The White Room by Craig Higginson

The last review of a 2018 book - and it's (not quite) the end of January yet. Wow, that shows how far behind I am in my reviews, that I can be happy at that fact.

However, since I aim to read about 2 books a week, and write 2-3 reviews, I know I'll catch up. It's just a matter of time.

The White Room starts with Hannah Meade's play's opening night in London. She's nervous, but also excited. The play is about a relationship she had years ago with Pierre, whom she plans to meet tonight too. Is she really all that nervous about the play? Or is it about meeting Pierre, who she has invited but hasn't seen since those days?

The book flips between the play and current events, and the past.  It layers truths with lies, theatre and drama with reality and pain. It's beautifully written - artful and clever, and it doesn't try to be more than it is - a story about a relationship, how that impacts everything, and the memories left behind can hover in the shadows, not intruding, but affecting what we do, what we say and who we are.

If I were an author, the thing that would irritate me the most about Craig Higginson is how effortless he makes it seem. And I'm sure it isn't. Writing is always hard work. It just feels, in this book certainly, that it's such a joy, a delight to find the right words for things, the right way to set up scenes, to work out the plot, that it's hardly hard at all.

I need a re-read. And that's the best kind of book.

5 stars

ISBN: 9781770106123

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