The Other Half of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen is such a special book and I am finding it impossible to find anything to compare it to. It is, for the most part, two stories running side by side. We meet Augusta who is bright with a fascination for words and is thought a bit strange at school. Thankfully she can count on the friendship of her not-so-strange twin sister, Julia.

The second plotline takes us to the war-torn African country of Burundi, where young Parfait is determined to help his brothers and sisters escape poverty by travelling to Europe.

Although both narratives tackle distressing themes, there is also poignant comic observation included too. However, this is still a tissues-at-the-ready kind of read. A clever, emotional novel about two lost souls struggling to find their place in the world. It touches upon so many interesting themes - grief, belonging, friendship, migration - that once I finished reading, I longed to discuss it with someone. I wholeheartedly recommend The Other Half of Augusta Hope as a superb book club pick.

This is a beautiful novel! Augusta Hope is such a relatable character and I was rooting for her from the beginning of this novel all the way through. Augusta grows up with her twin sister Julia, but in between the chapters on their lives the novel also follows Parfait who lives in another part of the world and seems unconnected to the two sisters at first. This novel is all about finding the strength to get through the darkest of times, about accepting who you are in the wake of tragedy and finding happiness and contentment again. I don’t have enough superlatives to describe how stunning this book is, it really has made such an impact on me and I think it’s a book I will read again in the future. I particularly loved its exploration of fate, coincidence – about how in the aftermath of things we go over and over them and wonder if we could have known, could have acted differently. In the end it’s a novel about forgiving yourself for the things you couldn’t have known, couldn’t have changed. It made me cry, it made me smile and in the end I just felt really content. I highly recommend this book!

I really loved this book.
I loved the personality of Augusta with her "awkwardness" .

I enjoyed that the story had a dual narrative between Augusta and Parfait, and I was really hoping the moment when their histories will connect.

This book gave me all the feels, specially towards the end. laughed and cried.

I went into this book full of expectations, picturing the next Eleanor Oliphant and felt a little bit disappointed when I didn't feel that same strong connection. My mind was pretty much made up until the final 15% when everything came together and the connection I was lacking suddenly became tangible. It's rare for a book to emotionally touch me but this one left me with an unexpected lump in my throat. I just wish this could have happened earlier on in the book.

Augusta Hope is a peculiar young girl. Obsessed with words, she reads the dictionary like it's an all-consuming novel, searching for new words and new knowledge that she craves. Her favourite country is Burundi as she likes how the word rolls off her tongue. As she grows into an adult, she becomes the polar opposite of her twin sister Julia who, though troubled, has no desire to leave their little town, unlike Augusta who dreams of other worlds. When tragedy hits the Hope family, Augusta becomes intent on finding her identity. Which leads to her crossing paths with the most unlikely person she could have ever expected to meet.

This book is brimming with coincidences but I actually liked these impossible possibilities. It restores faith even in the most skeptical of minds. It shows that happiness can be found at the end of the tunnel, despite the sadness and hurt that paves the way. Augusta is a very special person and you shouldn't underestimate her ability to make you whole again.

What an enthralling book. I really enjoyed it and struggled to put it down. I wouod reccommend to anyone as it is so captaivating.

Oh, Augusta! Here is a protagonist that I'm not going to forget in a while. I particularly loved Augusta as a young child, completely enamoured with words; their sounds, their meanings, the worlds they contain within them. Although it is this spirited, curious child that captured my heart, she remained an interesting character as she grew up - going to university, facing a big tragedy and finding her way in the world.

I really liked the structure of this book, as some chapters are narrated by Augusta and others by another character, Parfait. There is something a little fairy-tale like in the way their stories unfold - from Augusta's growing interest in Parfait's country, Burundi, chosen as her favourite country for the pure lyricism of its name.

I read this on a recent holiday and featured it on a 2019 Holiday Reads post, as it was in many ways to me a perfect summer read. It drew me in, with its worlds within words, and the different countries it takes us to. Although my goodness, you are warned that there were most certainly tears by the pool!

https://sophiejobooks.home.blog/2019/10/04/2019-holiday-reads/

Well written story and lovely character. Also, it is very emotional and well thought trough. It was very hard for me to put it down sometimes.

** spoiler alert ** Firstly I would like to thank,Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I feel I have read two incredibly touching stories which became entwined. This was a perfect example at how your actions have a ripple affect and can change the course of not only your life but other peoples. We have a duty to be kind to one another.

Augusta Hope doesn't fit in,she loves new words and reading the dictionary. She spins her globe and finds her new favourite country. Burundi,simply because she loves the sound of the word. We read about how she grows up through the decades,she hates the town she lives in and has little patience for the people she knows. She however loves her twin sister Julia,they may share their looks but that's the only thing about them that is identical. Julia is a delightful human being,doesn't set a foot wrong,is lovely to everyone and is everything their parents could wish for. Julia however questions everything,and has a yearning for something more. Despite their differences,the sisters are extremely close until growing up causes a little distance to be put between them.

At the same time parfait is living in Burundi with his family,they are wrecked by the war that is currently happening. The harrowing events of the civil war cause destruction on Parfait and his family. He dreams of Spain and a new life,away from the horror they are currently living. With Joanna Glen's accurate and heart breaking writing you get to imagination the sheer hell that Parfait and his family have been forced to live.

I enjoyed the contrast between Augusta and Parfait's life's,how their lives are so many miles apart and yet so similar at the same time. This is my first book by Joanna Glen,and I feel that this will not be my last.

A beautifully crafted book. The characters are deeply drawn and I enjoyed every page. I will be looking out for Joanna Glen’s next novel.

This book switches between the two main characters Augusta and Parfait and their very different lives and families in different continents. The people they come into contact with shape the people they become.

Initially I enjoyed reading the chapters about Augusta and her twin Julia rather than the chapters about Parfait. But as I read on I started to enjoy reading Parfaits story as well and began to wonder how these stories could intertwine.

A lovely read with a mixture of humour, heartbreak, happiness and thought provoking moments.

After a dramatic start – reminiscent of Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce books – we settle down to learning about the young Augusta Hope, who turned out to have a mind which thinks just like mine! I remember reading the dictionary – and being admonished for trying out new, obscure words in everyday speech – before moving on to encyclopedias. (I could happily spend the rest of my life on the Internet, learning forever...) But then Augusta’s life began to change, and she was no longer like me. Her life took so many different turns, yet all along it was leading her to the one place she needed to be – to the person she was to become – couldn’t have become, without all that happened along the way. Maybe we have to learn to look at our own lives that way, that all the things that happen – even the things we don’t want (or didn’t value at the time) – are for a purpose, leading us toward where we need to be : who we need to be. That is a lesson I will take with me from reading this book, not to regret what didn’t happen in my life, but to appreciate what did. (I also learned about being a twin, about the reality of life in Burundi,....and the meaning of ‘parfait’...) I won’t spoil the story by giving details, but one particularly poignant lesson was that learned by Augusta’s father, as to the way he treated a neighbour. It was a hard lesson, and a surprising outcome of an unexpected turn which his own life took – a reminder that it is never too late for redemption.
[The only reason I am not giving this 5 stars is because of some of the content – pages which I had to skip, and would have preferred not to be included.]

I really enjoyed reading this book. At first I couldn't think how these two people that you follow can be linked but towards the end it all started to make sense. It is very easy reading and would highly recommend this book to anyone. It has a bit of humour and a bit of love.

This book was just lovely. Great concept with the two halves coming together in a beautiful and healing way. Great read. Highly recommended.

I loved this book! There were parts that I found quite harrowing & too close to home (so I skim read them) and then immediately swapped kindles with my friend so she could read the book too!

It's wonderful, heart warming, sad and all the things you'd want from a brilliant novel. Congratulations Joanna Glen and I'll definitely look out for your next novel.

Wonderful, warm writing at it's best. I loved this tale of 2 central characters from different worlds from the mundanity of suburbia to the horrors of Burundi. I will be telling all my friends to read it too!

Oh my goodness- I’ve just finished this utterly intoxicating novel and I am bowled over!
From the first paragraph I was enchanted by the author’s use of words- the perfect words- laid down like a fantastic canvas daubed with iridescent colours.

The characters were utterly credible (in the drastically different Augusta I saw myself), the need to escape the drudgery of her middle-class unadventurous upbringing, and the need to not conform.

Meanwhile on the other side of the world in Burundi a parallel tale unravels, and the novel flits to and from between the two hemispheres, spiralling evermore out of control until the two tales become one. The reader laughs and weeps and feels the passion that is part of Spain. “A time to mourn and a time to dance”.

I could not recommend this novel highly enough, and feel unable to leave this world that I found myself drawn into, to start reading another book.

For me the story is about all of us being connected at some level, regardless of where we are in the world. Six degrees of separation. It’s also about fate and small pieces of a large puzzle fitting together to create a bigger picture. One could say it’s coincidence, one could also say there is no such thing as coincidence.

Augusta and Julia are twins, but they couldn’t be more different. Julia is everything her parents expect her to be and more, and Augusta dances to her very own music. She loves words. Words are life, discovery, mystery and knowledge. Words lead to people, things and places. They are doors to other worlds.

Simultaneously the reader is introduced to Parfait on the other side of the world. His life is a complete contrast to that of Augusta, and there is no connection between the two, barring a wish and a dream of places far away.

The juxtaposition of the two lives of these two young people is relevant to our day and age, especially that of Parfait. His fate as a refugee and that of his brother is tragic. Glen wants us to see the way we live our day-to-day lives, whilst men, women and children risk their lives to reach a safer country in an attempt to escape their war-torn countries and the violence.

In a way Julia becomes the guilty conscience the author hopes our society will develop. We need to stop acting as if we see nothing, hear nothing and then speak nothing. A visceral connection needs to be strung from us to them.

Both Parfait and Augusta experience and have to deal with incredible grief and guilt. It is one of the bridges that connects and leads them to each other. In fact they become the hypothetical bridge of connection.

It’s a profound and emotional piece of literary fiction. The main character has shades of Eleanor Oliphant, and the story is introspective with politics and family dynamics woven into this beautiful contemporary read.

When I first started this book, I thought it was going to be a very light hearted read, but as I read on I soon discovered it wasn’t. In fact, this one dealt with some serious issues that I really wasn’t expecting.

The story is told  through two separate narratives from two main characters Augusta to Parfait. The story unfolds over a number of years. Although both stories are very different both characters wanted the same thing. To escape their existing lives and to find a place where they truly belong.

I loved the characters in this book they felt so unique and were wonderfully drawn. Augusta’s character was really interesting and her character developed really well as the book progressed. However, I found Parfait’s character to be my favourite by the end. I found his story very interesting, and loved reading about his story about his escape from a war torn country to his journey to Spain.

All in all, an enjoyable debut novel read that will make you laugh, feel sad and happy all at the same time. If you’re looking for cleverly well written book I highly recommend this one.

I would like to thank Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

I really loved the beginning of this book, the writing is utterly magical and the set up was intriguing. Unfortunately, I downloaded it at a time when I was incredibly busy at work and had very little time for reading - being a novice on netgalley, I didn’t realise that the download was time-limited, so I didn’t manage to finish the book! However, I am desperate to discover the outcome of this story, and will certainly be buying a copy once published.

Completely unique, despite the common comparison to Eleanor Oliphant.

I don't want to say too much about the plot, as it is fairly unique in that sense, but I will say it is quirky, bizarre, and yet also very moving.

The dual narrative aspect surprised me, but once I got my head around it I did enjoy it, and found both voices very strong and well-written.

All in all, a very enjoyable read.