As soon as I saw the eye-catching cover, I was instantly drawn to 'The List of Suspicious Things' and knew I had to read it after perusing the description. I have a particular fondness for books that evoke a sense of nostalgia, especially those set in the latter half of the 20th century. It was an absolute privilege to have been granted access to an advance reader copy, and I write this review with great pleasure.

A big grin spread across my face after reading a few pages. What a delight to visualise the humorous domestic scenes and be reminded of things I had encountered in a 1980s British school and long forgotten. I absorbed myself with ease and pleasure, relishing in the talented way Godfrey writes from the perspective of a girl on the cusp of becoming a teenager and expertly captures the concerns of a young mind. The experience of nostalgia lit a spark of happiness and contentment within me.

A beautiful equilibrium was drawn between serious social issues and humour, with the flow from one to the other perfectly accomplished. The entire story was packaged with care and sensitivity and the stream of individual struggles explored from the perspective of minor characters were pleasingly concluded at the end. Far from disrupting the flow, this brought additional layers of depth and enhanced the experience: as I progressed in reading 'The List of Suspicious Things', a great fondness of certain characters was borne - as well as a dislike for others, whom I was pleased to witness receiving their 'just desserts'!

The deep, reverberating wounds caused by The Yorkshire Ripper were relayed in Miv's story, with victims' real names interwoven with the main work of fiction. It was believable and suitably honoured the memories of those who died, with Sharon's emotionally mature outlook (which saw the victims as women) complimenting Miv's more determined and factual perspective as she sought to catch The Ripper. It was a wonderful example of how two different outlooks and personalities can both create friction, but still manage to work together, with the bonds of friendship ultimately winning out.

Although this book dealt with tragedy and grave topics, Godfrey managed to blend enough moments of warmth and intimacy to prompt more emotions than sadness in the reader. Friendship was a key theme and consistently precipitated reflection as to how Miv's relationships would unfold. The final conclusion is memorable, heartfelt and marvellous.

I'm keen to read more from Jennie Godfrey and am thrilled to award 'The List of Suspicious Things' a well-deserved 5 stars and a place on Mrs Bennett's Bookshelf - the first to receive a full 5 stars since inception in June 2023.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This was a different read to what I am used to but saying that I really enjoyed the storyline and the characters so would recommend to other readers.

It's 1979 and Yorkshire is being terrorised by the Yorkshire Ripper. Best friends Miv and Sharon decide to investigate, hoping they can unmask the man responsible.

The List Of Suspicious Things from Jennie Godfrey is one of those novels you become completely immersed in. The style and language draw you in and you feel as if you are one of the characters. It helped that as a child of the sixties, the story felt very nostalgic for me.

Primarily a book about friendship, this novel also reflects on many of the issues of the time; the fear caused by the Yorkshire Ripper, the decline of the industrialized north and racism to name a few. The author has illustrated how these things impacted on tight-knit communities.

Miv and Sharon are chalk and cheese but complement each other. On the cusp of becoming teenagers, they are in that no-mans land of no longer children, but still not adults. Miv is the driving force of the pair. Virtually motherless, with a father who has little time for her, she is tended by a stern Aunt. At home, Miv loses herself in books such as The Famous Five and you can see how she uses these as a blueprint to investigate. Unfortunately, these stories also reflect a different era and we see how the naive friends end up in some dangerous situations.

Some of the things the girls get up to would be considered inappropriate today, but they show how communities rallied together and supported each other. Unfortunately, they also show a time when gossip was freely swapped but things such as mental health and domestic abuse were considered taboo subjects for discussion. It's the things that aren't discussed, both between neighbours and within families, that give the whole novel a tone of sadness. We learn that people keep living by simply putting one foot in front of the other each day. It is only when tragic events take place that people begin to contemplate their place in life and others open up.

I loved this coming-of-age story, it shows the fierceness of innocence, the bonds of friendship and the excitement of first love set against a community terrorised and worn down.

This was such a coming of age book, strongly evocative of the 1970s. I must be about the same age as Miv and she felt authentic, growing up and confused not having a full understanding of events around her. I loved it, despite the bombshell near the end, and would like to read more from this author. Thanks to Netgalley.

‘The List of Suspicious Things’ by Jennie Godfrey is an absolutely sensational debut novel and it the best book I have read this year at least!

This novel is set in Yorkshire in the 1970’s in a community rocked to its core by the crimes of the Yorkshire Ripper.

Miv is a young girl and she decides that she needs to find the Yorkshire Ripper and stop him. She enlists the help of her friend Sharon and the List of Suspicious Things begins.

The List is a distraction from Miv’s home life, where her Mum is poorly and the rest of the family are struggling to cope with this.

This book absolutely brims with amazingly developed characters, most of which you come to love.

The book is also brimming with themes and it is done in such a sensitive and caring way.

This is a book that you really can’t put down and that really carries you on a rollercoaster of emotions.

I cannot recommend this book enough and it is a book that has touched me and will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley in allowing me to read in return for a review. I am honoured.

I absolutely loved this book. A difficult subject matter so tenderly and sensitively handled, that I felt as though Jennie Godfrey was sitting at the side of me, wiping my tears but nodding when I smiled. As a child who grew up when the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper made the newspaper headlines, the fear was real and the author transports the reader into the world as it was, prior to the internet and mobile phones. Miv and Sharon grew up at a time when libraries were the first resource you used; telephone boxes had to be used and you could disappear for the day, without Life360 or Findmy... apps tracking every move. Every situation is so intricately woven into the story, that it isn't the story, if that makes sense? Racism, domestic abuse, suicide, rape, child abuse, alcohol abuse - all included, so cleverly that you do not feel as though you're reading through a tick list of subjects that an author wants to hashtag. The myriad of relationships that unfold are obvious but beautiful. A List of Suspicious Things is a fantastic debut novel, that I have already told so many friends about.. I feel as though I just want to sit and tell you everything that happens, but my talent isn't that of Jennie Godfrey, and everyone deserves to have her sit at the side of you.. I can not wait for her next novel. Thank you NetGalley - this is why I love this site.. thank you.

The List of Suspicious Things is a rather wonderful debut novel set at the end of the 1970s and focussing on the fascination a 12 year old girl, Miv, has with finding the Yorkshire Ripper.

The List of Suspicious Things is about so much more than this quest though. It takes Miv, and her friend Sharon’s search for the Yorkshire Ripper as the canvas for a study of some wonderful characters all living in Miv’s neighbourhood and who all find themselves at some point on The List of Suspicious Things.

As I started to read the book and realised that we were being taken through each suspicious person on Miv’s List, I was a little concerned that this was simply going to be a series of individual tales with no discernible thread to link them all together. How wrong I was. Once the individual stories begin to intertwine the book really came alive and I couldn’t read it fast enough. The characters the author has drawn were wonderfully presented - albeit some of them rather unpleasant - and there were times that I had to go back and re-read some of the writing as it was so beautifully crafted.

As well as the search for the Yorkshire Ripper, the book deals with some of the other difficult social issues of the time including racism and the National Front, domestic violence and hidden mental health problems.

I have no doubt that this will be a much talked about book in 2024 and will feature in many ‘books of the year’ lists - quite rightly so.

Thank you to the publishers Hutchinson Heinemann and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book ahead of its publication in 2024.

A really well written story that evoked the period it was set in - a time i grew up so it really brought back memories for me and was set just right. I loved the portrayal of the complexity of friendships, feeling different and growing up. It was an intriguing read and far more heart wrenching than I initially bargained for. Really touching and a story and cast that will linger with me.

I am very grateful to Net Galley and the publishers of this book for the E-Arc I received for review.

I was very drawn by the synopsis of this book. Set in Yorkshire in 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female Prime Minister and at a time when the North Of England was gripped by the hunt for a terrible, sadistic monster, known as The Yorkshire Ripper. No one felt safe and few were above suspicion. One little girl, with troubles of her own, sets out to investigate and find the Ripper.

I LOVED this book. I was 2 years old in 1979 and I grew up in London, very different to Yorkshire but the nostalgia seeping from the chapters of this book was so familiar. So much was just as it felt at the time, as if Jennie Godfrey had taken detailed notes of life in 1970's Britain and woven them expertly into the story. The details, the people, the language, all of it was spot on. The warmth of the place and time was such a nice place to be whilst reading, despite what else was going on.

While the murders that were happening at the time feature heavily in this book, with victims being found and identified in real time and the police investigation swirling around them, this book is about community and friendship above all else. I cried a few times, I got angry at the terrible things happening to some characters and the behaviour of others. I would have loved a friendship like Miv and Sharon's, at any age. This book is a masterpiece. Read it and remember the women who's lives were taken and those whose lives were turned upside down by a monster, hiding in plain sight.

Oh, I’m sad for those of you who will have to wait until 2024 to read this, as it’s clearly going to be one of my favourite books of the year. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.
Lovely 12 year old Miv and her best friend Sharon live in Yorkshire in a time dominated by the search for the Yorkshire Ripper. There’s a lot going on in their worlds too, and driven by curiosity and need to solve things, Miv decides that they could find the Ripper themselves. So she writes a list of suspicious things and they start to investigate. Along the way, they uncover all sorts of other things within their local community, about themselves, and about their neighbours. They fall in love, discover what it’s like to like to live in an adult world, and right some wrongs, although there are definitely some mistakes made by our amateur sleuth.
This is a novel full of lovely warmth and wit. The Yorkshire setting allows for a familiarity of place and dialect which feels comforting. But boy, is there some big stuff here. Racism, domestic abuse and paedophilia are all tackled within the pages of this novel, but in a way which makes sense as all the stories are connected. Miv’s family is complicated, with a silent mother, a prickly aunt and a reserved dad all living together. I grew to love Miv, Sharon, and their friends (particularly Ishtiaq) and their early 80s childhood where they are able to roam without the distraction of phones or computers.
Towards the end of the book something happens which made me ugly cry, and which changes everyone’s lives forever.
This is an absolutely brilliant debut, in fact, it’s just a brilliant book, without that qualifier. This deserves all the accolades I’m sure it’s going to get. I’ll certainly be raving about it to everyone.

Set in a Yorkshire village, this is a coming of age tale about friendship and community, with the sinister killings of the Yorkshire Ripper casting a shadow.
Can Miv and her friends do what the police can’t and uncover the identity of the murderer? They uncover quite a few local secrets along the way.

I grew up in Yorkshire and the language and potted meat sandwiches were spot on!
A brilliant book well worth a read.

There were aspects of this novel I enjoyed very much, so I'll list them:
1. The period in which it was set. I made so many connections here because of the many references throughout the book. Definitely my era!
2. I liked the way in which the characters were portrayed.
3. The dialogue was authentic and the story had a lot of heart, hence I believe it will appeal to those who enjoy real-life family dramas.

What I found a little disappointing:
1. If I'm truly honest I found the writing style a little immature in parts. It really did read like a debut.
2. Too much 'real life/soap opera feel' for my taste.
3. I'm surprised that it's listed under literary fiction as I would not consider it literary. There was a lot of head nodding, far too many adverbs, and the writing felt simplistic.

That said, I believe this book will have wide appeal and be very popular. I probably would have enjoyed it more twenty years ago, but I now prefer something more challenging/thought provoking.

My thanks to the publisher for granting me an ARC via Netgalley.

Loved, it. Absolutely loved it. It took me back to my teenage years when we lived in the area where the Ripper struck, and everything that was (beautifully) written in the book brought back so many memories for me. Some of the phrases made me smile. “Tha’ll do as tha’s told,” is something I heard just about every day! Like Miv, I lived in a terraced house (ours was a back to back, with an outside toilet) and had a best friend who I looked up to and envied. Wagon Wheels, fizzy pop … those were the days. This wonderful story is about family, friendships and growing up, and I was totally captivated and enthralled with every aspect of it. The author covers so many sensitive issues in such a respectful way, and I love the way she gives the Ripper’s victims such dignity. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this wonderful book written by a very talented author. It is brilliant and I can highly recommend it.

It’s Yorkshire in the 80s and the area is being terrorised by Thatcher and the Ripper. Twelve year old Miv has heard that her family might be moving and desperate to not leave her only friend, Sharon, behind she decides she will catch the Ripper herself and make Yorkshire safe again.

I loved every single second of this book. Miv and Sharon embark on their mission and as a result get involved with the lives of their local community and find new friendships and new hardships as well as navigating the internal changes that comes with being a pre teen. Against the backdrop of a struggling community with a serial killer on the loose, Godfrey shows us the importance of friendship and community and the fine line between helping those in need and meddling in people’s lives.

This had a bit of everything, mental health struggles, race, church, abuse& class struggle, all through the lens of 80s England. Despite all these heavy topics the story itself has so many uplifting, wholesome moments that it felt far from a depressing read.

I really, really enjoyed it and will be ordering myself a copy when it gets published.

“I wondered where the rules had come from. The rules that said that pretty girls didn’t laik out with poor girls or clever girls.”

This is a book that is getting a lot of hype among book bloggers. Two teenage girls are living in Yorkshire around the time of the Ripper and they make it their mission to find out who is behind the crimes. It's a really enjoyable and gripping read told from a very unique perspective.

I could not get into this story at all. I can not give the story an honest review. I will try and read it again at another time.
I don't like giving bad reviews as we all have our own views on story lines and how they come accross to us. But at this moment the story just did not catch my imagination at all, therefore on the basis I did not complete the book I can only rate it 1 star. If when and if I get to read it fully and I feel the need to redo my review I shall

This tells the tale of Miv, almost teenager in West Yorkshire at the end of the seventies in the reign of terror before the Yorkshire Ripper was caught. As the Ripper caught the imagination of the local populace, Miv attempts to investigate suspicious people and events, given the police’s slow progress in his apprehension.

As adults follow the social code of not talking about certain topics (alcoholism, racism, domestic violence and prostitution) Miv spots things that are different but mistakes them for the Ripper, and as these continue, her shedding light on them leads to increasing consequences.

An interesting piece of historical fiction with shades of Emma.

Wow ... is this really a debut ? This was outstanding writing. The characters were so well drawn .. i totally identified with Miv, socially awkward ... in some ways old beyond her years and trying to find her place in the world.
The book is hard to categorise, yes it is a mystery, a crime, a work of literary fiction but yet so much more. It reads so easily, drawing you as the reader in, to the sometimes uncomfortable society of domestic abuse, racism, hate crime, murder ... yet in no way glamorising it.
Yes i loved it, yes i will follow this author and yes i will be buying it for friends on publication.

A lovely story of adolescent friendship and growth with really well done angles on poverty, mental health, domestic abuse, and racism. Set in late 1970s Yorkshire, this is told largely through the eyes of 12 year old Miv, and her relationship with her best friend Sharon and wish to catch the Yorkshire ripper are central themes. It's a very well written story of how these young girls grow up without much guidance from their parents, who have their own struggles - and how they learn right from wrong when confronted by various difficult situations. The main characters are beautifully complicated, and the book keeps a good pace which made it a really enjoyable read.

There was a lot to love about this book. An innocent yet suspecting sleuth, some dodgy day to day characters, and some powerful, topical themes that through a child's lens seem even more striking.

A couple really teeny things irritated me. Firstly the word 'laik.' I'm sure it surprises no one here that I'm from the South and had simply not heard of that word before. Even my kindle dictionary didn't know what it meant so I required google to get there and tell me- the first result still wasn't the right answer so a lot of effort required and whilst I could guess what it meant in the context, it alienated me. Secondly there were many points of view, potentially too many for me.

Overall a good read.