Not really my cup of tea- which is why it has taken me a long time to review. The narrative as a monologue became quite tedious towards to mid to latter part. The over use of alliteration in the writing took away from the struggles of the main character, Laura, and her harrowing job. It also took away from Laura's mental health struggles.

This short novella is written in poetic, stream-of-consciousness-like prose, as it follows a PICU night nurse who is teetering on the edge of physical and emotional breakdown.

Doing an incredibly difficult, heartbreaking job, struggling with a foundering relationship and so sleep-deprived that she is hallucinating, Laura stumbles through her days in a haze of emotional and sensory over-stimulation. Nightmares of drowning blur with a living nightmare of drowning in pain, sorrow, loneliness and stress, forming a surreal waterboarding of continuous, everyday horror.

The author captures the hard physical and emotional demands of nursing – sores, grief, unrelenting tiredness, lack of respite – and highlights the terrible cost of running a human body and brain on empty for too long.

Not an easy read this one, despite the length, but harrowing and memorable.

This was my first read of the new year and phew, what a read!

It’s short, at just over 200 pages long, and it has been on my TBR pile for a while. I’m not sure why, maybe I’m drawn to paintings on book covers (like Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet). This one has “Ophelia” by John Everett Millais. A reference to lots of things, I would guess, but for me it resonates with the metaphor of drowning that echoes through the book. The next book I’m reading has a link to this too – “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell, the alternative Shakespeare story where his son does not die, and perhaps means we don’t have Hamlet (reportedly the inspiration).

The title was interesting too – it’s a spot on a road built by the military in Scotland, the pass out of Glencoe. Apparently (thanks google), the road was so long and steep it was customary for travellers out to rest at the top and be thankful that they made it.

Laura is a nurse on a paediatric ward, and tells her story from her point of view. Having read more, and more widely, I realise I like this style of writing – a kind of stream of consciousness, broad brush strokes and some ambiguity about what is really happening, that of the unreliable narrator.

Laura is tired, so tired. She looks after sick children, some of them are getting better and some of them aren’t. Her relationship is faltering and her mind is increasingly drawn to thoughts of her father, and the figure haunting her.

This was perfect for this time of year, when everything is a bit gloomy and deflated and spooky. Christmas and New Year done, the next bank holiday set at Easter and a whole lot of Coronavirus/Brexit to deal with before then, no doubt.
I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to scary books and can just about handle Stephen King, although I had to have a bathroom escort for “It” – this book was unsettling, more than scary. Creepingly sinister, and without knowing if what/who Laura sees is real or not.

I thought I wasn't going to enjoy this as it was so descriptive but the grief and heart rending feeling were so well portrayed that you couldn't help but be affected. I could envisage Laura with her scrubbed raw hands, lack of sleep putting her on auto pilot, envisaging things that aren't there as a result of the sheer exhaustion and emotion of life as a paediatric nurse. My friend is a nurse in Paeds ICU so I was imagining her having to do all these heart wrenching tasks. I think I need to read something light to lift me out of these feelings, but I also think of those who live this every day and who can't just walk away. The ending was a bit ambiguous and I can't make up my mind if it happened, but it explains some of the story involving Laura's partner, and I was beginning to wonder if that was the angle shortly before we got there. #netgalley #restandbethankful

Laura works in the special baby unit caring for seriously ill babies. She is exhausted, struggling due to lack of time to eat or rest. Her long term relationship is breaking down. Her hands are sore from constant washing. She keeps seeing things from the corner of her eye & isn't sure if they are really there. In short she is unravelling.

Emma Glass is a very descriptive author so she makes the reader enter into Laura's world. However by the end I was just glad this was a short book- I was exhausted! I can appreciate the writing but it was not a style I enjoyed. By the end I was as confused as the beginning!

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

3.5*

I've read the first part of the book in a daze. So much heartbreak, I couldn't breathe. You see, I am not far away yet from my personal experience involving my infant to not feel deep in my bones the suffering described in this part. As I was reading I could only scream in my head: that could have been me. That desperate parent, not knowing what to do with herself/himself while wishing with every fiber of her being for the child to make a recovery. That could have been me just over one year ago, but it was a lucky escape!

As the book progressed and the focus shifted more on Laura rather than her work, I've started to lose interest. The writing style started to grate a bit too. I must confess I am not a fan of this type of writing style, style that I would call "modern art in writing": short, broken even, phrases that reminds me of a staccato, paired with a bit of surrealism. At least Glass manages to infuse so much emotions in those short phrase(in fact so much so that it can become overwhelming) it's impressive. And then that ending...that took everything to another level: the horror I've felt...gosh... the only silver lining is that is all a bit ambiguous so I am just hoping what I think happened didn't actually happen.

Overall a short and sweet...err I mean a short(more like a novella than a novel) and achingly sad read that I wouldn't recommend for the faint of heart. But if you think you can manage, than please read this, it will stay with you.

Many thanks for the opportunity to read this novella.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Rest and be Thankful’ by Emma Glass in exchange for an honest review.

“But we all see things on the ward. Especially after a death. I’m forever jumping at shadows, I always see ghosts. ...Tired eyes and dark corners, ... it doesn’t take much.” Jennifer to Laura, ‘Rest and be Thankful’.

I read this short novel in a single sitting as once started I was completely entranced by it. I often struggle with literary novels that have stream-of-consciousness narratives but this definitely proved an exception.

Laura is a nurse in a paediatric unit. Through long shifts she and her colleagues care for sick children, including infants. Laura is exhausted yet is finding it hard to sleep. When she does sleep she dreams of water though when she wakes she is painfully aware that her partner no longer loves her.

Laura also finds herself catching glimpses of a strange figure dancing in the corner of her vision, always just beyond her reach. Is it a ghost or a memory?

Emma Glass herself works as a children’s nurse, and there is a powerful sense of immediacy and authenticity running through the scenes that take place in the paediatric ward. I felt very much present with Laura. As might be expected, some aspects made for harrowing reading.

Overall, this was a beautifully written novel that effected me deeply. Certainly heartbreaking in places and it also highlights the pressures upon health care workers to push themselves beyond the normal limits due to the nature of their vocations.

It's quite hard to review this fairly - I think in any other year, this probably would have got 4 stars but reading it this year, it hit too hard, too brutal and too close to the bone. I think a lot of medical staff would be able to relate to this novel and it does have an interesting eerie atmosphere which pervades the writing and plot. I just personally found it too hard to read with the year we've been having,

a powerful punch of a novella set in a pediatric ward through the eyes of a burned out, unrested nurse

Beautiful, eerie & impactful.

Glass is something special she says a hell of a lot in few pages, making this an utterly compelling reading.

Chilling & compelling, I can't wait for her next offering.

A huge thanks to Bloomsbury Circus & NetGalley for gifting me a copy in return for an open & honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rest and Be Thankful is an interesting book with a unique narrative style.

The actual plot was fairly interesting, and focused on Laura, a nurse who works in a pediatric unit who is spiraling under the pressure of her job.

The prose was very pretty but made it a lot harder to understand the finer details of the plot. However it did help the reader understand the mindset of the main character and it showed the intensity of working around dying children.

I added an extra star for the ending which was totally unexpected but fitting. It was the best kind of plot twist.

All in all, a decent book that I'd recommend for people who want a fast read that packs a full emotional punch.

A very dark novella which follows Laura, a sleep-deprived pediatric nurse, through her shifts and her break-up, as she goes deeper and deeper into a nervous breakdown. Emma Glass does a great job writing her descent, and creates an atmosphere filled with nightmares and anxiety. The writing is very lyrical, which at times felt too much for me... I finished the book unsure about what exactly had happened.

Fascinating and emotional read about the working and personal life of Laura who is a nurse in a paediatric unit. Heartbreaking and hard to read in places. I went through a range of emotions reading this.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

In my role as English Teacher, I love being able to spend time reviewing books for our school library which I use to help the students make great picks when they visit us as well as running a library junior and senior book group where we meet every week and share the books we love and talk about what makes a great read. This is certainly a book that I'd be happy to display at the front as one of my monthly 'top picks' which often transform into 'most borrowed' between students and staff. It's a great read and ties in with my ethos of wishing to assemble a diverse, modern and thought-provoking range of books that will inspire and deepen a love of reading in our students of all ages. This book answers this brief in spade! It has s fresh and original voice and asks the readers to think whilst hooking them with a compelling storyline and strong characters It is certainly a book that I've thought about a lot after finishing it and I've also considered how we could use some of its paragraphs in supporting and inspiring creative writing in the school through the writers' circle that we run. This is a book that I shall certainly recommend we purchase and look forward to hearing how much the staff and students enjoy this memorable and thought-provoking read.

I hated the first book, Peach, but this one was right up my street. It was so comforting and descriptive, caring and full of compassion, whilst leaving the reader feeling emotionally drained, awestruck and feeling full of gratitude that such people step up to the plate everyday to look after the poorly and most needy in society.
Laura is a Nurse, on the Paediatric special care unit( SCBU) , working God awful shifts, giving her all, on her feet for twelve hours solid, dealing with such helpless precious bundles of life, and then she goes home to an abusive partner. It also deals with depression and loneliness, the pressure of having such awesome responsibilities at work, whilst barely coping to look after herself. In her extreme tiredness, Laura is starting to hallucinate, seeing ghosts and having the sensation of being smothered, dragged down into the depths, feelings of drowning and losing control, the unusual ending hints at a tragedy, which would be both richly undeserved and yet uncalled for.
All hospital nurses run on empty. There are too many patients, too many demands on your time, and it is an emotionally draining occupation. You frequently miss breaks and get home exhausted, days off are cancelled, and no wonder, Laura feels she is drowning and barely keeping body and soul together . All hospitals have ghosts, it would be unusual if they didn’t, we have all have odd sensations whilst attending poorly patients, that’s why we open the window to let the soul depart.
I have been a nurse for 30 years, recently retired, yet this brought it all back to me. The worries about leaving the ward with DDA keys in your pocket, mine usually contained handover notes and alcohol swabs! The care of both patient and parents, ward rounds, MDTMs and the constant ache of your feet. All I wanted to do sometimes was just sleep , even on my precious days off.
A very powerful and moving account of care and dedication. Very gut wrenching, and ultimately, a story of hope, that things will get better, more children will be cured and go home, and such staff will be appreciated.
A wonderful read. I have given this five stars. I will leave my review on Goodreads.

This is a well written book that details a nurses thoughts and feelings through her long shift caring for critically sick babies and children. We hear her thoughts about colleagues, chastising herself in retrospect for slight mistakes she feels she has made in dealing with a trainee nurse, thinking about her life and what lies ahead and minutiae of life. I found the book a bit depressing but that might be because I read it a t the height of CoVid lockdown. I tend to prefer strong storytelling rather than a narrative focusing on the millions of timy details that make up a life.

Rest and Be Thankful is a short but powerful read. Laura is a children's nurse and in this book we learn just how physically and emotionally demanding and draining her work is. She has vivid dreams, that spill over into her waking life. She is so exhausted she sees things that aren't there. Her relationship has fallen apart, and she is overwhelmed by loneliness and exhaustion. We see nurses as professional, capable of holding their emotions at bay in order to provide the best care possible. But this book demonstrates just how difficult that is. Holding a child who may not survive wrenches the heart of all who care. Being strong for the parents also takes a toll that is immeasurable. Poetic, dream-like and heart-wrenching, this is a wholly original and thought-provoking read.

A fabulous debut from a seemingly fearless author. I haven't read anything like this for ages. Gives you much to think about.

I finished this little novella very quickly, zooming through it in two sittings, but I've had to take some time away from it to gather my thoughts properly. Beautifully written, this is a harrowing story of a pediatric nurse's unravelling in the face of overwork and undersleep in the midst of a personal crisis. Despite it's size, this book packs a huge punch.

I found this book very difficult to read at first and kept putting it off. However once I got through the first few pages i found it very rewarding if still difficult to read at times. There is alot of emotion packed into these few pages, conveyed in beautiful prose.