*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Talking about this book? Use #BecomingLizTaylor #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
Val, a widow living in Weston-super-Mare, spends lonely evenings dressing up as the movie star Elizabeth Taylor. It seems to be a way of coping with the loss and sadness she has experienced in her life. One day, when Val sees a pram left unattended on the seafront, on a whim she kicks off the brake and walks away with it...
Set in the present and the 1970s, Becoming Liz Taylor is a vivid and touching depiction of love and loss - thought-provoking, moving fiction for fans of Rachel Joyce, Emma Healey and Ruth Hogan.
Val, a widow living in Weston-super-Mare, spends lonely evenings dressing up as the movie star Elizabeth Taylor. It seems to be a way of coping with the loss and sadness she has experienced in her...
Val, a widow living in Weston-super-Mare, spends lonely evenings dressing up as the movie star Elizabeth Taylor. It seems to be a way of coping with the loss and sadness she has experienced in her life. One day, when Val sees a pram left unattended on the seafront, on a whim she kicks off the brake and walks away with it...
Set in the present and the 1970s, Becoming Liz Taylor is a vivid and touching depiction of love and loss - thought-provoking, moving fiction for fans of Rachel Joyce, Emma Healey and Ruth Hogan.
Advance Praise
'A truly compelling read and tackles the subject of loss and grief with brutal honesty and poignant sensitivity. It's such an accomplished and memorable debut full of heart and heartbreak - an absolute corker for reading groups!' Ruth Hogan, bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things
'A truly compelling read and tackles the subject of loss and grief with brutal honesty and poignant sensitivity. It's such an accomplished and memorable debut full of heart and heartbreak - an...
'A truly compelling read and tackles the subject of loss and grief with brutal honesty and poignant sensitivity. It's such an accomplished and memorable debut full of heart and heartbreak - an absolute corker for reading groups!' Ruth Hogan, bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things
Very interested in reading this and acquisition of this title. It has such a unique premise and I love all things old Hollywood and especially Elizabeth Taylor. I cannot wait to share more thoughts soon.
Was this review helpful?
Educator 1018677
I found both the title and the front cover intriguing. After reading the opening page, my first surprise was that Val was actually a woman in her seventies.
It's a very convincing tale of loss and bereavement. Val broke my heart and I just wanted everything to turn out ok for her and her son.
There will be inevitable comparisons to Rachel Joyce but that can only be seen as a compliment.
I'm looking forward to rereading this and will eagerly waiting to see what Elizabeth Delo writes next.
Was this review helpful?
Gail H, Reviewer
An utterly captivating and heart breaking novel about grief and loss. Val's baby son and husband died tragically over 50 years ago. She is still grieving, and dressing up in her home as filmstar Elizabeth Taylor helps her feel close to husband Len. She is unaware it repelled their other son Rafe, who's been estranged from his mother for decades.
Seeing what looks like an abandoned pram with a baby boy inside catapults Val back to the 70s, and she calmly walks away with it.
The writing is sublime in this debut novel, taking us back to the courtship of Val and Len and happy times at the lido in Weston-super-Mare. It was so evocative I found myself back at the art deco lido on Plymouth Hoe as a 70s teen.
Val goes on the run with the baby she's named Christopher. It's hard for a 72 year old dressed as Elizabeth Taylor with bouffant black hair, who has never driven on a motorway. Not to mention caring for a baby just a few months old. But although she's all over the news we still feel compassion for Val as the story of her grief unfolds. We see right into her mind and understand she's not malicious but desperate.
A must read - I consumed it in one day and had to finish it. Thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the eARC.
Was this review helpful?
Featured Reviews
Librarian 1081599
Very interested in reading this and acquisition of this title. It has such a unique premise and I love all things old Hollywood and especially Elizabeth Taylor. I cannot wait to share more thoughts soon.
Was this review helpful?
Educator 1018677
I found both the title and the front cover intriguing. After reading the opening page, my first surprise was that Val was actually a woman in her seventies.
It's a very convincing tale of loss and bereavement. Val broke my heart and I just wanted everything to turn out ok for her and her son.
There will be inevitable comparisons to Rachel Joyce but that can only be seen as a compliment.
I'm looking forward to rereading this and will eagerly waiting to see what Elizabeth Delo writes next.
Was this review helpful?
Gail H, Reviewer
An utterly captivating and heart breaking novel about grief and loss. Val's baby son and husband died tragically over 50 years ago. She is still grieving, and dressing up in her home as filmstar Elizabeth Taylor helps her feel close to husband Len. She is unaware it repelled their other son Rafe, who's been estranged from his mother for decades.
Seeing what looks like an abandoned pram with a baby boy inside catapults Val back to the 70s, and she calmly walks away with it.
The writing is sublime in this debut novel, taking us back to the courtship of Val and Len and happy times at the lido in Weston-super-Mare. It was so evocative I found myself back at the art deco lido on Plymouth Hoe as a 70s teen.
Val goes on the run with the baby she's named Christopher. It's hard for a 72 year old dressed as Elizabeth Taylor with bouffant black hair, who has never driven on a motorway. Not to mention caring for a baby just a few months old. But although she's all over the news we still feel compassion for Val as the story of her grief unfolds. We see right into her mind and understand she's not malicious but desperate.
A must read - I consumed it in one day and had to finish it. Thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the eARC.
The Secret Romantic's Book of Magic
Olivie Blake; Kelley Armstrong; Katherine Arden; Hannah Nicole Maehrer; Tasha Suri; Melissa Marr; Megan Bannen; A.G. Slatter; A.C. Wise; Kelly Andrew; Kamilah Cole; Eliza Chan
General Fiction (Adult), Romance, Sci Fi & Fantasy