𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬- 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐡𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬- 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡, 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝. 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐧𝐮𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧; 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐲.

Helen and Jennifer are sisters living in Anglesey, both on opposite sides of the nuclear industry. Jennifer and her partner work there while Helen has been fighting the new nuclear power station’s development, refusing the very idea of selling her ancestral land, the family farm. A single mother, she is obsessed with raising her son to be able to withstand disaster. The home they live in is spartan, there are no luxuries for Jack, like a television or the distractions average children, “soft” children are spoiled by. It is Helen’s purpose, to assure that her son can stand on his own, feed himself, stay alive when their own Chernobyl or any such disaster occurs. Jack is a strange child, his mother’s anxiety growing like a tumor within his small bones. Fearful of ‘indoctrination’ from the plant, ideas a child so young shouldn’t be thinking about, at least to Jennifer’s thinking, it seems the true indoctrination is his mother’s conspiracies. A boy with no friends, except for his snails in a jar, every interaction is awkward. He doesn’t handle socializing well, but let loose in nature, on the farm, he is like an uncaged animal, happy- free. He is a survivalist in the making, his mother’s son to the core, for better or worse. Helen admires that her boy is capable, so far ahead of his peers in self-care and if he isn’t like other kids, it’s for the best. Jennifer and her husband Ioan’s house sits on the edge of the Anglesey coast, Wylfa Nucear Power Station is barely a mile away, and Helen along with her son Jack, often come to help out with the animals on the farm. Five years of never staying with his aunt, suddenly Helen is leaving him while she travels to Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone. This part of the novel is interesting and only lends credence to much of Helen’s fears, but there is a trauma that changed her long ago. Jennifer is just as nervous as they are about the plan but she doesn’t understand it is a test. Helen has recently discovered something bad, it is time to prep Jack for the possibility of her permanent absence one day. Her family already knows about illness, their Mam has cancer. She sells his stay at her sister’s as an adventure, a challenge. But she cannot imagine how hard the adjustment will be nor that fate may well prolong her trip. No one can ever predict how people will react to change, or how good intentions can sour and turn dangerous.

Jennifer runs into a wall when it comes to Jack, has a hard time connecting. He is often cold, seeming to lack empathy, but like her sister Helen it’s possible he is just practical, grounded. Jack’s outbursts at school becomes a problem and it is on her shoulders to make decisions that are for her sister Helen to make. It disrupts her own work, but she can’t let Jack down, even if it threatens her job. Helen would never forgive her. She loses contact with her sister and with violence and protests rising in Kiev and trickling into the place Helen is visiting, Jennifer is worried. Helen was warned away while touring Chernobyl, but she didn’t listen, and now she is in the midst of danger she didn’t predict, violent crowds fighting state corruption. She must find a way out, to avoid the worst of clashes, but time is running out. The tour guide who warned her is willing to help, but she knows better than to count on anyone. There is an accident she didn’t predict and she loses all contact with home and her son, unsure of who to trust. If she was looking to cut the cord, to use her trip to prep her son, she has lost all control. Now she is trying to make her way back under the threat of her life. The truth is, you can’t always prep for the unknown.

Back home it is all falling apart. Jack is lost without his mother, but he wants nothing more than to prove his worth. Jennifer and her husband Ioan are having a hard time without Helen’s help on the farm, trying to keep a little lamb alive and to take care of Jack, who despite his many strengths, is still just a little boy. Ioan is much better with their nephew than Jennifer is, and to add more worry her mother is not doing well with her cancer. It’s too much pressure, worse, she is slowly coming to discover how Helen and Jack have been living, deeply concerned for the child’s well-being. With the days stacking up and his mother remaining away, Jack is not obeying his aunt and he believes his mom is gone for good. It is time for him to act! Will he survive his own personal disaster?

This is original, I couldn’t warm to Helen at all. I think her hardness makes sense, after we learn the entire story, but she is extreme. It’s hard to live between two worlds, any child would falter. The best intentions certainly go awry. She feels she is raising her child to be strong in any event, surely the point is in Chernobyl they never imagined such a disaster, so why not in Anglesey? Also, her touring such a place and not really comprehending the country itself and it’s heated political issues highlights her tunnel-vision. Her own beliefs often serve as an erasure of realities she doesn’t want to tackle. It’s a decent read, but I was certainly frustrated by the adults. I think Jack and what he does makes perfect sense, poor little guy.

Publication Date: May 7, 2022

Parthian Books

The Half Life of Snails is a gripping novel about a single mother with a child whose family farm is threatened by the local nuclear power plant. With themes of paranoia, displacement and the threat of nuclear disaster, Philippa Holloway brings us through Wales and the Ukraine as the main character travels to Chernobyl under the threat of war while leaving her survivalist savvy son to fend for himself. This is a page turner that will leave you as paranoid as the main character, with reason.

Not a fun book to read by any means, which feels so bleak and foreboding but I guess that is the point. Reading this during the invasion of Ukraine gave me really mixed feelings about the subject matter. The book is paced very slowly and the open ending was certainly not for me. I didn't connect with the main character, making this hard to keep reading as a character-driven story.

A book that's rather timely. Two sisters - on two sides of a nuclear debate. Jennifer works for the company that's building the power plant - Helen knows the danger the plant will bring. This isn't a happy tale, and this isn't a happy book. This is a book that is rife with tension and heartbreak.

It's sad and overall a necessary story that needs to be told because where is the line? Is it money? Is it family?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was fortunate enough to read a wonderful Nightjar Press chapbook by Philippa Holloway, The Message, a few years ago. The story contained a close relationship between a mother, son, and nature, and I was delighted to see this theme was continued in Holloway’s fantastic debut novel, The Half-Life of Snails.

The Half-Life of Snails is about so many things. At the center of the story is Helen, a single mother to Jack, who is embarking on a pilgrimage of sorts to Chernobyl. Helen has grown up on a Welsh farm in the looming shadow of a power station, and has raised her son in preparation for disaster. Helen leaves her son with her sister, Jennifer, while she visits Chernobyl, testing everyone involved to their limits. But when Helen falls off the radar, and doesn’t return to Wales as expected, things really spiral out of control.

This is such an unconventional story, but told through believable, genuine characters. The dual narrative between Helen and Jennifer’s lives works incredibly well. Holloway does a fantastic job in building tension, especially with Helen’s story. Helen’s reckless behavior makes for fascinating reading, but I did internally yell, “what the hell are you doing?” several times.

The Half-Life of Snails is such a unique novel, and given the recent attacks on Ukraine, quite prescient. In the wrong hands, a story revolving around family and nuclear power stations could be incredibly stale. But the fact that Holloway has created these warm characters, the reader wants to follow them, is a testament to her beautiful writing. Incredibly enjoyable.

Eh I don’t know about this one. It was intriguing but problematic in so many ways. Where did Helen’s money come from if the farm cannot sell lamb, fleece, or veg due to the proximity? Why did she not call home from a pay phone or something? She’s a very selfish character, almost painfully so. Her poor son.

Helen blames everyone but herself for basically everything. She’s bitter and dead inside. Her reaction to someone dying was “oh well glad I didn’t have sex with him” really? Her child is dirty and stinky all the time and basically has no manners or composure. I felt let down the book didn’t address Helen’s sister breaking her rules in the end. Jack had new clothes, toys, was permitted to go to the nuclear reactor location etc. no mention of it in the end. Why?

Let’s talk about the ending. What a total and complete let down. It felt like the author just gave up writing the story and said oh well. That’s it. This felt very disrespectful to the reader that stuck in there for the long haul, and what a slog it was.

Helen puts herself in danger with every step due to her own stupidity and yet blames everyone else around her for the problems she encounters. Total and complete narcissist. Poor Jack.

It felt like the author decided to write this for a free trip to the Chernobyl zone for “research”

The Half-life of Snails has such an interesting premise, but I found the pacing and characters a little hard to deal with at times. Like a lot of character-focused books, things move at a ‘snail's pace’ and it takes a while to reach the heart of the story. Where the character’s struggles are interesting, I didn’t really want to spend much time with any of them while the next step of the plot was developing. However, if you are interested in a character focused book that is a bit dark and covers some of the earlier stages of Ukraine and Russia’s turbulent history, this book is worth checking out.

Helen has always been suspicious of the nuclear power plants. Though many believe they provide ‘safe’ and ‘clean’ energy, she knows different. That is why she has prepared her young son, Jack, for inevitable disaster. But not everyone shares Helen’s fears; including her sister Jennifer. Jennifer and her husband Ioan work for the plant close to the farm which has provided a comfortable living for them. Their loyalty to the plant remains unshaken, even as proposals for a new facility threaten the family farm. Helen is leading the fight to stop construction and feels Chernobyl might be the key to halting the project for good. Spurred by a potential cancer diagnosis, Helen leaves Jack in Jennifer and Ioan’s care while she takes a brief trip to see the Exclusion Zone for herself. However, political tensions might make getting back harder than Helen could have ever anticipated.

This book takes place during Russia’s annexation of Crimea and is therefore quite relevant to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. That being said, this issue is not the central focus of the book. The themes in this journey are interesting and compelling as a whole. However, there is a lot of odd pacing where the scene either does not add to the story or switches perspective too quickly to really engage with what is going on. I don’t mind a little fluff, but the pacing issues cause the story to drag.

This story definitely paints a bleak picture with very little levity to balance it. Though it didn’t really affect my feelings about it overall, some readers might find it a little oppressive. A lot of the characters are naturally stiff and closed off, but the lack of any warmth made them feel stilted and hard to connect with. Personally, I wasn’t really invested in what happens to the characters which overshadowed a lot of the good things this book has to offer.

I really love the title of the book and the front cover they really drew my attention to the book from the very beginning. Even before I knew what it was about, I knew I wanted to read it.

The half life of snails tells the story of two sisters Helen and Jennifer. Helen is a single mother of her son Jack. Helen is a doomsday prepper. Who leaves her son Jack with her sister Jennifer. So that she can go to visit the Chernobyl's exclusion zone. Helen is there to oppose plans for a new power station on the coast of Ynys Mon. Jennifer works for a nuclear power industry and welcomes the plans as she thinks it will be good for the economy. Helen finds herself trapped in Chernobyl caught up in the politics, nuclear war and violence. Which is bringing lots of childhood trauma back to her. Jennifer is discovering that all decisions no matter how small have consequences. Can the family come together to heal the past and bring their family closer together for Jack.

This was a really interesting storyline. But quite haunting too while reading this with everything that is going on in the Ukraine with Russia. It was a haunting and devestating storyline and felt very true to life.

It was weird reading this book while Russia were invading Ukraine. It's wonderfully written, with great characters. It is definitely one of those books that is all about the journey. It was incredibly compelling and the ending left me wondering what happened next.

I am in awe. So much so, that it’s hard for me to put into words just how amazing this book is.

Helen, and her son Jack, are doomsday preparers and are very opposed to nuclear power. Meanwhile, Jennifer, Helen’s sister, works for a nuclear power plant. While Helen goes on a trip to the Chernobyl site, Helen is in charge of watching Jack which proves to be a feat in itself. When Helen gets caught up in political protests, tensions rise with Jennifer and her change of routine. Without updates from her sister, Jennifer starts to wonder about the choices her sister has made.

I loved the writing in this book and the prose were just beautiful. I couldn’t stop reading and, once it was over, hoped to get at least one more chapter to see what the future held for all the characters. There isn’t a happy ending in this book, which was quite unexpected, but it didn’t ruin the storyline like many would think. I personally believe it added to it and definitely made the reader think about what happened next. Does Helen get Jack back? Does Jack go to live with Jennifer and her husband? Does their mom pass away from cancer and does Helen find out her diagnosis? Such a beautiful story and was happy to be able to read it.

Reading "The Half Lives of Snails" during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was quite haunting, as the author quite captures the requisite morose atmosphere and feelings of dread. Taking place both in Wales and Ukraine as Russia annexes Crimea, sisters Jennifer and Helen, separated by differing opinions on nuclear energy test their relationship each other and with Helen's five year old son Jack.

I wanted to like the novel, but I felt that the majority of "Half Lives" was a slog. Helen trudges through Ukraine to research the aftermath nuclear disasters (or something?) while Jennifer watches Jack, and nothing goes particularly well for either of them. The book dives too deeply in some areas and not deep enough in others. Overall, I think there are some sparks here, but nothing quite caught flame.

It was a strange and thought-provoking novel of Holloway. While reading, I was afraid of those living near Chernobyl and was thinking of the status of Ukraine and Russia. Nevertheless, the fear and the emotions of the characters were well-portrayed; the setting was vivid.

However, the ending was left open-ended and I was clearly not a fan of it.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Helen is strictly opposed to the Nuclear Power station they are planning to build in her area. She decides to visit Chernobyl to gather information to have the build cancelled. She asks her sister Jennifer to look after her five year old son while she is away.
A slow moving story which is quite bleak and also sad.
Thank you to NetGalley and Parthian Books for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Strange, evocative, and chillingly timely.

THE HALF-LIFE OF SNAILS follows "two sisters, two nuclear power stations, one child caught in
the middle" and yes, it's just as bleak as it sounds. This is about a family - and a world - in crisis; about political and personal struggles. It felt gigantic and intimate at the same time, and even though I wouldn't say it's a traditionally "enjoyable" story, it's still one I'd wholeheartedly recommend.

I was drawn to this book by the fantastic title and was quickly drawn into the story .I was touched by how topical the book was as sections were set on Ukraine and it talks about revolution and Russian oppression as well as the after effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster both in Ukraine itself and in Wales .
It’s never made clear exactly why the lead female character has developed such survivalist tendencies which she has passed onto her child .They live near a nuclear power station and their land is threatened by expansion and the building of a new power station
I loved the sections where she is on a tour of the Chernobyl plant and surrounding abandoned villages this gives the book a dystopian feel but is routed in actual events
The sections where she is running from authorities and trying to escape and the resultant crash are exciting and fast moving .This contrasts perfectly with the slower moving more mundane sections covering the child’s life as he stayed with family
I loved the spattering of Welsh language mostly used by child and mother ,this lent a feeling of otherworldliness
I read an early copy on NetGalley Uk

This was such an interesting and heartwrenching read. It was well written and had an intriguing storyline with well developed characters that I fell in love with. The story was heartwrenching but what made this more emotive was the fact that it is set in the Ukraine and although not an exact match to what is happening over there, it is close enough to make the reader think about it more than they already are. I really liked it and I will think about it for a long time to come. I dont want to go into the story too much as I want people to have the reading experience blind like I did, however, I cannot reccomend this book enough.