A beautifully written debut novel set in New Zealand in the 1980s.
The story is told from the point of view of Alix, a ten year old girl on holiday with her parents and older sister. With others in the family pre-occupied in different ways Alix forms a friendship with a young boy who is also on holiday with his family and they innocently set out to solve a mystery of a lost child from many years ago.
Complex family dynamics, mysterious goings-on, blossoming friendships, 80s nostalgia, childhood innocence, dark undertones - this book had a bit of everything keeping the reader engaged from start to finish.
The ending left many unanswered questions but on reflection I feel it was intentional on the author's part as it mirrored the experience of Alix throughout her confusing journey that summer holiday.
Expert narration added to the enjoyment of this debut novel and I am grateful to the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced listener copy of this audiobook.

An excellent portrayal of a pre-teen girl and boy which seemed almost set in the 1930’s but was actually the 1980’s. I loved the character development which was a great reminder of how little importance the thoughts and feelings of children that age often seen to be. The mystery is only a small part of this wonderful book and I loved it all especially the faultless narrator.

Set in 1985 on the New Zealand coast, A Beautiful Family follows 10-year-old Alix during a summer holiday with her family. While the adults are busy with their own stuff, Alix makes friends with a local boy named Kahu, who tells her about a little girl who drowned a few years ago. Curious, they start looking for clues. But what starts out as a fun adventure slowly turns into something much more serious...
This book is so special – calming and comforting in parts, but also full of thrilling moments that made me gasp. It captures what it’s like to see the world through a
child’s eyes, only to realise as an adult how much was really going on. Alix notices everything, but she doesn’t quite understand what she’s seeing – which makes it all the more powerful when we, as readers, put the pieces together. It’s such a clever idea, and it’s done so well. 😮
The ending felt just right – a bit sudden, like the way holidays always seem to end too, but it completely fit the story.
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Ruby Hansen, did a fantastic job too!
Highly recommend this one! ❤️📚

What a gorgeous debut from Jennifer Trevelyan! I was lucky enough to get my hands on both the audiobook and physical copy. I found the audiobook such an easy and almost soothing listen, where you found yourself disappearing into the narrators calming tones and really enjoying the story overall. I highly recommend the audiobook if that is your chosen format.

In this debut, we follow ten-year-old Alix during a family summer vacation in 1980s New Zealand. There's something so charming about her innocent take on everything happening around her. She's dealing with complicated family stuff, new friendships, and that special sister bond, all while her curiosity gets her tangled up in mysteries she's determined to solve with her new friend, Kahu.

Even though she's just ten, Alix picks up on way more than her parents and older sister think she does. While her mom tries to finish writing her novel, her dad's all about grilling and watching cricket, and her fifteen-year-old sister is crushing hard on the local lifeguard, Alix sees an opportunity to play detective. She teams up with a new friend to figure out what really happened to Charlotte, a kid who supposedly drowned two years ago.

But of course, things get messy when their sleuthing uncovers stuff they probably didn't want to know (or see). Suddenly she’s plagued with a multitude of questions: Are her parents actually happy? Is her sister trusting the wrong people? Is their vacation rental really safe? And when someone else goes missing, suddenly the whole family is caught up in a real police investigation.

This was such a lovely, easy read that perfectly captures all the chaos and surprises that come with family vacations and then some. Trevelyan really nailed that balance between childhood innocence and genuine mystery - it's nostalgic and suspenseful at the same time.

I highly recommend.

This was a really great book! Chocked full of 80's nostalgia, some great characters and locations and lots of remisence of summer holidays from my own childhood. Several mysteries to solve and lots of times I found myself thinking I had guessed where the story was going and been very wrong. Just needed another 100 pages at the end so we could hear more about Bob and the events that had occurred leading up to the end of the story.

Told from the perspective of 10 year old Alex A Beautiful Family is a gentle slow burn mystery, dripping with all the nostalgia of a 1980’s childhood holiday with freedom, friendships and family drama.

The beauty of delivering the story from the POV of a child, is that while Alex and Kahu make discoveries, overhear snippets of information and actually solve the mystery, they do it with complete naivety leaving the story open for the reader to interpret. It also sheds a light into the mind of a child, coming to realisations around family situations and shows how little minds wander when they are left without answers from adults, the end of the story was abrupt, and I suppose quite apt, in that the holiday also ends there, I did wonder if the author intends to bring an older Alex back to unpick the holiday at some point, I think this would be interesting.

All in all an accomplished debut novel. Ultimately I did want just a bit more.

I enjoyed Ruby Hansen’s narration.

Huge thanks to Wavesound from W F Howes LTD and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧