The Spider Truces
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Review
A very fine, funny and moving read. --David Baddiel
When you try to protect someone from grief, do you prevent them from feeling anything at all? A beautiful debut about a son trying to break free from his father. --Financial Times
A remote corner of Kent is the background to Connolly's magical coming-of-age novel. Growing up, Ellis prefers to spend time on the local farm; later he will develop a talent for photography, but relationships remain a mystery to him in this fierce, humane and hazily poetic work. --Guardian
A warm coming-of-age story that tackles family relationships, secrets, belonging and self-acceptance. Ellis's journey as he blunders through adolescence, breaks free from the shackles of childhood and finally confronts his phobia, is moving and beautiful, as are the rural and coastal settings Connolly describes so vividly. --Coventry Telegraph
In 1980s Kent, quirky youth Ellis is obsessed by the spiders in his country home and by the need to know more about his mother's death. Filmmaker Connolly's touching novel follows Ellis as he muddles toward adulthood and understanding. --Books Quarterly
A funny, moving and quirky coming-of-age story. Hugely enjoyable. --Deborah Moggach
Lyrical, warm and moving, this impressive début is reminiscent of Laurie Lee. --Meera Syal
The Spider Truces is one of those wonderful novels that captures within its pages something of the essence of life as lived. Connolly follows Ellis through his teens and beyond, with a keen eye for the rhythms of family life and growing up. His characterisation is superb. An interview with the author at the back of the book reveals that he is working on two more novels; I very much look forward to reading them. --Bookrabbit
For a first novel there is much to delight. The lyricism and humour, as well as interesting quirks of character and event, draw you in... I could recommend the book purely for the final third, which is moving and beautifully written. Connolly has proved his prose can be exquisite and his imagination original. I will be looking forward to seeing what he comes up with next. --The Argus
This heartfelt, beautifully-constructed, coming-of-age story, set in the very particular landscapes of the Kentish Weald and Romney Marsh, is testimony to the author's profound love of the area and he allows his wonderful protagonist, Ellis, to freely and effortlessly inhabit it.
--Bookgroup.info
When you try to protect someone from grief, do you prevent them from feeling anything at all? A beautiful debut about a son trying to break free from his father. --Financial Times
A remote corner of Kent is the background to Connolly's magical coming-of-age novel. Growing up, Ellis prefers to spend time on the local farm; later he will develop a talent for photography, but relationships remain a mystery to him in this fierce, humane and hazily poetic work. --Guardian
A warm coming-of-age story that tackles family relationships, secrets, belonging and self-acceptance. Ellis's journey as he blunders through adolescence, breaks free from the shackles of childhood and finally confronts his phobia, is moving and beautiful, as are the rural and coastal settings Connolly describes so vividly. --Coventry Telegraph
In 1980s Kent, quirky youth Ellis is obsessed by the spiders in his country home and by the need to know more about his mother's death. Filmmaker Connolly's touching novel follows Ellis as he muddles toward adulthood and understanding. --Books Quarterly
A funny, moving and quirky coming-of-age story. Hugely enjoyable. --Deborah Moggach
Lyrical, warm and moving, this impressive début is reminiscent of Laurie Lee. --Meera Syal
The Spider Truces is one of those wonderful novels that captures within its pages something of the essence of life as lived. Connolly follows Ellis through his teens and beyond, with a keen eye for the rhythms of family life and growing up. His characterisation is superb. An interview with the author at the back of the book reveals that he is working on two more novels; I very much look forward to reading them. --Bookrabbit
For a first novel there is much to delight. The lyricism and humour, as well as interesting quirks of character and event, draw you in... I could recommend the book purely for the final third, which is moving and beautifully written. Connolly has proved his prose can be exquisite and his imagination original. I will be looking forward to seeing what he comes up with next. --The Argus
This heartfelt, beautifully-constructed, coming-of-age story, set in the very particular landscapes of the Kentish Weald and Romney Marsh, is testimony to the author's profound love of the area and he allows his wonderful protagonist, Ellis, to freely and effortlessly inhabit it.
--Bookgroup.info
Product Description
Against the vividly described background of 1980s rural Kent, this moving portrait of a father-son relationship shifts effortlessly between evoking utterly convincingly the terrors and joys of adolescence and the complicated pleasure and pain of being an adult. Ellis is obsessed by the spiders that inhabit the crumbling house where he lives with his dad, his older sister and great aunt Mafi and also by a need to find out more about his mother, whose death overshadows the family's otherwise happy existence. He is a quirky soul; awkward and sensitive, out of place most of the time, funny, and with an often embarrassing habit of speaking his thoughts aloud, whatever the company. From early attempts at relationships, to unskilled jobs, flatshares and drug-addled nights on the beach, Ellis muddles his way towards adulthood. What endures is the strength of his bond with his dad and his affectionate relationship with his intrepid sister, Chrissie, who turns up whenever he needs her a new boyfriend in tow every time to take the mick out of her introspective and hapless brother. The family banter is Ellis' lifeline and a counterpoint to the constant heartache of his desire to know something anything about his mother. Meanwhile their dad, Denny, an ex-Merchant Navy man, bottles up his grief at the loss of his wife, refusing to talk about her.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Nine-year old Ellis is terrified of spiders to the point that his mind will freeze and shut down if one touches him. Unfortunately for Ellis his dad has moved him and his sister Chrissie into a crumbling old house that appears to be haunted by spiders, they're everywhere. Ellis is also haunted by his lack of knowledge about his deceased mother. His dad Denny refuses to talk about her, meanwhile Ellis' sister Chrissie compulsively dates and wise Aunt Mafi has moved in to run the house.
To reduce Ellis' fear of spiders his dad convinces him that he has made a truce with the spiders to leave him alone, but in return Ellis has to promise to learn more about them. If you're scared of spiders this is great book to read to get over your fear of them as the author shares his extensive and fascinating knowledge of arachnids.
Ellis is an immediately endearing character; he has a habit of saying out loud what he is thinking about half way through the sentence. This results in one of the most comical first date conversations that I have ever read.
Although there are plenty of laughs in this book there are darker moments too as Ellis struggles to build a relationship with his dad as an adult. Ellis is a dreamer and he tends to drift into situations. He finds it difficult to commit to relationships because he hasn't had one with his mother in any sense, not even one built on her memory and this has a profound impact on him. While father and son can some to a truce over the spiders they cannot form one over the woman who haunts both their lives.
Denny clearly loves his family but he is broken by grief. Due to what happened with his wife he is terrified of losing his family and this makes him say and do things that he cannot explain to his son, but they are out of love and strong desire to protect him. Denny finds it difficult to let go as Ellis grows up. Ellis, naturally, rebels.
This engaging coming of age novel highlights how death, grief and secrets can tear a father and son apart, and how a finely spun thread of love, mutual understanding and acceptance can bring them together again.
To reduce Ellis' fear of spiders his dad convinces him that he has made a truce with the spiders to leave him alone, but in return Ellis has to promise to learn more about them. If you're scared of spiders this is great book to read to get over your fear of them as the author shares his extensive and fascinating knowledge of arachnids.
Ellis is an immediately endearing character; he has a habit of saying out loud what he is thinking about half way through the sentence. This results in one of the most comical first date conversations that I have ever read.
Although there are plenty of laughs in this book there are darker moments too as Ellis struggles to build a relationship with his dad as an adult. Ellis is a dreamer and he tends to drift into situations. He finds it difficult to commit to relationships because he hasn't had one with his mother in any sense, not even one built on her memory and this has a profound impact on him. While father and son can some to a truce over the spiders they cannot form one over the woman who haunts both their lives.
Denny clearly loves his family but he is broken by grief. Due to what happened with his wife he is terrified of losing his family and this makes him say and do things that he cannot explain to his son, but they are out of love and strong desire to protect him. Denny finds it difficult to let go as Ellis grows up. Ellis, naturally, rebels.
This engaging coming of age novel highlights how death, grief and secrets can tear a father and son apart, and how a finely spun thread of love, mutual understanding and acceptance can bring them together again.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed this book due to the well written prose and the interesting main characters. The plot was good and the setting in seventies & eighties Kent countryside fascinating. It very much reminded me of the sixties Hampshire childhood I had, reflecting the timeless nature of the author's descriptions. The idea of the fear of spiders was a bit spurious and didn't really affect the plot, though it informed the main character. All in, a good read.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If I ever read a fiction book it can not be more than once a year so to buy a new book on the first day of publication was exceptional for me. Additionally, I was hoping that it would be delivered before I was due to go away for a week so that any dull days and evenings could be spent reading it. Luckily, it came on the morning that I was heading off. That was the first, pleasant surprise - and 5* to the retailer for that promptness.
After a long drive northwards that day, I wanted little more than to rest with a strong drink and a cup of coffee, and waht better way of unwinding than to start on the new book?
I should add at this point that I was first drawn to it after listening to an interview with the author on BBC Radio Kent, just a week or so before it was due to be published.
The combination of the well-researched show host and the honest, open responses from the author actually convinced me that this was a book worth checking out - the title alone was intriguing enough, and having learnt that there was a lot of personal reminiscences put into the writing, using notes and memories taken by the author from the 1970/80s during his life in the Weald of Kent, I just felt that this was a book I had to read.
I was not disappointed, hence this review here now. I will not give any of the plot away, but just say that having started the book on the Sunday evening covering the first 30 or so pages, and then another 70 pages two nights later, it was Friday morning when I finished it having to delay my morning start by two hours so that I did not have to wait until I got back to reach the conclusion! Less than a week to read, from start to finish.
Locations featured in the book include a village close to Hildenborough and another out on the Romney Marsh, and there are more than one or two surprises/twists along the way.
I think what I liked most about the book was that I found it easy to identify with most of the characters. It took me back forty years to my mid-teens, causing me to recall the traumas and tensions of growing up, as well as sharing the appreciation of the countryside and the coast, and what it had to offer me at the time as well as in the future. It also helped me to better understand some unanswered questions that stemmed back to the same time.
To summarise....... I had the time to read as and when I wanted to during that week. I used the time to good advantage as I was also able to reflect on what had been read and how my life had evolved, on occasions in similar circumstances to those featured in the book. I've generally enjoyed my life, and I certainly loved this book. Knowing that this was the author's first novel I can only wait in hope for his second offering!
Thanks to Tom Connolly for an excellent book, and to Pat Marsh for hosting such a good interview that afternoon on BBC Radio Kent.
After a long drive northwards that day, I wanted little more than to rest with a strong drink and a cup of coffee, and waht better way of unwinding than to start on the new book?
I should add at this point that I was first drawn to it after listening to an interview with the author on BBC Radio Kent, just a week or so before it was due to be published.
The combination of the well-researched show host and the honest, open responses from the author actually convinced me that this was a book worth checking out - the title alone was intriguing enough, and having learnt that there was a lot of personal reminiscences put into the writing, using notes and memories taken by the author from the 1970/80s during his life in the Weald of Kent, I just felt that this was a book I had to read.
I was not disappointed, hence this review here now. I will not give any of the plot away, but just say that having started the book on the Sunday evening covering the first 30 or so pages, and then another 70 pages two nights later, it was Friday morning when I finished it having to delay my morning start by two hours so that I did not have to wait until I got back to reach the conclusion! Less than a week to read, from start to finish.
Locations featured in the book include a village close to Hildenborough and another out on the Romney Marsh, and there are more than one or two surprises/twists along the way.
I think what I liked most about the book was that I found it easy to identify with most of the characters. It took me back forty years to my mid-teens, causing me to recall the traumas and tensions of growing up, as well as sharing the appreciation of the countryside and the coast, and what it had to offer me at the time as well as in the future. It also helped me to better understand some unanswered questions that stemmed back to the same time.
To summarise....... I had the time to read as and when I wanted to during that week. I used the time to good advantage as I was also able to reflect on what had been read and how my life had evolved, on occasions in similar circumstances to those featured in the book. I've generally enjoyed my life, and I certainly loved this book. Knowing that this was the author's first novel I can only wait in hope for his second offering!
Thanks to Tom Connolly for an excellent book, and to Pat Marsh for hosting such a good interview that afternoon on BBC Radio Kent.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Spider Truces
What a wonderful find this was. I am not the biggest fan of "coming of age" stories however his little gem showed me how good they can be. Read more
Published 3 months ago by .
Stunning!!
This book is simply gorgeous! The imagery, emotion and reflections are so beautiful, whilst reading it you feel as if you are living in an immense work of fine art. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Wend
touches the heartstrings
I wouldn't normally have thought of reading a book about a young man's rite of passage from boyhood to manhood but this was tender and lyrical in parts and raw in its realism in... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Bugs
A gem of a book
I am not a fan of coming of age novels but I am so glad I ignored that feeling and bought this one. It is a quirky approach the the genre and hooked me completely after the first... Read more
Published 7 months ago by mythicalkings
Great read
This book is a great read. Emotional highs and lows with engaging characters that you want to understand in the same way that the characters want to understand each other. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Duncan
Don't miss this!!!
Someone once told me that if you forget you are reading, that is the measure of a good book. So it is with The Spider Truces. Read more
Published 8 months ago by puddleglum
Engaging and touching - a brilliant read
This is not my usual type of read, I'm usually a crime thriller girl, however I got this after seeing it recommended by other. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Zoe
Amazing
I adored this book. I won't reiterate what the book is about as that is what the product description is for. Read more
Published 9 months ago by S. M. Collins
the spider truces
I loved this book.Moving, realistic and funny.I didn't want it to end and I'm missing it now if that makes sense!
Published 9 months ago by mandy
Blown away...............
Thank you Tom Connelly for a great weekend. At the end I loved and cared for the characters, miss them already and your writing created landscapes that i have seen through your... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ryan
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