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 eagerly anticipated second novel Mail on Sunday Novel Competition winner Isabel Ashdown explores the treacherous territory of adolescent friendships, and traces across the decades the repercussions of a dangerous relationship.
It's more than twenty 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.
August 1985: Sarah celebrates her fifteenth birthday in the back garden of the suburban seaside house she shares with her ageing father. As she embarks on her fifth and final year at Selton High School for Girls Sarah's main focus is on her erratic friendships with Tina and Kate; her closest allies one moment, her fiercest opponents the next as they compete for the attention of the new boy, Dante. When her father is unexpectedly taken ill, Sarah is sent to stay with Kate's family in nearby Amber Chalks. Kate's youthful parents welcome her into the comfort of their liberal family home, where the girls can eat off trays and watch TV in Kate's bedroom. They've never been closer -- until a few days into her stay, events take a sinister turn, and Sarah knows that nothing will ever be the same again.
It's more than twenty 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.
August 1985: Sarah celebrates her fifteenth birthday in the back garden of the suburban seaside house she shares with her ageing father. As she embarks on her fifth and final year at Selton High School for Girls Sarah's main focus is on her erratic friendships with Tina and Kate; her closest allies one moment, her fiercest opponents the next as they compete for the attention of the new boy, Dante. When her father is unexpectedly taken ill, Sarah is sent to stay with Kate's family in nearby Amber Chalks. Kate's youthful parents welcome her into the comfort of their liberal family home, where the girls can eat off trays and watch TV in Kate's bedroom. They've never been closer -- until a few days into her stay, events take a sinister turn, and Sarah knows that nothing will ever be the same again.
