The Beauty of Impossible Things

This book is beautifully written and you are completely drawn into the story. It centres around Natasha who is looking back to her teenage years and in particular one summer where life changed for all of the main characters. Natasha has the gift of second sight and the different ways that she and those around her react to this really shapes this story. I did not want to put it down and can’t wait to read more from Rachel Donahue.

This glorious book has an ethereal quality that is completely addictive -I loved it and was so invested in the characters that I couldn’t put it down until I had finished reading, and even then did so with great reluctance. The story centres on Natasha, a teenager with ‘precognition’ (second sight), her young friends, her fragile mother, and a cast of other characters, each with their own agenda. Every one of the characters is vividly and believably drawn, as is the setting, an unnamed seaside town during the Summer holiday season. The book contains the whole gamut of emotions and how a very special person learns to deal with them as she grows up. As with all Rachel Donohue’s work, there are unexpected events and happenings that draw the reader in, no matter their level of scepticism. No more from this reviewer as spoilers are to be avoided!

This tells the story of a long, tragic summer thirty years ago in a seaside town when Natasha Rothwell, our narrator, is fifteen. Natasha has precognition, premonitions, a ‘gift’ which blights her life from teenage years. She lives with her mother, the beautiful bohemian Elizabeth, in fugal, faded grandeur in a large house on the cliff tops. That summer, strange blue lights appear in the sky and Natasha knows they foretell tragedy and death. The community is caught up in the ensuing drama and nothing is the same again ....

This is a another winner for me from Rachel Donohue. From the very start, this beautifully written, lyrical almost poetic story hooks you and keeps you in its thrall. It is so atmospheric, at times it’s eerie and spooky, a bit gothic, at others it’s chilling , puzzling, enigmatic and always fascinating. You sense the growing fear, suspicion and powerlessness in the community and the sense of impending disaster. As you progress through there’s a weird tension that hangs over the characters and you know that what is happening shapes and changes Natasha’s and Elizabeth’s lives forever. The characters are extremely well crafted and you feel their varying emotions. Some of the descriptions are incredibly vivid that you see them materialise before you eyes like a painting. The narrative is alive too and you see what Natasha sees in your minds eye, some of it is a bit spiritual, some is macabre or just inexplicable. All you know is that Natasha alters as a person, becomes evasive, relationships are fractured and changed irrevocably.

Overall, this is a compelling, thought provoking, original and very different novel by a very talented author whose work I will always want to read. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Corvus for the much appreciated arc for an honest review.

I seem drawn to books set by the sea of late, probably because I can't get to the beach during the lockdown, and so reading about it is my next best option. I also love books that feature characters who find themselves outside of societal norms.

This book is no exception as we follow the story of Natasha. Natasha has the ability to sense future events and premonitions and, after seeing strange blue lights at the Ridge, she decides to speak up about what she believes is coming. The town receives a level of notoriety due to the lights and attracts the media and Dr Black, who has come to investigate further. Natasha finds herself pulled into this world, yet it also isolates her from others who are frightened by her predictions or find it weird. It also puts a wedge in a long-standing friendship she has with Marcus.

Although the plot centres around the lights and a missing teenager, this is also a coming of age story. One in which Natasha has to deal with her feelings for Marcus, her mother falling in love and the impact of this, and it's also about her discovering her voice and coming to understand who she is.

The writing is beautiful yet melancholic. There's so much possibility, yet Natasha's decisions sabotage this and impact her own happiness and others' happiness. I loved how the seaside town and its faded glory are described and the depiction of the house and bohemian lifestyle that Natasha's mother chooses to live. It's not often that I'd like a separate novel about a secondary character in a book, but I'd love to read more of Elizabeth.

This book has really stayed with me, and it left me with lots of questions and what-ifs, and I consider that to be a real positive. It's like I'm not ready to let go of Natasha and what becomes of her just yet.

I also rushed out and bought Rachel Donohue's other book and can't wait to read more of her writing.

This was not the typical book I would normally pick up to read, but boy, oh boy, am I glad that I did. The main character caught my attention straight away, and the Authors writing style was smooth and kept me engaged, even at 3am when I could not put the book down. I had very little idea of where the book was going to go, and it was beautifully sad in some places, and wonderfully sinister in others. This is the sort of book you should read while on holiday at the beach, just to add to the effect. A great read, that I was unable to put down once I had picked it up.

This is definitely a unique coming of age book that I think most people will be able to relate to it in some way as Rachel Donahue writes with so much feeling. It really is so beautifully written. I had an overwhelming sense of sadness and nostalgia when reading this book as the emotion the author manages to invoke with her writing is something else. She really manages to create a feeling of time and place that you end up so absorbed by. This story so accurately reflects the intensity that comes with growing up and that sense of things changing but not quite being able to control or understand them. The characters are all very well written and form part of the story perfectly. I also really loved the subtle references to an era that I can well remember.

A very evocative book with a beautifully crafted atmosphere of longing and loss, the book centres on Natasha, a young teenager who has lived an isolated life with her unusual mother. There is some sense of shame around the mother that isn't fully explained, and her denial of Natasha's precognition skills sours their relationship. The book is told from a grown up Natasha's perspective as she looks back at what was a transformational summer in her life.

There are young teenagers living a seaside summer on the brink of possibility, spending long evenings on the beach, and a tender relationship between Natasha's mother and a paying guest. But there is also the threat of unusual activity and a terrible tragedy that impacts the whole town.

The older Natasha seems very sad and affected by that summer, which makes the account even more poignant.

Rachel Donahue captures that teenage possibility so well it makes your grown-up heart ache with nostalgia - wonderful.

This is a beautifully written book, which I couldn't put down. The story, and characters are compelling, and although the narrative is slow-paced, with no dramatic climaxes, or revelations, I found that I had to keep reading, just to find out what happened. I particularly liked the fact that not everything was completely explained, and there was a lingering uncertainty about the whole thing. This is an intelligent book which deserves to be very popular, and I will certainly be recommending it.

This was an incredible book that will stay with me forever. I loved it. J loved the writing. I loved the Dark tale. Brilliant. Highly recommended xx

Oh wow, I absolutely adored this book!!!!
It is a beautifully written, magical, thought provoking escape from every day life.
I didn’t want it to end!!