friendship expressed by Jo’s parents. Jo finds it especially significant as this is the last Christmas that they intend to be in the shop, as they have decided to move near to her brother. Having felt dissatisfied with her life in London, dealing with many cases that she feels had made little difference, she suddenly feels tempted to move back, take over the shop, return to her old life. Tessa meanwhile is working with her portable anvil at a riding stable, when a sudden shock has a dangerous effect on her. She recovers, but realises that it means another attack in a series which is getting worse. Arranging her life to reduce risk brings problems, and it means that she must find a lodger. When Jo moves into the small cottage with her, it will be difficult to keep her fears secret. Can the two women survive and thrive in a small place?
As other people have their say on the women’s situation, like Liam, the women begin to deal with the challenges. This is a detailed and realistic book which acknowledges that people have unspoken struggles, and I found it a deeply personal book which offers real insight into contemporary lives. I found Tessa’s situation particularly moving, with her doubts, unknown illness and much else. The descriptions of the work of a farrier are detailed and fascinating. I enjoyed this book of life in a small community, of love of various kinds, of the difficulty of explaining genuine feelings. I recommend it as a book which feels truthful and offers a real insight into women’s lives.
November 18, 2020
‘How to Belong’ by Sarah Franklin considers what it is to belong – in a place, and within a family – and how not belonging affects one’s wellbeing. Like Franklin’s successful debut novel ‘Shelter’, ‘How to Belong’ is set in the Forest of Dean, an at times stifling woodland location where community seems set beneath a magnifying glass in which everyone knows everyone else’s business and they rub along together. Except, they don’t if you don’t belong.
This is the story of two women who don’t belong; one believes she does, the other thinks she is too different. Jo Porter grew up in the forest, daughter of the local butcher, and close friends with Liam whose single mum sometimes struggled to cope. Liam grew up learning to recognise his mum’s good and bad times and what to do when the bad periods happened, knowing there was always sanctuary provided by Jo’s parents. When Jo leaves the forest for university and then to work as a lawyer, Liam stays at home, marries Kirsty and has two daughters.
Tessa is a farrier, loving her solitary job in the open air, working with horses. When her romance in Bristol with Marnie turns sour, Tessa retreats to the country and into herself, blaming her fainting fits, her memory losses and secretly afraid she is ill.
When Jo’s parents retire, Jo surprises everyone by leaving London and the law to return to the Forest and take over her parents’ business. She rents a room in Tessa's remote cottage. Things don’t go as Jo expected. Butchering is not her natural occupation despite having practically grown up in the shop at her parents’ knees, her landlady proves herself silent and uncommunicative, and worst of all Liam seems to be giving her the cold shoulder. Meanwhile, Tessa has crashed her van and is earning barely enough to feed herself. When Jo tries to help diagnose Tessa’s illness, things don’t go according to plan. While Tessa keeps her secrets to herself, Jo doesn’t understand her own motivation in wanting to help her landlady. Neither woman appreciates the effect that their actions have on others, neither feels comfortable in the role of landlady/lodger perhaps because they are unsure of their own identity. It’s difficult to fit into a place if you’re not sure why you are there, whether you should be there, and if you are running towards or away from something.
The contemporary setting is very different from the wartime story of ‘Shelter’. This is a character study of two women lacking self-awareness who begin to understand themselves through their new friendship. When awareness arrives, it is raw and uncompromising. At times I grew impatient with each of them, perhaps because the author had to withhold some information about them in order to maintain the mysteries from their past until the end is reached. The end, when it came, felt like a rather quick shutting of the door.
The cover of ‘How to Belong’ is one of my favourites of this year, but then I love trees.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-revie...
This is the story of two women who don’t belong; one believes she does, the other thinks she is too different. Jo Porter grew up in the forest, daughter of the local butcher, and close friends with Liam whose single mum sometimes struggled to cope. Liam grew up learning to recognise his mum’s good and bad times and what to do when the bad periods happened, knowing there was always sanctuary provided by Jo’s parents. When Jo leaves the forest for university and then to work as a lawyer, Liam stays at home, marries Kirsty and has two daughters.
Tessa is a farrier, loving her solitary job in the open air, working with horses. When her romance in Bristol with Marnie turns sour, Tessa retreats to the country and into herself, blaming her fainting fits, her memory losses and secretly afraid she is ill.
When Jo’s parents retire, Jo surprises everyone by leaving London and the law to return to the Forest and take over her parents’ business. She rents a room in Tessa's remote cottage. Things don’t go as Jo expected. Butchering is not her natural occupation despite having practically grown up in the shop at her parents’ knees, her landlady proves herself silent and uncommunicative, and worst of all Liam seems to be giving her the cold shoulder. Meanwhile, Tessa has crashed her van and is earning barely enough to feed herself. When Jo tries to help diagnose Tessa’s illness, things don’t go according to plan. While Tessa keeps her secrets to herself, Jo doesn’t understand her own motivation in wanting to help her landlady. Neither woman appreciates the effect that their actions have on others, neither feels comfortable in the role of landlady/lodger perhaps because they are unsure of their own identity. It’s difficult to fit into a place if you’re not sure why you are there, whether you should be there, and if you are running towards or away from something.
The contemporary setting is very different from the wartime story of ‘Shelter’. This is a character study of two women lacking self-awareness who begin to understand themselves through their new friendship. When awareness arrives, it is raw and uncompromising. At times I grew impatient with each of them, perhaps because the author had to withhold some information about them in order to maintain the mysteries from their past until the end is reached. The end, when it came, felt like a rather quick shutting of the door.
The cover of ‘How to Belong’ is one of my favourites of this year, but then I love trees.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-revie...
November 21, 2020
This is the story of two women, both at turning points in their lives, both trying to establish a sense of belonging. It is a feeling that life has slipped through their fingers and they are desperately trying to reconnect.
Jo Butler, was born and bred in the Forest of Dean. Her parents, stalwarts of the local community, have run the family butchers for years. Her hometown is a constant in Jo’s life, a place to return to, away from her legal career in London. Jo is the local girl made good.
But when the family business is due to be sold, Jo feels like her safety net is slipping and all her insecurities about her own unsatisfyingly career bubble up to the surface. She persuades her parents to give her a trial period running the shop and she moves back home.
But the question that quickly rears its ugly head is , is this actually home? Does Jo still belong in this community and does the connection she craves with her long term friend Liam, the Forest and the shop still exist?
Tessa is the local farrier and Jo’s landlady. She operates on the edge of the community and her sense of belonging seems permanently adrift. Tessa is struggling in every sense of the word and living a closed, half life in an attempt to protect herself and her secrets.
The two women are brought together by circumstance and although their situations seem miles apart, they have more in common than they think. Their stories of attempting to move forward and find their way become interwoven, in a narrative that is filled with authenticity and empathy.
This is a novel rich in a sense of place. Both the physical place of the Forest of Dean, which provides a tangible and beautiful backdrop to the story within these pages. But also the sense of place that comes from knowing when you are home, and how dislocating and disturbing it is when the things you have taken for granted, the bed rock on which your very being is build, suddenly seem to shift away from under your feet.
Sarah Franklin frames difficult and all too familiar questions within this story. For example, how far is our own identify tied up with our sense of place and past? Can you ever truly return to a time and space to find answers to the present ? And what happens when life changes before you are ready to move on?
The story of Jo and Tessa, both individually and together, will linger long after you close the final chapter. This is tale of looking in, before you can look out.
Jo Butler, was born and bred in the Forest of Dean. Her parents, stalwarts of the local community, have run the family butchers for years. Her hometown is a constant in Jo’s life, a place to return to, away from her legal career in London. Jo is the local girl made good.
But when the family business is due to be sold, Jo feels like her safety net is slipping and all her insecurities about her own unsatisfyingly career bubble up to the surface. She persuades her parents to give her a trial period running the shop and she moves back home.
But the question that quickly rears its ugly head is , is this actually home? Does Jo still belong in this community and does the connection she craves with her long term friend Liam, the Forest and the shop still exist?
Tessa is the local farrier and Jo’s landlady. She operates on the edge of the community and her sense of belonging seems permanently adrift. Tessa is struggling in every sense of the word and living a closed, half life in an attempt to protect herself and her secrets.
The two women are brought together by circumstance and although their situations seem miles apart, they have more in common than they think. Their stories of attempting to move forward and find their way become interwoven, in a narrative that is filled with authenticity and empathy.
This is a novel rich in a sense of place. Both the physical place of the Forest of Dean, which provides a tangible and beautiful backdrop to the story within these pages. But also the sense of place that comes from knowing when you are home, and how dislocating and disturbing it is when the things you have taken for granted, the bed rock on which your very being is build, suddenly seem to shift away from under your feet.
Sarah Franklin frames difficult and all too familiar questions within this story. For example, how far is our own identify tied up with our sense of place and past? Can you ever truly return to a time and space to find answers to the present ? And what happens when life changes before you are ready to move on?
The story of Jo and Tessa, both individually and together, will linger long after you close the final chapter. This is tale of looking in, before you can look out.
November 10, 2020
This review can be found at sarahsvignettes.wordpress.com
How to Belong is the second novel from Sarah Franklin about two very different women who are trying to find their place in their local rural community.
Jo grew up in the Forest of Dean. She has just returned home, having left her career as a lawyer in London, to run the family butcher shop. Tessa, a farrier, has recently returned from Bristol to her family cottage after a bad break up. Whilst both women are different, their individual circumstances bring them together and force them to face up to who they are and their lives as they know it. It took me a long time to connect with Jo and I am not sure I ever did with Tessa - I have a feeling that was me and current circumstances rather than Sarah Franklin's great story.
Through Jo and Tessa's different characters, Sarah Franklin explores what it means to belong, sense of identity, what home means, and the themes of gender - Jo is a butcher and Tessa a farrier, both working in what are seen as potentially male dominated worlds - and memory - by coming home, Jo is trying to get back to her past and Tessa is trying to forget hers.
I loved the strong sense of place that Sarah Franklin has created in How to Belong. It is set in and around the Forest of Dean and is evocative of rural communities. The butcher's shop in the town and the local community, where everyone knows each other and we probably recognise people in our own communities in these characters. The rural location not only acts as escapism for Jo and Tessa to walk away and make sense of their troubles whilst out in nature but it dictates the lives of the community.
In How to Belong, Sarah Franklin has created a well researched, written and plotted story with good characterisation that will make you ponder your own sense of belonging and the place you call home.
*Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book for review purposes*
How to Belong is the second novel from Sarah Franklin about two very different women who are trying to find their place in their local rural community.
Jo grew up in the Forest of Dean. She has just returned home, having left her career as a lawyer in London, to run the family butcher shop. Tessa, a farrier, has recently returned from Bristol to her family cottage after a bad break up. Whilst both women are different, their individual circumstances bring them together and force them to face up to who they are and their lives as they know it. It took me a long time to connect with Jo and I am not sure I ever did with Tessa - I have a feeling that was me and current circumstances rather than Sarah Franklin's great story.
Through Jo and Tessa's different characters, Sarah Franklin explores what it means to belong, sense of identity, what home means, and the themes of gender - Jo is a butcher and Tessa a farrier, both working in what are seen as potentially male dominated worlds - and memory - by coming home, Jo is trying to get back to her past and Tessa is trying to forget hers.
I loved the strong sense of place that Sarah Franklin has created in How to Belong. It is set in and around the Forest of Dean and is evocative of rural communities. The butcher's shop in the town and the local community, where everyone knows each other and we probably recognise people in our own communities in these characters. The rural location not only acts as escapism for Jo and Tessa to walk away and make sense of their troubles whilst out in nature but it dictates the lives of the community.
In How to Belong, Sarah Franklin has created a well researched, written and plotted story with good characterisation that will make you ponder your own sense of belonging and the place you call home.
*Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book for review purposes*
November 22, 2021
"Every time Jo pushes open a door here, she's a different age. At the shop, she's a little kid; in Liam and Kirsty's front room she's twenty-two...As she enters the Star tonight, she's seventeen again. Slightly stale booze and sweat mingle with sharp, fresh notes of aftershave and hope."
Present day in a rural Forest of Dean community, and two, very different single, middle-aged women are struggling. Former local, Jo has given up her legal career in London and returned home to run the family butchers. Tessa, from the Welsh valleys is a farrier, dealing with a mysterious illness and grieving the breakdown of her relationship with Marnie, who she left in Bristol. Both women are thrown together when Tessa's need for income forces her to let a room to a lodger, Jo, whose parents have sold up and moved away. Friendless Tessa has suffered terribly, let down by her family and her health is failing her, whereas Jo's family have been supportive, but she is lost without her parents and even best friend Liam feels distant. Both women feel lonely and out of place, but Tessa is running from her past and Jo is trying to regain it. Will they find how to belong?
"She'd [Tess] been an outsider for so many years now that it had become absorbed into the fabric over her, just part of her like her blue eyes, her pointy nose."
Reminding me of Sarah Moss and Clare Chambers, the author's writing is evocative and observant. The reader has access to both Jo's and Tessa's perspectives, often of the same event, and back stories. There is a strong sense of place in the New Forest, with its communities, climate and landscape featuring heavily. Life is more complex for both women than either they, or others, expect and they both learn to adjust their expectations of themselves and others. This is a gentle tale of family, friends, home and striving to belong. A insightful and hopeful book, to settle in and enjoy.
Present day in a rural Forest of Dean community, and two, very different single, middle-aged women are struggling. Former local, Jo has given up her legal career in London and returned home to run the family butchers. Tessa, from the Welsh valleys is a farrier, dealing with a mysterious illness and grieving the breakdown of her relationship with Marnie, who she left in Bristol. Both women are thrown together when Tessa's need for income forces her to let a room to a lodger, Jo, whose parents have sold up and moved away. Friendless Tessa has suffered terribly, let down by her family and her health is failing her, whereas Jo's family have been supportive, but she is lost without her parents and even best friend Liam feels distant. Both women feel lonely and out of place, but Tessa is running from her past and Jo is trying to regain it. Will they find how to belong?
"She'd [Tess] been an outsider for so many years now that it had become absorbed into the fabric over her, just part of her like her blue eyes, her pointy nose."
Reminding me of Sarah Moss and Clare Chambers, the author's writing is evocative and observant. The reader has access to both Jo's and Tessa's perspectives, often of the same event, and back stories. There is a strong sense of place in the New Forest, with its communities, climate and landscape featuring heavily. Life is more complex for both women than either they, or others, expect and they both learn to adjust their expectations of themselves and others. This is a gentle tale of family, friends, home and striving to belong. A insightful and hopeful book, to settle in and enjoy.
November 13, 2020
How to Belong is a fantastic story, a touching exploration of what it means to belong.
Jo is a barrister who left behind her small town childhood in the Forest of Dean to go to London to study and work. Disillusioned with the legal world, she returns to the Forest to take over the family butcher's shop. She's full of hope, looking forward to being reunited with her friends, particularly her best friend, Liam. But being back isn't quite what she expected.
She takes a room in a cottage in the heart of the Forest owned by Tessa. Tessa is a much more complicated character than Jo, a closed book to her and everyone else, a shadowy person who seems to have no family or friends. She works as a farrier which I found really interesting to read about. She's also dealing with medical issues that threaten to completely derail her life.
Jo and Tessa are completely different people but they have something in common: they're outsiders in their own surroundings and both of them have to learn to adjust. I'm not sure why but I found Jo's sections much easier to read. Maybe I identified more with her problem-solving ways than with Tessa's burying her head in the sand ways. I very much enjoyed the book as a whole though and I thought the author weaved the two women's stories together expertly and effortlessly.
What really stuck me with How to Belong is the sense of place. Every setting in the book from the cottage where Jo and Tessa live, and the Forest itself, to the butcher's shop and even Tessa's old home in Bristol, jumped off the page. I felt as if I could see and smell the trees and leaves, smell the meat in the shop, feel the heat of Tessa's forge. It's an incredibly evocative read and beautifully written, the kind of book which makes me marvel at the depth of feeling and understanding that come through in the author's words. I really loved it.
Jo is a barrister who left behind her small town childhood in the Forest of Dean to go to London to study and work. Disillusioned with the legal world, she returns to the Forest to take over the family butcher's shop. She's full of hope, looking forward to being reunited with her friends, particularly her best friend, Liam. But being back isn't quite what she expected.
She takes a room in a cottage in the heart of the Forest owned by Tessa. Tessa is a much more complicated character than Jo, a closed book to her and everyone else, a shadowy person who seems to have no family or friends. She works as a farrier which I found really interesting to read about. She's also dealing with medical issues that threaten to completely derail her life.
Jo and Tessa are completely different people but they have something in common: they're outsiders in their own surroundings and both of them have to learn to adjust. I'm not sure why but I found Jo's sections much easier to read. Maybe I identified more with her problem-solving ways than with Tessa's burying her head in the sand ways. I very much enjoyed the book as a whole though and I thought the author weaved the two women's stories together expertly and effortlessly.
What really stuck me with How to Belong is the sense of place. Every setting in the book from the cottage where Jo and Tessa live, and the Forest itself, to the butcher's shop and even Tessa's old home in Bristol, jumped off the page. I felt as if I could see and smell the trees and leaves, smell the meat in the shop, feel the heat of Tessa's forge. It's an incredibly evocative read and beautifully written, the kind of book which makes me marvel at the depth of feeling and understanding that come through in the author's words. I really loved it.
November 21, 2020
"She's gradually learning to identify the shape and heft of other people's feelings, not just her own. The toil it always takes to be in the world, whoever you are."
How To Belong is a beautifully-written and absorbing story about our need to belong and finding a place to call home.
The story centres around Jo and Tessa, two very different women who end up living together when circumstances force Tessa to take in a lodger. Both are facing life-changing upheavals: Jo in her choice to leave her career as a barrister in London to return to her hometown of New Forest Dene, and Tessa as she tries to recover from a devastating break-up and attempts to grapple with the frightening symptoms afflicting her that seem to be worsening, leaving her unable to function at times. They are compelling characters and I enjoyed their awkward dynamic, finding it much more fun to read than if they'd been instant buddies.
While Jo is undeniably the warmer and more outgoing of the two, I found myself drawn towards Tessa and her mysterious story. While Jo is like an open book, Tessa is one you have to read in order to figure out; the pieces revealing themselves slowly until you can complete the picture. I also related to her fear about her deteriorating symptoms and being scared to have hope. This expertly written character found a place in my heart that I know will linger.
This was my first time reading anything by this author and it certainly won't be my last. Her engaging prose immersed me in the world she'd created and I quickly devoured this delightful novel. I would highly recommend this book and think it is one you can enjoy whatever genres you usually prefer to read.
How To Belong is a beautifully-written and absorbing story about our need to belong and finding a place to call home.
The story centres around Jo and Tessa, two very different women who end up living together when circumstances force Tessa to take in a lodger. Both are facing life-changing upheavals: Jo in her choice to leave her career as a barrister in London to return to her hometown of New Forest Dene, and Tessa as she tries to recover from a devastating break-up and attempts to grapple with the frightening symptoms afflicting her that seem to be worsening, leaving her unable to function at times. They are compelling characters and I enjoyed their awkward dynamic, finding it much more fun to read than if they'd been instant buddies.
While Jo is undeniably the warmer and more outgoing of the two, I found myself drawn towards Tessa and her mysterious story. While Jo is like an open book, Tessa is one you have to read in order to figure out; the pieces revealing themselves slowly until you can complete the picture. I also related to her fear about her deteriorating symptoms and being scared to have hope. This expertly written character found a place in my heart that I know will linger.
This was my first time reading anything by this author and it certainly won't be my last. Her engaging prose immersed me in the world she'd created and I quickly devoured this delightful novel. I would highly recommend this book and think it is one you can enjoy whatever genres you usually prefer to read.
November 24, 2020
Jo had thought that being a Barrister would mean she could make life-changing things happen for people she represented, but the cases she had been given to take on were petty and soul-destroying. When her father and mother decided to move nearer to her brother, she upped sticks and returned to the Forest of Dean, where she had been brought up, to take over the family butchers shop. The thing was Jo felt like she was walking back to the life and friends she had left behind years ago, but, everyone and grown up and moved on with their lives without her in them.
Tessa didn’t want to return to the past, it had been hard enough the first time around, she had faced prejudice and embarrassment over and over again. She wanted isolation. Circumstances were going to throw these two very different women together.
It isn’t an all-action read, it slowly unfolds but kept me wanting to know more about both of these women and the people that were important to them. Liam, the best friend of Jo from years before, is a cracking character that I liked. How they were all brought up has long-reaching effects of the people that they became as adults.
At first, I was intrigued about who these characters were and why they had come back to this place because the place was still the same, but the people weren’t. It makes you stop and think about what home means to everyone. Some had never really found it, just had a glance from outside looking in. I loved the characters the more I got to know them, a brilliant book that made me reflect on my home town and the past.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.
Tessa didn’t want to return to the past, it had been hard enough the first time around, she had faced prejudice and embarrassment over and over again. She wanted isolation. Circumstances were going to throw these two very different women together.
It isn’t an all-action read, it slowly unfolds but kept me wanting to know more about both of these women and the people that were important to them. Liam, the best friend of Jo from years before, is a cracking character that I liked. How they were all brought up has long-reaching effects of the people that they became as adults.
At first, I was intrigued about who these characters were and why they had come back to this place because the place was still the same, but the people weren’t. It makes you stop and think about what home means to everyone. Some had never really found it, just had a glance from outside looking in. I loved the characters the more I got to know them, a brilliant book that made me reflect on my home town and the past.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.
October 29, 2020
This is a novel about identity, friendship and how to belong in a place you call home. Set in the Forest of Dean, 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 examines the lives of 2 very different women, struggling to feel a sense of connection in their small rural community. Jo, a young barrister, has returned disillusioned by her career and vacuous life in London to take over the ailing family butchers. Tessa, a shy, reticent farrier, lives a solitary life in her cottage with an undiagnosed illness which causes her to collapse “𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭” into a trance like state. Both women, despise their very different lives, yearn to belong. Tessa is a character, with a tragic back story yet rich with possibilities. Jo struggles with trying to re-kindle old friendships, realising that life has moved on since she left. Jo rents a room in Tessa’s cottage and an unlikely friendship develops between both women.
I found many similarities with this novel and the writings of Sarah Moss. Both evoke a true sense of rural life and nature in a very simple yet beautiful manner. Village life is very realistically portrayed and the local characters are people we’ve all met in our lives. I really enjoyed this novel. It is a gentle, contemplative read which celebrates the comfort and stability of the ordinary life. This is Franklin’s second novel and I’m tempted to now read her first novel 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳.
Thank you to Sarah Franklin for this novel and to @netgalley and @bonnierbooks for this ebook in return for my honest review.
3 🌟
I found many similarities with this novel and the writings of Sarah Moss. Both evoke a true sense of rural life and nature in a very simple yet beautiful manner. Village life is very realistically portrayed and the local characters are people we’ve all met in our lives. I really enjoyed this novel. It is a gentle, contemplative read which celebrates the comfort and stability of the ordinary life. This is Franklin’s second novel and I’m tempted to now read her first novel 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳.
Thank you to Sarah Franklin for this novel and to @netgalley and @bonnierbooks for this ebook in return for my honest review.
3 🌟
November 19, 2020
Firstly, I love the natural simplicity of the cover design for How to Belong. I love nature and the idea of a forest setting really appealed to me. I was not let down by Franklin; her writing is so vivid, the senses leap from the pages and the richness of the descriptive detail creates the perfect setting backdrop for a book of insightful observations of human behaviour, of challenges, disillusionment, trauma, hardships, defiance and illness.
I enjoyed the relationship between the two central, contrasting women (Jo and Tessa) and the sense of realism to the writing of their characters. Their friendship becomes a narrative drive for the reader and a revelation for the characters when building their futures. All this is explored in a slow paced, explorative way with a strong personal spirit behind the writing.
A story of community, of human nature and the depth of our interactions: of difference and connections. I thought this was a beautifully written book; a story of women, of place and the communities that frame them.
A sensitively and beautifully written story that I’d very happily recommend for readers looking for a reflective novel with both strength and hope at its heart.
I enjoyed the relationship between the two central, contrasting women (Jo and Tessa) and the sense of realism to the writing of their characters. Their friendship becomes a narrative drive for the reader and a revelation for the characters when building their futures. All this is explored in a slow paced, explorative way with a strong personal spirit behind the writing.
A story of community, of human nature and the depth of our interactions: of difference and connections. I thought this was a beautifully written book; a story of women, of place and the communities that frame them.
A sensitively and beautifully written story that I’d very happily recommend for readers looking for a reflective novel with both strength and hope at its heart.
November 25, 2020
Well this was a story of two halves and in lots of ways Tessa and Jo are looking for the same thing which is acceptance into a story they belong to. Jo as a character is interesting not complicated but a small town girl looking for roots in the place that she grew up and Tessa rather more complicated with health issues and problems created as a result of these being ignored. I genuinely thought Liam was Joannes brother at the beginning of the book until around chapter 14 when we discover the truth. Liam was a strange character for me because although he fits the story I felt that he lacked real purpose and was mostly an interesting side story. Tessa was complex but it hurt my heart all she went through and her struggle felt very real and I could identify with parts of her nature and character. I felt sorry for Jo only in that her dream bubble was popped by her parents but from the stories perspective gave us a real insight into privilege. It also showed us her resilience and the fact that she could still find her way in the forest despite it not being the initial plan that she hoped for. A good read well written.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 30, 2020
This is a contemporary fiction.
It focuses on two central characters, Jo and Tessa who are the unlikely duo who share their home together.
Jo has always helped her family at their butcher's shop when she was younger. When her parents retire and move closer to her brother's house. She decides to run the shop herself.
Tessa works as a farrier and lives in a cottage outside of the town, she suffers from health issues due to the loss of her little sister and departure of her mother. Reluctantly, she lets out her spare room and ends up sharing her home with Jo.
I like how the author took turns to focus on Jo and Tessa, so you get a better insight to the characters. I like how you as the reader find out about their secrets and hopes.
When I first read the title, saw the cover and read the synopsis, I thought I would like to read this book because it initially sounded like a book about finding your place on the world. Having read it, I wasn't disappointed. I like how the author developed teh characters of Jo and Tessa.
I think I would have preferred reading a paperback as I didn't like the font.
It focuses on two central characters, Jo and Tessa who are the unlikely duo who share their home together.
Jo has always helped her family at their butcher's shop when she was younger. When her parents retire and move closer to her brother's house. She decides to run the shop herself.
Tessa works as a farrier and lives in a cottage outside of the town, she suffers from health issues due to the loss of her little sister and departure of her mother. Reluctantly, she lets out her spare room and ends up sharing her home with Jo.
I like how the author took turns to focus on Jo and Tessa, so you get a better insight to the characters. I like how you as the reader find out about their secrets and hopes.
When I first read the title, saw the cover and read the synopsis, I thought I would like to read this book because it initially sounded like a book about finding your place on the world. Having read it, I wasn't disappointed. I like how the author developed teh characters of Jo and Tessa.
I think I would have preferred reading a paperback as I didn't like the font.
May 29, 2023
This book is all about finding out where you belong, whether that’s realising you no longer belong where you once did or finding a new place to belong. It struck a real chord with me as I, like everyone on the planet I’m sure has had that feeling of ‘do I belong here?’ happen to them at one time or other.
On the eve of moving house it’s quite apt that I felt compelled to write this review wondering ‘will I feel belonging in my new home?’
The story follows two women Jo, who grew up in the Forest of Dean and knows all about community and what it is to belong to that community and Tessa who has completely opposing views about the sane community.
The two women are thrown together and are compelled to find their sense of identity and the meaning of home.
This book is so thoughtfully written and it tells such a thought provoking story about life. It is such a warm, kind and touching novel. I felt so immersed in the lives of Tessa and Jo and the strength that each portrayed. This story is bound to resonate with any reader that picks up this book. I absolutely loved it and it left me with a warm glow, that is not left by many books I’ve read.
On the eve of moving house it’s quite apt that I felt compelled to write this review wondering ‘will I feel belonging in my new home?’
The story follows two women Jo, who grew up in the Forest of Dean and knows all about community and what it is to belong to that community and Tessa who has completely opposing views about the sane community.
The two women are thrown together and are compelled to find their sense of identity and the meaning of home.
This book is so thoughtfully written and it tells such a thought provoking story about life. It is such a warm, kind and touching novel. I felt so immersed in the lives of Tessa and Jo and the strength that each portrayed. This story is bound to resonate with any reader that picks up this book. I absolutely loved it and it left me with a warm glow, that is not left by many books I’ve read.
January 23, 2025
admittedly, this is not the kind of book I’d have picked up of my own volition. the reason I gave it a go, however, is because it was written by one of my favourite uni lecturers (an incredibly lovely woman and fantastic teacher, by the way) – though I promise this is a completely unbiased review!
firstly: I adored Jo’s friendship with Liam. I loved that it was just that – a friendship! nothing more. Liam, happily married, is a vital source of support for Jo (even if he wavered a bit here and there) and I enjoyed seeing how their friendship had developed from childhood to adulthood. Jo’s endeavour to save her family’s shop was also incredibly admirable, especially since the staff she had to work with got on my nerves.
also, if there’s one thing I love in books, it’s tragic lesbians. give me ALL the tragic lesbians. Tessa and Marnie’s story ticked all the right boxes for me. it was moving, gripping, tragic, and had a perfectly bittersweet ambiguous ending – not satisfying for some, but was just right for me. learning about Tessa’s condition was also incredibly eye-opening; no spoilers here, don’t worry, but seeing how she had to adjust (and upheave) her entire life to accommodate it was heart-wrenching, and I was rooting for her the whole time, even if her grumpiness sometimes bordered on irritating.
as someone who is constantly moving between two cities – my home city and my university city – I often end up feeling like I don’t fully belong in either, like a part of me will forever be scattered in each of them, no matter where I end up. home, family, and the concept of belonging are all very dear to me, so How to Belong ended up hitting quite hard (yes, I might have teared up a bit on public transport). though the sudden jumps in time sometimes threw me off, it was otherwise beautifully written.
firstly: I adored Jo’s friendship with Liam. I loved that it was just that – a friendship! nothing more. Liam, happily married, is a vital source of support for Jo (even if he wavered a bit here and there) and I enjoyed seeing how their friendship had developed from childhood to adulthood. Jo’s endeavour to save her family’s shop was also incredibly admirable, especially since the staff she had to work with got on my nerves.
also, if there’s one thing I love in books, it’s tragic lesbians. give me ALL the tragic lesbians. Tessa and Marnie’s story ticked all the right boxes for me. it was moving, gripping, tragic, and had a perfectly bittersweet ambiguous ending – not satisfying for some, but was just right for me. learning about Tessa’s condition was also incredibly eye-opening; no spoilers here, don’t worry, but seeing how she had to adjust (and upheave) her entire life to accommodate it was heart-wrenching, and I was rooting for her the whole time, even if her grumpiness sometimes bordered on irritating.
as someone who is constantly moving between two cities – my home city and my university city – I often end up feeling like I don’t fully belong in either, like a part of me will forever be scattered in each of them, no matter where I end up. home, family, and the concept of belonging are all very dear to me, so How to Belong ended up hitting quite hard (yes, I might have teared up a bit on public transport). though the sudden jumps in time sometimes threw me off, it was otherwise beautifully written.
October 30, 2020
A first impression review of the beginning chapters thanks to readers first website.
The first two chapters introduces us to Jo and Tessa.
Jo's story creates a real feeling of Christmas time in a small town. That feeling of belonging. Like time has stood still and no matter how long you've been away, you will always be welcomed back like you'd never left. I'm interested to know more about her return to the forest. Why is her career so disappointing? What makes her come back? I'd like to know more about her relationships with family a different her best friend Liam.
The second chapter is Tessa's story. She has her own business, a skilled career that would have taken many years of training. Yet she seems so unhappy. Unsatisfied with life. We get a hint about her difficult home life. A sister that passed away when she was young, a deceased father and a mother with whom she has a difficult relationship. I'm looking forward to exploring her past and how it has affected her present.
Wonderfully written.
The first two chapters introduces us to Jo and Tessa.
Jo's story creates a real feeling of Christmas time in a small town. That feeling of belonging. Like time has stood still and no matter how long you've been away, you will always be welcomed back like you'd never left. I'm interested to know more about her return to the forest. Why is her career so disappointing? What makes her come back? I'd like to know more about her relationships with family a different her best friend Liam.
The second chapter is Tessa's story. She has her own business, a skilled career that would have taken many years of training. Yet she seems so unhappy. Unsatisfied with life. We get a hint about her difficult home life. A sister that passed away when she was young, a deceased father and a mother with whom she has a difficult relationship. I'm looking forward to exploring her past and how it has affected her present.
Wonderfully written.
November 24, 2020
Now this is a book that’s as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside - if you like stories full of wonderful characters you can get behind, I would definitely recommend picking this up!
It will come as no surprise that this is a story about belonging - but the way in which Franklin has created such a captivating story around this is just beautiful.
Our two main characters are poles apart - Jo grew up in the kind of loving, stable family most people dream of, her parents a huge part of the community they live in. Tessa, on the other hand, has been carrying her mother’s blame and resentment for a tragedy when she was a small girl, and has been suffering from an unexplained illness which keeps her from getting close to anyone.
When Jo decides to move home to take over the family business and lodges with Tessa, they are both faced with their different experiences of not belonging - but will they be able to help each other find their place?
Full of humanity, hope, strength in the face of adversity, and kindness - this is a story which is bound to resonate in some way with anyone who reads it, and it left me with that lovely warm glow that only such wonderful books leave!
It will come as no surprise that this is a story about belonging - but the way in which Franklin has created such a captivating story around this is just beautiful.
Our two main characters are poles apart - Jo grew up in the kind of loving, stable family most people dream of, her parents a huge part of the community they live in. Tessa, on the other hand, has been carrying her mother’s blame and resentment for a tragedy when she was a small girl, and has been suffering from an unexplained illness which keeps her from getting close to anyone.
When Jo decides to move home to take over the family business and lodges with Tessa, they are both faced with their different experiences of not belonging - but will they be able to help each other find their place?
Full of humanity, hope, strength in the face of adversity, and kindness - this is a story which is bound to resonate in some way with anyone who reads it, and it left me with that lovely warm glow that only such wonderful books leave!
June 21, 2020
Disillusioned with life as a young barrister in London, Jo has returned to her hometown in the Forest of Dean and has taken over her parents butcher's shop in a hope to make a life. She is lodging with Tessa, a taciturn farrier with a devastating secret. As Jo struggles to rekindle her old friendships, Tessa's medical condition worsens and her life begins to spiral.
I didn't make the connection between this novel and Franklin's previous book 'Shelter' until after I'd finished and reflected that here was another cracking book set in the Forest of Dean. This is a book with a more contemporary setting but it is still the gentle tug of relationships that takes centre stage. Tessa's alienation from the town is so beautifully imagined and the story of the breakdown of her relationship is very raw and sad, I even didn't mind the hint of a happy ending. Franklin is developing into an excellent writer.
I didn't make the connection between this novel and Franklin's previous book 'Shelter' until after I'd finished and reflected that here was another cracking book set in the Forest of Dean. This is a book with a more contemporary setting but it is still the gentle tug of relationships that takes centre stage. Tessa's alienation from the town is so beautifully imagined and the story of the breakdown of her relationship is very raw and sad, I even didn't mind the hint of a happy ending. Franklin is developing into an excellent writer.
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