The Other Half of Augusta Hope: The best-selling, heart-warming debut novel shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award

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Part of The Other Half of Augusta Hope is set in Burundi, a small country in Africa that Augusta decides is to be her favourite country in the world and so she devours facts and learns everything that she can about the country. They navigate their way through adolescence to adulthood and then comes a significant event on holiday that is alluded to by Augusta before we learn of it. This is a turning point for the whole family and points everything in a new direction. worlds are brought together in this powerful novel of wanting something more than what you have. Both Augusta and Parfait want a better life and both have their sights on Spain.

The Other Half of Augusta Hope: Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2019. Augusta Hope has never felt like she fits in. And now that she's an adult, Augusta has no interest in the goings-on of the small town where she lives with her parents and her beloved twin sister, Julia. Wow! This book had me laughing loudly and crying copiously. Augusta brings a smile to your face with her insightful comments, and worldly wisdom. We also hear from Parfait, a young boy living in Burundi who at first seems quite random, how will he fit into the story? Of course, it soon becomes clear. This beautiful novel is told alternately by Augusta Hope, living in England, and Parfait from Burundi. The Other Half of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen is such a special book and I am finding it impossible to find anything to compare it to. It is, for the most part, two stories running side by side. We meet Augusta who is bright with a fascination for words and is thought a bit strange at school. Thankfully she can count on the friendship of her not-so-strange twin sister, Julia.I really enjoyed this book … great observational comic gems within a fast-moving story full of the reality of despair and hope in everyone’s lives" -Miranda Hart Joanna Glen weaves a uniquely heartening and hopeful story. A story about pain, the solace of words and our search to belong, to a place, to a person. Welcome to the world of the wonderful Augusta Hope” - Jess Kidd, author Himself and Things in Jars Meanwhile., life in Burundi for Parfait is very different. Living in a troubled country he witnesses the death of many of his family members, the rape and then disappearance of his sisters and the silence of one of his brothers. Thrust into the role of head of the family at only 14 he struggles to remain cheerful and keep his family safe. He befriends a Spanish missionary who comes to work in Burundi and plots to leave his home land and head to Spain for a better life. He plans to walk to Tunisia and from there sail across the sea that looks like a river and just start again in Spain. Only one of his brothers sets out for Spain with him, the other choosing to stay in Burundi to be near his dead twin brother. A set of twins are born minutes apart which gives them different birthdays. This difference defines them forever. One dark and one fair. One studious and one not so interested. One serious and the other flighty and in the moment. Augusta is precocious and interested in the world and words. As a young child she spins the globe and puts her finger on the spot that will be her favorite--Burundi.

I don't think I can praise this book highly enough, to be honest. It's beautifully written, the prose often laugh out loud which I did, simply because the family dynamic described often resembled my own, and although I didn't laugh at the time felt I could when reading about it. Augusta and Julia are twins. They were born at roughly the same time which made them twins but that is where the similarity ends. They are very different people, Julia beautiful and ready to please, Augusta different, quirky, a little offbeat. I liked her immensely. She loves words, reads the dictionary endlessly and loves etymology. I recognised her immediately. I was the same when I was young and I have autism, so I'm guessing she may also be autistic. Augusta is also an adventurer and wants to see the world, particularly Burundi which she has a special interest in simply because she liked saying the word, and then discovers she wants to know more. Her story is narrated side by side with Parfait, born in Burundi and witness to many atrocities, particularly those which involve his own family. I simply loved this clever and wonde Some of this book is set in a small town in England, some are set in Burundi and the rest in Tarifa in Spain. I loved the parts in Spain, Augusta loves it there and that really shows in the story, I’ve never been there but I could see it all so perfectly in my mind. Their lives are very different but at the same time there are huge similarities that lead to their lives being intertwined in unexpected ways, even if they don’t know it yet.She's determined to find where she belongs – but what if her true home, and heart, are half a world away? I’m more interested in this book now I’ve read your review – it definitely sounds darker than I had expected but I quite like the idea and apart from the slight unbalance a 4* review is very encouraging.

This is a very readable, if somewhat predictable, book and there was a lot to like about it. Is it contrived? Yes of course it is, but I’m not sure that detracts from the book in any way. Both the main characters are struggling to find their place in the world and the author develops their personalities and their life stories well. In particular I felt that Parfait’s story was sensitively told and depicted the trials, tribulations and horrors of life from the point of view of a refugee. The situations in which the characters find themselves are, at times, heartbreaking and harrowing, but there is also light relief in the form of humour. When Parfait enters the story, it's a bit confusing. He is part of a large family in Burundi during the political unrest and the tribal horrors between the Hutus and the Tutsis. Assassinations, massacres, starvation, rapes, all impact Parfait, making him dream of taking his family across Africa by foot and then crossing to Spain over what looks to him like a narrow sea. As you can gather, it is a very character driven story and all characters, even those who only play a small part, are extremely well drawn, and the ones that linger a while develop nicely as the story progresses. It's also a very emotional book which pretty much tugged on my heartstrings throughout as well as delivering some really wonderful lighter, tender, moments. The dragonfly symbolises transformation. Can move direction very suddenly. Is capable of flying across oceans' ____ Joanna GlenI found it both a mesmerisingly beautiful portrait of a young woman discovering what home means to her, and a poignant depiction of how our actions can touch other people's lives in ways we could never have anticipated. Augusta and Parfait are wonderful characters; I was willing them on to find the happiness and peace they both deserved” - Sarah Haywood, author of The Cactus By the time the book finished, I was totally in love with the story and the characters and I did not want it to end. It is very rare that a book makes me cry, but The Other Half of Augusta Hope came very close. It was beautifully written and it all felt so real. Thanks so much to Harper Collins, Joanna Glen and NetGalley for the opportunity to read THE OTHER HALF OF AUGUSTA HOPE.

From here it is fairly inevitable that Augusta and Parfait will meet but how they get there is very interesting. This book is gorgeously written and the descriptions are beautiful. It is heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure.And now that she’s an adult, Augusta has no interest in the goings-on of the small town where she lives with her parents and her beloved twin sister, Julia. This book by Joanne Glen tells story of twin girls, Julia and Augusta, born minutes apart but in separate months. From the moment they are born the girls are very different from each other and as they grow older their ambitions and dreams move wider and wider apart. Hide Spoiler here: Julia commits suicide after the stillbirth of her daughter. She throws herself in front of a train. Augusta, only half of a twin now, cannot cry. I must say here that I lost a daughter in a train accident and this portion was heart-rending for me to read...but very real. Parfait is the same age as Augusta, but lives in a completely different world: war-torn Burundi. Having seen many of his family killed in the bloody civil war, he decides to leave, aged 14, taking his younger brother with him.