The Frequency of Us: A BBC2 Between the Covers book club pick

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Doubts assail Laura as she hits one dead end after another. It is just one more failure in a life full of disappointments. The plot was very engaging. I cannot claim to know the scientific accuracy behind the concepts mentioned in this book (It's not very heavy, don't worry) but I liked the plot and the story. It made sense to me. It also served the purpose of feeding me a good, entertaining, heartwrenching, and satisfying story. Am good with that. Will Emerson is near the end of his long life, living alone in a mouldy, crumbling house in Bath. Suspected of having dementia, and being incapable of looking after himself, he longs for the past when he was truly happy, with the love of his life – Elsa. Only, no-one else can remember Elsa. Nothing remains to say that she ever existed. Has he made her up? b>Like I said at the start, I so enjoyed the audiobook of this book until the climax - the climax was over the top and the introduction of a character at this time somehow made the whole plot seem.. off. We think it’s the perfect book club choice and asked Keith to write a set of questions for book clubs to use when discussing the novel!

The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart | Waterstones

With writing that sweeps you up in a maelstrom of emotions, depositing you right in the middle of this surreal, ethereal mystery you can only marvel at the delicate way the author handles these characters. As you listen to Will’s retelling of his love affair with Elsa you have to ask yourself certain questions. Is it entirely confabulation, the product of a mind descending into madness or succumbing to dementia? Is Laura, in her agitated and disturbed state following Will down the same path, inhabiting a world of make believe? Or is it something else entirely? The author gives his readers space and time to consider all theories as you relinquish reality and lose yourself in Will’s memories. For me it was enough that this lonely and misunderstood elderly man finally had someone willing to listen to his version of events and like Laura I became an avid listener, caring about the validity of his memories because it was vital for my peace of mind that I believed in the existence of this beautiful love affair. When you believe what your heart wants you to believe nothing else matters and I did not want for Elsa to be nothing more than a figment of Will’s imagination. For any reader, aspects of a novel will resonate more strongly than others so for me the actual outcome of this mystery almost became immaterial, secondary to the details of Will and Elsa’s enchanting love affair which is incredibly romantic. Life is a radio dial; we travel along it from left to right, and on the way we discover stations that we fall in love with and cherish – then we move on and lose them. But those stations aren’t gone. They’re still transmitting. If you listen very closely, you hear their ghosts amid the static. The people we’ve loved and think we have lost, the things that moved us, they are always there, they are bright and alive, somewhere on the dial. You just have to listen.” The main characters are so beautifully developed, and so very real. You become really involved in their journey. The depiction of mental health issues is sympathetic, and you cheer for Laura as she gradually becomes more confident and assured, and fear for Will as he slides towards the oblivion of old age. Disclaimer: An audiobook ARC was provided by The Publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The Thoughts, opinions & feelings expressed in the review are therefore, my own.

As Laura listens to Will’s stories about Elsa she is convinced that he couldn’t be making her up and goes in search of the truth, but sometimes the truth is not what you expect it to be. Best Books Set in the 1920s — from Stories That Shimmer with Champagne and Social Change, to Rip-roaring Reads Covering Crime, Colonialism and Beyond. Initially it took me long to actually get into the plot but later on I just loved it. The dual timeline is what got me hooked into because I was constantly trying to guess how is it all going to tie up at the end. There are so many plotting threads across different timelines I am in awe of the author’s skill – in his dedication he writes a special thank you to his first ever editor who taught him ‘that the secret to good writing is obsession and detail’. I feel Keith took this advice to heart and it shows in his books!

The Frequency of Us: creating a character with anxiety The Frequency of Us: creating a character with anxiety

I do enjoy stories that feature two timelines weaved together, as one of the characters slowly uncover some mystery of the other. This was similarly enjoyable, though I did feel more invested in one pov for majority of the book (Laura), so non Laura pov chapters felt a little bit of a bore but the prose was smooth so they were still easy to get through.Thanks to NetGalley and to Little, Brown and Company UK (Clara Díaz in particular) for providing me an ARC copy of this book that I freely chose to review. That’s a glowing review, Annika. I know the feeling of rushing through a book, only to get upset when it ends. Seventy years later, social worker Laura is battling her way out of depression and off medication. Her new case is a strange, isolated old man whose house hasn't changed since the war. A man who insists his wife vanished many, many years before. Everyone thinks he's suffering dementia. But Laura begins to suspect otherwise . . . When David/Michael is revealed to be Laura’s father- what does this tell us about her role in the story? In Second World War Bath, young, naïve wireless engineer Will meets Austrian refugee Elsa Klein: she is sophisticated, witty and worldly, and at last his life seems to make sense . . . until, soon after, the couple’s home is bombed, and Will awakes from the blast to find himself alone.