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Product Description
Review
With strong characters, a cleverly constructed story and masses of period detail, this vivid evocation of life in 1985 is a fine second book from a writer who first won The Mail On Sunday Novel Competition. --Daily Mail
Ashdown's depiction of a vulnerable teenager and the magnetic pull of a toxic friendship will have you wincing with recognition. --Glamour
Haunting fiction. --Stylist
Funny, insightful and often tragic. A fascinating book whose apparent simplicity masks complexity as it reveals once again the strength of Ashdown`s talent as a perceptive and engaging writer. This is a fitting second novel from the author of the acclaimed Glasshopper and will appeal to personal readers and book clubs alike. --NewBooks Magazine
Ashdown's début novel Glasshopper was named as one of the best books of 2009, and this well-crafted follow-up doesn't disappoint. --Heat
Isabel Ashdown's Glasshopper was one of our favourite reads of 2009, and her second novel is another mix of compelling characters and 1980s nostalgia. --Bella
Bursting with schoolgirl preoccupations of the 1980s - Andrew Ridgeley, Ryvita and rude words on the toilet wall - this lively journey through the embarrassments of growing up is tightly entwined with a darker tale. Sarah Ribbons is now 20 years older and wiser than her teenage self and has returned home for a school reunion. But what is it that is upsetting her so profoundly? --Sainsbury's Magazine
In Hurry Up And Wait Isabel Ashdown has produced a perfectly pitched trip back to the mid-eighties.
Ashdown's depiction of a vulnerable teenager and the magnetic pull of a toxic friendship will have you wincing with recognition. --Glamour
Haunting fiction. --Stylist
Funny, insightful and often tragic. A fascinating book whose apparent simplicity masks complexity as it reveals once again the strength of Ashdown`s talent as a perceptive and engaging writer. This is a fitting second novel from the author of the acclaimed Glasshopper and will appeal to personal readers and book clubs alike. --NewBooks Magazine
Ashdown's début novel Glasshopper was named as one of the best books of 2009, and this well-crafted follow-up doesn't disappoint. --Heat
Isabel Ashdown's Glasshopper was one of our favourite reads of 2009, and her second novel is another mix of compelling characters and 1980s nostalgia. --Bella
Bursting with schoolgirl preoccupations of the 1980s - Andrew Ridgeley, Ryvita and rude words on the toilet wall - this lively journey through the embarrassments of growing up is tightly entwined with a darker tale. Sarah Ribbons is now 20 years older and wiser than her teenage self and has returned home for a school reunion. But what is it that is upsetting her so profoundly? --Sainsbury's Magazine
In Hurry Up And Wait Isabel Ashdown has produced a perfectly pitched trip back to the mid-eighties.
Isabel Ashdown has captured every heartbeat of the uncertainty and excitement of growing up. Duplicitous friendships, awakening sexuality and the trials of school and exams are all depicted as Sarah's story unfolds.
The storyline starts at a school reunion taking place twenty years later. Through this section the secrets of the past are finally revealed and Sarah's story finds its resolution. Anyone who has ever attended a reunion with ambivalent feelings in their heart will identify strongly with this section.
I really enjoyed Isabel Ashdown's first novel, Glasshopper but, if anything, would have to say Hurry Up And Wait is even better. I loved everything about it. --Bookersatz
Product Description
In her eargerly anticipated second novel, Mail on Sunday Novel Competition winner Isabel Ashdown explored the treacherous territory of adolescent friendships and traces the repercussions of a dangerous relationship across the decades. It's been more than 20 years since Sarah Ribbons last set foot inside her old high school, a crumbling, Victorian-built comprehensive on the south coast of England. Now, as she prepares for her school reunion, 39-year-old Sarah has to face up to the truth of what really happened back in the summer of 1986...
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm not usually someone who makes time to write reviews. But every now and then I read something that truly sticks with me long after I've finished it: for all the right reasons. Hurry Up And Wait does just that. It brilliantly captures an experience of the mid 80's (without the clichés) fast-tracking me straight back to my own teens of the same period. Without doubt this feels like a real place, with real and believable people. The insights are both ordinary and amazing. The themes enormous yet mundane. This moving story gripped me from the first to last page.
The book takes place at the start of the hot summer holidays - past scenes spliced with present day perspectives make up the plot, naturally criss-crossing time. As the character switches from past to present, the tale tells of some of the journeys that we make through life. As a teenager - I would have loved this. It doesn't patronise and talks with an authentic voice. It tackles rites of passage and brings back blushingly embarrassing memories!
What I really liked about this book was the way in which the author dealt with the main character. It illustrates a point in history when the idea of strong women had become quite normal, yet the world of becoming a woman can still, at times, be terrifying. Now that I've had time to digest the enormity of what happens in this book I have an ever increasing urge to pick it and start again!
This book is a perfect read for the summer ahead and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
The book takes place at the start of the hot summer holidays - past scenes spliced with present day perspectives make up the plot, naturally criss-crossing time. As the character switches from past to present, the tale tells of some of the journeys that we make through life. As a teenager - I would have loved this. It doesn't patronise and talks with an authentic voice. It tackles rites of passage and brings back blushingly embarrassing memories!
What I really liked about this book was the way in which the author dealt with the main character. It illustrates a point in history when the idea of strong women had become quite normal, yet the world of becoming a woman can still, at times, be terrifying. Now that I've had time to digest the enormity of what happens in this book I have an ever increasing urge to pick it and start again!
This book is a perfect read for the summer ahead and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Isabel Ashdown's first novel, Glasshopper, gripped me from the start and I read it in one sitting. Her second, Hurry Up And Wait, is no different. There is something compelling about Ashdown's writing style - it just draws you right in and you don't want to leave. Her characters are real and beautifully drawn with a light, non-judgemental touch. We get to know them intimately and across decades through Ashdown's skill in weaving their lives through the pages. From the start, you know something momentous will happen to these ordinary lives but you're not sure when or how. This book takes us back to the 80s but there is nothing clunky about the nostalgia, the themes are universal and will appeal to a wide-range of audience. Like Glasshopper, and as in life, there are events which will conjure up feelings of heartbreak but throughout there is always a nod to the funny situations we often find ourselves in. I really wanted this book for the beach but I just couldn't wait...
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In `Hurry Up And Wait' Isabel Ashdown has produced a perfectly pitched trip back to the mid-eighties.
The story of Sarah Ribbons, and her coming of age in 1985 and 1986, is illustrated beautifully with the sights, sounds and feelings of the time. For those of us who shared the experience of growing up in these times the atmosphere is absolutely spot-on.
Isabel Ashdown has captured every heartbeat of the uncertainty and excitement of growing up. Duplicitous friendships, awakening sexuality and the trials of school and exams are all depicted as Sarah's story unfolds.
Sarah is a deeply empathetic character from the start. No reader could fail to be moved by the situations she finds herself in as she exposes her heart to the possibilities of love and the dangers of betrayal for the first time.
The characters around her are also real and boldly drawn. I particularly liked Sarah's father; charming but utterly self-absorbed.
The storyline starts at a school reunion taking place twenty years later. Through this section the secrets of the past are finally revealed and Sarah's story finds its resolution. Anyone who has ever attended a reunion with ambivalent feelings in their heart will identify strongly with this section.
I really enjoyed Isabel Ashdown's first novel, `Glasshopper' but, if anything, I would have to say `Hurry Up And Wait' is even better. I loved everything about it.
The story of Sarah Ribbons, and her coming of age in 1985 and 1986, is illustrated beautifully with the sights, sounds and feelings of the time. For those of us who shared the experience of growing up in these times the atmosphere is absolutely spot-on.
Isabel Ashdown has captured every heartbeat of the uncertainty and excitement of growing up. Duplicitous friendships, awakening sexuality and the trials of school and exams are all depicted as Sarah's story unfolds.
Sarah is a deeply empathetic character from the start. No reader could fail to be moved by the situations she finds herself in as she exposes her heart to the possibilities of love and the dangers of betrayal for the first time.
The characters around her are also real and boldly drawn. I particularly liked Sarah's father; charming but utterly self-absorbed.
The storyline starts at a school reunion taking place twenty years later. Through this section the secrets of the past are finally revealed and Sarah's story finds its resolution. Anyone who has ever attended a reunion with ambivalent feelings in their heart will identify strongly with this section.
I really enjoyed Isabel Ashdown's first novel, `Glasshopper' but, if anything, I would have to say `Hurry Up And Wait' is even better. I loved everything about it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
a match for glasshopper
This second novel of Ashdowns is clearly on a par with the success of Glasshopper, taking the reader on a similar trip back in time. Read more
Published 3 days ago by S McWilliam
boring
Can't understand how people taught this book was good
it was so boring. I am an avid reader and this goes in my 10 worst books i have read. Read more
it was so boring. I am an avid reader and this goes in my 10 worst books i have read. Read more
Published 1 month ago by cathy
hurry up and wait
Having really enjoyed Isabelle Ashdown's debut novel Glasshopper, I approached her second novel with some intrepidation - would it have that lovely narrative that made you want to... Read more
Published 3 months ago by juliette ryan
Step back to your teenage years
This book really takes you back to the angst of growing up however it is done with humour and sensitivity too. Think it would appeal mainly to female readers of most ages. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Kate S
Flat, predictable fluff
Take three schoolfriends in the 1980's and throw in the usual rivalries, bitchiness, and squabbles and this, basically, is what the book is about. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Jood
A memorable story that stayed with me long after I finished the book.
I read this book several months ago, while on holiday in a hot country, yet the sense of place and time captured within the pages of this bitter-sweet coming-of-age story was so... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Kindledays
Getting to understand your teenage daughter ...
... better, and I had one in the 1980s. This novel sets out so well the pressures and influences teenage girls faced at school during this era. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lewis Duckworth
Couldn't stop reading!
It's great being back in the 80s, all through the novel I had an 80s soundtrack playing in my head. Main character Sarah has got the same hair do as Debbie Harry, but her life in... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Lou Ice
Superb
The painful vulnerability of an isolated teenage girl in the 1980s is here brought to life in light, simple strokes which hide a deeper shadow whose consequences are seen in the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by EmmaHunneyball
Hurry Up and Wait
A very thought provoking novel. I found it intriguing and amusing at the same time - it not only did it remind me of my own teenage years, but the whole 80s era. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Helen JC
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