This may be one of the best books I’ve read in 2025. Chidgey never misses! This had everything I wanted from a new future/alternate present dystopia that kept me guessing and consistently entertained. Dark, exciting, imaginative, I want all of my friends to read this book. Perfect for fans of classics like Never Let Me Go and more contemporary offerings like Who Wants to Live Forever.

The Book of Guilt is set in 1979, when we meet triplets Vincent, Lawrence and William, the last residents of the Captain Scott Home for Boys, a huge house in the countryside. The boys are looked after by 3 Mothers: Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night. They are read to from the Book of Knowledge, their dreams are recorded in The Book of Dreams, and their misdemeanours are written down in The Book of Guilt. They take the pills that are given to them daily to cure them of mysterious illnesses, and they fantasise of one day being able to join their friends in the Big House in Margate and live the utopian existence that they have been promised exists there. Until Vincent discovers that they have been lied to and not all is what it seems.

The Book of Guilt is a mystery, a thriller, and an alternative history of Britain following WWII. While reading it, I couldn’t help but be reminded of ‘Never Let Me Go,’ which I think must surely have been an influence on the author. It’s a compulsive and engaging read which I found difficult to put down as chapters switched between character’s perspectives and revealed more clues about what was going on. Chidgey is excellent at creating an unsettling atmosphere and keeping the reader guessing.

This is my second novel by Chidgey. I loved Remote Sympathy when I read it a couple of years ago and have recommended it to many people since. I also have her two previous novels, Pet and The Axeman’s Carnival on my TBR. Many readers comment on her diversity of style and subject matter and even though I’ve only read two of her books so far, I’m impressed with how different they are while both having complex moral and ethical questions at their heart.

The Book of Guilt is out this coming week and is a recommended read from me! I can see this one being an excellent choice for book clubs as there is MUCH to discuss and unpick.

Big thanks to @johnmurrays for my advance copy. As always, this is my honest review.

I absolutely loved The Book of Guilt. I wasn’t quite sure what I was in for when I started: identical triplets in a children’s home with a distinctly 1950s feel to it, even though it’s set in the 1970s. I think that’s to do with the fact that there is an alternative history - WW2 does not go quite the same way.

Everything about the atmosphere in the home, from the three shift-working “Mothers” (Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night), to their lessons from the Book of Knowledge, to their dreams being recorded in the Book of Dreams and their misdemeanours in the Book of Guilt.

Life begins to change in the Sycamore Home, and as it does, it raises so many questions about the things that the boys have been told.

I couldn’t put this down, and read it in two days. It gave me Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go vibes (not too much of a spoiler!). The boys are regarded with suspicion and fear, which made me feel for them even more. The addition of the Minister for Loneliness (a great idea, by the way) added an outsiders view to the concept of the Sycamore Homes.

The writing is mesmerising, the characters are rounded and very human (regardless of other characters opinions), and both the setting, the plot, and the ending were just perfect.

This is only my second Catherine Chidgey novel (the first was Remote Sympathy, and that was also a top read for me), and I really need to read more!

Possibly my favourite book of the year so far. It is a masterpiece.
A superb dystopian novel set in the New Forest, UK centering around a set of triplets housed in a governmental children’s home.
I’m very conscious of spoilers so won’t say anything in addition to the book description except read it! You won’t regret it.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I have mixed feelings about this book - while it is generally well-written and I think it's an interesting premise, it is similar enough to Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro to tempt comparison, which doesn't necessarily benefit it. I also felt slightly wrong-footed by the plot on several occasions, which perhaps clouded my opinion of it. However, you can draw a line between the message of this book and how we as society treat anyone who isn't seen as 'normal', so there are lessons for all in its pages.

This compelling and thought-provoking novel is a dystopian reimagining of late 1970s England, where the country has emerged from an alternate peace treaty in 1943. In this new unsettling world, medical advances have been made through genetic engineering and morally ambiguous experimentation, chillingly reminiscent of the experiments carried out in Nazi concentration camps. Lawrence, William and Vincent, 13-year-old triplets, are the last remaining inmates of a secluded residential home, part of the government’s Sycamore Scheme, details of which are only gradually explained. In parallel with the triplets’ story is that of Nancy, another 13-year-old who lives with her parents but is mysteriously never allowed to leave her house or meet any outsiders. A slow and measured reveal takes the reader deeper into the background of the children’s stories, bringing to the fore deeply unsettling questions about medical and social ethics, the conflict between individual liberty and the greater good, the moral responsibly of politicians and the people who vote for them, and what we most value about humanity. I found it a riveting read, with just one or two scenarios that were perhaps less than convincing, but overall a really great read.

DNF.

The start of this book was slow burn, eerie vibes. I wasn't in the head space for it and I don't think this is the books fault. I think I might reattempt this during Halloween sort of time.

This book gets really good reviews so I do think I am missing out but I was never drawn back to pick it up.

Okay wow! The first half of this was quite a slow one but once it started to heat up it really did heat up! I loved the multiple pov between the 3 characters and how they all connected/what their own takes on the situation were. I really liked the fact we were drip fed information and were left to question what was going on. Apart from the first 50% being a tad slow (which I totally understand!), I felt the way the story was uncovered was really well done!

I’d say a good 4.5 stars! I’d recommend this book if you like something a bit eerie and a slow burn.

It is the 1970's and they are very different from the 1970's in our time frame. In this reality, the end of WW2 was very different, which explains some of the reality we find ourselves in. Vincent, Lawrence and William are triplets. They live at the Captain Scott home for boys. They are cared for by three 'Mothers' morning, afternoon and night. These mothers give them lessons from the Book of Knowledge, administer medicine ( there has been a dreadful plague and this has taken many youngsters. ) they also record their dreams and their misdeeds. When a boy is considered to be healthy enought, they board the bus for Margate- an almost mystical place with never ending fairground rides, das on the beach and seeing the sights. Now the triplets are the last ones left, and one of them is starting to question things.

This was an amazing read. The author very skillfully creates a world where there are enough details to be familiar to anyone who remebers the 70's but many things that are scarily different. I was totally drawn into this world and feared for the way things may end. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book. It is one of my top reads of the year so far.

I love a book that actually succeeds in keeping me guessing the whole way through and The Book of Guilt achieved this perfectly.

Vincent, William, and Lawrence -triplet boys who live a big house with their three mothers. Their days revolve around three books The Book of Knowledge educates them, The Book of Dreams records their nightmares, and The book of Guilt records their transgressions.

Their world is soon to change as the government decide they should no longer be housed as wardens of the state, but the general public don’t want them, and the boys have been told since birth that their parents are dead. On top of that there’s a sickness they’ve been sensitive to their whole life - how will they still get their medicine if they aren’t at The Captain Scott House?

Set against the back drop of Thatchers Britain in the 1970s - a time of great upheaval, cost cutting measures, and notorious serial killers; Chidgey has woven a tale with so many layers it might as well be an onion. I say that in the most positive way because I genuinely couldn’t work out all the twists and turns before they happened and it kept me guessing every step of the way. Now to add her back catalogue to my never ending TBR!

I have been chewing over this review for weeks now because The Book of Guilt is one of those books that it’s best to go into blind; I am reluctant to share any information about it for fear of spoiling the magic of reading it. But here I go, I guess.

Vincent and his twin brothers, Lawrence and William, are the only occupants of the New Forest children’s home - all the other boys living there have moved on. The triplets are looked after by three “Mothers” - one for morning, one for afternoon, and one for night. The boys learn, play, fight and eat together - and get ill together, too, suffering from a mysterious Bug that they don’t know anything about.

Really, to tell you anything more would be to do the book a disservice. I already knew going into this book that Catherine Chidgey is a seriously impressive and innovative author - her last novel, The Axeman’s Carnival, is narrated primarily by a magpie - but the complexity and deftness with which The Book of Guilt unfolded really impressed me.

Narrated by the adult Vincent, as well as two other voices - both female - that spin the novel into weird and unexpected places before bringing all three plotlines together, it’s a real journey to read. I was never sure where I was going but trusted Chidgey and that made the deeply satisfying ending even more so.

The novel is more than a little indebted to Kazuo Ishiguro’s incredible Never Let Me Go, one of my favourite books of all time. I didn’t find that annoying, though, as some reviews I’ve read have - I love any and all explorations of dystopian futures, alternate realities, and what it means to be human. Give me everything you’ve got!

While dystopian fiction isn't my usual go-to, this novel presents a unique and compelling premise. Set in the late 1970s, it follows triplets raised by three mothers, whose lives are shaped by illness, isolation, and a community that struggles to accept them. Their longing to reach the mythical Margate propels the story forward, gradually unveiling the mystery surrounding their confinement.

The atmosphere is immersive, and the slow unraveling of secrets keeps the reader engaged. For fans of thought-provoking fiction that delves into the complexities of human existence, this book offers plenty to contemplate.

The story centres around a set of triplets growing up in a boys home. They are looked after by the mothers and know they are special. They are not allowed beyond the walls, they learn every day from the Book of Knowledge, record their dreams in the Book of Dreams and all bad behaviour is recorded in the Book of Guilt. They take their medicine, see the doctor regularly, and dream one day of going to Margate. Until the government changes and there is talk of closing the homes. Then the real reason for the homes comes out. Wonderfully written from the point of view of Vincent and another mystery girl, Nancy, we discover what is really going on, as they do. We follow their thoughts, dreams and slow realisations of the chilling truth.

A disappointing book overall as I was certain I was going to love it before I started reading it. Far too long with pages and pages just going nowhere.

A dark and disturbing piece of literary dystopia, The Book of Guilt examines moral decay through the lens of an alternate 1979, one in which a moral compromise leads to devastating consequences. Masterfully written and with a touch of both Ishiguro and modern horror (a particular director comes to mind), The Book of Guilt is disquieting and unsettling, even as it propels you along its shadowed journey.

Eerie, mesmerizing, and dark. It's hard to discuss this one without giving away spoilers, but this alternate history was hard to put down and I will now have to read Chidgey's entire backlist.

Enjoyable but one that I expected more from. I’ll be eager to see what else the offer has in store as I enjoyed the writing.

One of my most anticipated reads of the year, The Book of Guilt mostly lived up to my expectations. While it didn’t quite measure up to The Axeman’s Carnival or Pet, it’s a chilling, dystopian read that contains enough reality to make it plausible and when it gets going properly around the halfway mark, it takes off.

It’s post-war England (late 1970s) and 13 year old triplets Lawrence, William and Vincent live in a stately home in the English countryside, cared for around the clock by their three mothers.

The triplets’ misdemeanours are recorded in The Book of Guilt, their dreams in The Book of Dreams and they learn from The Book of Knowledge, an outdated children’s encyclopaedia that leaves them with a limited and prescribed view of the world. They’re forced to take regular medicine to prevent them from succumbing to The Bug.

What exactly is going on slowly becomes apparent as we meet the Minister for Loneliness, a woman who has been mandated by the Prime Minister to wind up the Sycamore Homes, a system of institutions across the country housing children and subjecting them to forced medication. We also meet the mysterious Nancy, a young girl kept indoors at all times by her fearful parents.

The novel moves pretty slowly for the first 50% and while it’s an interesting premise, it didn’t fully grab me until Nancy entered the story. I could see the direction the story was going, but it became ever more propulsive as Nancy’s situation crystallised.

Chidgey writes crisply and elegantly. Her books are a joy to read, so clever and original in premise. The Book of Guilt has inevitably been compared to Never Let Me Go, a superior novel to be perfectly honest, but it should be read on its own merits for the quality literary suspense that it is. 4/5 ⭐️

*Many thanks to the author and publisher for the advance arc via @netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The Book of Guilt was published in May.

I chose to read a free eARC of The Book of Guilt but that has in no way influenced my review.

Vincent, Lawrence and William are brothers. Vincent wears yellow. Lawrence wears green. William wears red. The colours enable the Mothers (Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night) to tell the three boys apart. They're the only ones left now after all of the other children in their home were sent to the Big House in Margate. If my brief outline of the book is starting to make you feel slightly uncomfortable, slightly wary, then boy, get used to it!

The Book of Guilt is a thoroughly unsettling, completely unnerving dystopian tale. It's 1979 and life as we know it, history as we remember it, is very, very different. The triplets are thirteen-years-old, they live at Captain Scott, a large house in the New Forest. They're watched over day and night by their three mothers, and they don't tend to stray outside of the confines of the house, otherwise the locals tend to get upset. Every morning their dreams are written in the Book of Dreams, every day they learn from the Book of Knowledge, and every misstep, every wrongdoing is noted in the Book of Guilt. They're part of the Sycamore Homes Scheme created by Dr Roach. But the new Government has decided to wind the scheme down and normal family homes must be found for the boys. The boys aren't worried though. They dream of moving to the Big House in Margate, meeting up with their friends, eating candyfloss until they're sick and spending their days riding the fairground rides. Only special children get to go to the Big House and any day now, they're going to find leaflets on their pillows, confirming their place. Then the van will arrive and drive them to their forever home. But the Sycamore Homes façade is starting to crumble. As the boys begin to have more contact with the outside world they start to discover shocking things about their lives. About the medication they're made to take, about the illnesses they all suffer from, about their deceased parents. About everything they believe to be true...

Oh my goodness, THIS BOOK! Dark, sinister and full of foreboding. It all seems fairly normal (in a roundabout, slightly twisted way) to start with but the feeling that you're not seeing the whole picture, that something else is at play here is very hard to ignore. The newly elected Government have decided to do away with the Sycamore Homes Scheme. They've reduced the number of children left in the homes to a small number. Now, it's down to the Minister of Loneliness to find new families for the remaining children via a nationwide media campaign. What the Minister doesn't expect is to become rather fond of one of the triplets, Vincent. And it's Vincent's POV the reader experiences through a large proportion of the book.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. The Book of Guilt is dark, mysterious and utterly compelling. There's so much going on here. In amongst the chapters where Vincent shares his POV on life at Captain Scott, there are also chapters voiced by Nancy, a young girl of a similar age. It's hard to work out what links Nancy's story to the triplets. But over the course of the book the author reveals unexpected connections, meaning everything makes perfect sense by the end of novel. I believed whole heartedly in the young characters in the book. Their voices felt real to me. They're children, they're not aware of the evil that adults can do. And for me, that was one of the most terrifying things about this book. The utter trust they placed in their grown-ups that everything was normal. The belief they were safe. The lure of a child's 'dream come true' over their heads with the possibility of going to the Big House in Margate. Their innocence in the face of pure malevolence. All in all, I found The Book of Guilt to be a highly intriguing, shocking read. Gripping, unsettling and at times, really quite jaw-dropping. The lengths people will go to, the ethical barriers they're willing to cross....the mind boggles! Gloriously sinister, deeply unnerving and a book that it will be impossible to forget. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of The Book of Guilt. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

[Review will be published on 3rd June 2025]

This gothic tale about triplets Vincent, Lawrence and William, living in a sprawling children’s home in the New Forest is original and engaging. Set in an alternative 1970s, featuring the Generation Game, the Two Ronnies and, to disturbing effect, Jim’ll fix it, it is evident from the start that there is something sinister about the circumstances that have brought the boys to the home. There is a further sense of unease that there had been a different outcome to the Second World War, albeit not a Hitler victory. The story is a bit slow to get going, but when it does, it really takes off and becomes difficult to put down. A disturbing and compelling story with a near-perfect balance of humour and horror, and for readers of a certain age, nostalgia for 1970s television.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.