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A review by niamhreviews
Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford
4.0
I was very kindly given an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley and Michael Joseph / Penguin UK.
3.75/5
If you're the kind of person who loves the coziness of the BBC years of 'The Great British Bake Off' and the soothing, relatively low-stakes drama on 'Call The Midwife' - you will love this book. And I quite like those above things, but I don't know if I'd say love. Which is exactly how I'd describe my feelings towards 'Mrs Quinn's Rise To Fame'.
The latest in a glut of 'GBBO-style novels', this one focuses on an elderly woman named Jenny who decides to enter a Bake Off-style show for reasons that are never quite abundantly clear except she's a great baker and she likes the show. But running through the novel is a back story about something from her past, which whilst interesting, never fully intertwines with the central story until the last few pages. It feels a bit disconnected, if I'm honest.
Olivia Ford's novel is pacy and interesting, though I feel the structure leaves something to be desired. Far too much time is spent on set-up, not enough time is spent on the nitty-gritty of the competition (one of the reason's I picked up the book in the first place) and the ending is horribly rushed, with significant story plots only being introduced in the 5% of the novel, barely giving it time to resolve itself. If anything, the ending sort of ruined things for me - I knew that what was a very thorny and complex issue wasn't going to get the narrative time it needed, which put a damper on it all. It's a suitably vague finish, which seems rather at odds with how much focus the whole b-plot was given. The title is also...odd as very little time is spent on said 'rise' and the context in which it is introduced to the novel makes it feel rather shoehorned in.
The food descriptions really are the saving grace - it's a novel that has a certain tweeness, a certain cosiness about it that will certainly have its fans. It was uplifting enough to pull me out of a rather cynical reading slump, so for that I must certainly give it credit.
'Mrs Quinn's Rise to Fame' is available from 28th March.
3.75/5
If you're the kind of person who loves the coziness of the BBC years of 'The Great British Bake Off' and the soothing, relatively low-stakes drama on 'Call The Midwife' - you will love this book. And I quite like those above things, but I don't know if I'd say love. Which is exactly how I'd describe my feelings towards 'Mrs Quinn's Rise To Fame'.
The latest in a glut of 'GBBO-style novels', this one focuses on an elderly woman named Jenny who decides to enter a Bake Off-style show for reasons that are never quite abundantly clear except she's a great baker and she likes the show. But running through the novel is a back story about something from her past, which whilst interesting, never fully intertwines with the central story until the last few pages. It feels a bit disconnected, if I'm honest.
Olivia Ford's novel is pacy and interesting, though I feel the structure leaves something to be desired. Far too much time is spent on set-up, not enough time is spent on the nitty-gritty of the competition (one of the reason's I picked up the book in the first place) and the ending is horribly rushed, with significant story plots only being introduced in the 5% of the novel, barely giving it time to resolve itself. If anything, the ending sort of ruined things for me - I knew that what was a very thorny and complex issue wasn't going to get the narrative time it needed, which put a damper on it all. It's a suitably vague finish, which seems rather at odds with how much focus the whole b-plot was given. The title is also...odd as very little time is spent on said 'rise' and the context in which it is introduced to the novel makes it feel rather shoehorned in.
The food descriptions really are the saving grace - it's a novel that has a certain tweeness, a certain cosiness about it that will certainly have its fans. It was uplifting enough to pull me out of a rather cynical reading slump, so for that I must certainly give it credit.
'Mrs Quinn's Rise to Fame' is available from 28th March.