The Weight of Small Things by Julie Lancaster is an unusual and subtly disturbing novel, written from the perspective of nine-year-old Frankie Appleton, and her late mother. I stumbled upon this book by accident and purchased out of curiosity, just because it seemed quite different to the books it stood alongside. I was intrigued by the single image of the gate on the front cover, and since I’ve finished reading this book, I now realise and understand the significance of the image. It’s quite endearing and, in a roundabout way, makes a lot of sense. This story is incredibly and beautifully metaphorical, and holds a great amount of mystery and intrigue between its pages.
The Weight of Small Things by Julie Lancaster follows nine-year-old Frankie Appleton as she attempts to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. Despite it looking very much like her mother committed suicide, Frankie is determined that someone else is behind the death, and although only nine-years-old, she sets out to bring her mother justice. She has watched, over the years, very carefully, each and every single person that has entered and exited her mothers’ life, and so there are many people to suspect, for many different reasons.
This novel was very different in its telling, and although I enjoyed Frankie’s investigation of her mothers’ death, I really found it a struggle to remain interested in this story. I don’t feel that it was anything to do with the author’s writing because, as I mentioned above, that was actually rather beautiful. I loved the authors’ descriptions of certain things in Frankie’s world, like the importance of people’s gates, and Frankie’s fascination with them. Julie Lancaster writes with a gorgeous amount of detail and, though enjoyable, I felt that the pacing of this novel was what really let it down for me. I just felt as though I was trudging through it, with not a lot to help to tug me along. Of course, I was interested in the discovery of the truth behind Frankie’s mothers’ death, and wanted to know what had really happened to her, but it just doesn’t feel like enough of an interest to me, to encourage me to stick with this story enough to want to pick it up at every given moment.
Having said that, I really enjoyed the dual-timeline aspect of Frankie and her mother. I loved going back and forth in time, back to when Frankie’s mother was alive and a young mother. It was interesting to watch how she lived, and fantastic to get a closer look into her mind during Frankie’s childhood. I think it added a lot of depth to Frankie’s mothers’ character, and also, encouraged me to feel sympathetic towards Frankie. She really hadn’t had the best start to life with such a rocky, chaotic childhood. It seemed her mother had gone through an awful lot throughout her life also. Although not immediately apparent, this was a dark and emotional story with a rather chilling undercurrent that I wasn’t expecting at all. Although I didn’t love this book, I definitely didn’t hate it, I just feel that a lot of pages weren’t really needed and much of the description got in the way of a story that could have been much punchier, although thinking about it, perhaps punchy wouldn’t work alongside Frankie and her wonderful imagination and mind.
Who knows? This may be enjoyed by readers who enjoy a steady and calm, yet quietly cold and sinister, murder mystery. Descriptive and emotional, and unusual, too.
Read on to find out more about The Weight of Small Things by Julie Lancaster.
Nine-year-old Frankie Appleton likes to count gates.
One day she hopes to design the perfect gate – a gate to keep the bad things out.
Little does she know that the bad things have already got in.
Now her mother is dead, and the only other person with a house key has disappeared.
Frankie thinks she knows who it is. But first she has to prove it.
You can purchase your copy of The Weight of Small Things by Julie Lancaster here.
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