This is the first book I�ve read from Anne Goodwin. Sugar and Snails is her debut novel and what an impressive story it is. Anne draws upon her psychiatric knowledge to write a narrative which is absorbing, poignant and intriguing.

To begin with we are introduced to Diana a 40 something Professor living a life of solitude with her much loved cat Marmaduke (who almost takes on the role of a life partner – she can’t bare to part with him.) Diana begins looking for love and hopes to find it with Simon.

But Simon doesn’t know her secret…

As the story progresses we learn that there is so much more to this novel – discovering Diana’s past and her decision at the tender age of 15 to change gender. So this is both a coming-of-age story as well as an exploration of mid-life and gender issues. There are shifting time periods and settings in different cultures: (Cairo, Egypt and North Derbyshire, and Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in England,) which interweave the story in a confident way.

The characters of Diana’s mother and in particular her father are also carefully and brilliantly crafted.

My recommendation: Highly recommended. You will love this story if you enjoy thoughtful stories about gender, family relationships, psychiatric/mental health/self-harm issues, secrets and regrets and the search for love and acceptance.

Thank you so much to the author for a complimentary copy which I was pleased to receive. I happily give my unbiased opinion.

My rating: 5 stars. ( )

I do love to read books based in the North East; I get that little skip of pride in my belly seeing places I've been and streets I've walked down in print. I also visited Cairo many years ago which created my love for Egyptology, so I was getting a double whammy in this book. Unfortunately for me, Cairo doesn't feature greatly, as it is about the event that happened there in Diana's past rather than the city. Location aside, Sugar and Snails is such an exceptional and unique book that deals with some difficult subjects in a sensitive and honest manner. Anne Goodwin has created a character in Diana that you instantly care about because of her insecurity, but Diana is stronger than she thinks and the reader has the honour of joining her on a journey that sees her fear peeling away like the layers of an onion.

Diana Dodsworth is a junior lecturer at a university and, with a select group of only a few friends, it is clear that she likes to keep herself to herself. One night at a dinner party she meets Simon and it is clear that there is an attraction there but there's something holding Diana back. Despite Diana constantly pushing him away, Simon is undeterred and their relationship grows. When Simon is offered a position in Cairo he wants Diana to come out to visit him but Cairo holds painful memories for her and she is loathe to apply for a passport to join him. As Diana's past is revealed, it becomes apparent why she doesn't want to travel to Cairo and I felt such terrible anguish for her. Will their relationship survive the distance?

This was such a heart-rending story and it is very difficult to review without spoilers. Suffice to say my heart was breaking at the pain Diana has endured in her life. From parents who didn't understand her, and even took her on a trip to Lourdes to cure her, to confusing teenage years when every teenager just tries to find out who they are. Some passages are difficult to read and I had a clenching tummy on more than one occasion, but my discomfort was quickly surpassed by my feelings for Diana's wellbeing. Diana feels so alone and scared but when she overcomes her fear she finds out that true friendship is more than skin deep.

So hopeful and heart-rending, Sugar and Snails is an amazingly brutal and honest story about one person searching for their place in life. Diana is perhaps more honest than most people can ever hope to be and I applauded her bravery throughout the book. Sugar and Snails is emotional and intelligent and well worth 5 stars from me.

I received this e-book from the author in exchange for an honest review. ( )

A coming-of-age story unlike many others

I picked up Sugar and Snails without having any idea what it was about (details below under the Spoiler Alert), and I have to say that I was delightfully surprised by both the storyline and the style of writing. I loved the way the author slowly unravels the story behind the youthful Diana’s mysterious life-changing decision, picking away it, probing her memory and subconscious for details, just like the psychologist her main character portrays. It’s a classic example of form fitting function, and it drew me deeply into the story even as I was drawn more and more deeply into the depths of Diana’s mind.

The writing is smooth and expertly done, with characters who are imperfect and three-dimensionally drawn. I was reminded of the novels of Graham Greene in both the manner in which the story unfolds and the realistic characterizations of the people involved. Ostensibly this is a book about Diana’s decision, a decision that she made when she had neither the knowledge nor experience to make it, a decision that has dogged her every year of her life since she was fifteen. It takes her thirty years to comes to terms with that decision, but ultimately, you’re proud of her for how she handles it, and proud of her, too, for how she decides to move forward.

SPOILER ALERT!

In a day in which Caitlyn Jenner is gracing the front cover of Vanity Fair, transgender issues are at the forefront of the collective consciousness. We are entering an era of great social change, an era in which we are coming to acknowledge that trans people, like homosexuals, have little choice but to be who they are. What is so powerfully moving about Diana’s story is that it harkens back to an epoch before there was any tolerance at all for gender that was not one hundred percent “man” or one hundred percent “woman”; she demonstrates with painful yet not pitiful eloquence how difficult it can be merely to exist in a world in which one must identify oneself solely with one or the other, and ultimately, how we all suffer from trying to adhere to this strict dichotomy of gender. Hers is a coming-of-age story unlike many others, yet it cries out to be told, to join the stories of other youths who have suffered crises of sexual or gender identity in a world that has often been hostile to them. Yet, it, too, offers hope, for if, in the modern era, a forty-five-year-old woman can at last find peace, if a sixty-five-year-old woman can find peace, then perhaps the young people who follow in their footsteps will never have to know the suffering that the older generation endured; peace may be theirs without their having to find it. ( )