I enjoyed this book, sometimes I felt the story was a bit slow in the middle, as I was very keen to find out why Lilly collapsed and what secrets was she hiding
Lilly was a very intelligent, top of her class girls, her mum Grace expected a lot of her. One day she collapsed in the school.
Mia, who is younger than Lilly age 10/11, is intelligent in her own way, but the parents don't expect too much of her. She is quite misunderstood in school.
Patrick, the dad he has his own secrets and he is scared that one day Grace finds out that he hasn't paid for the repairs of their house and that they are in debt.
Overall it's a good read.

This is the first book I have read by Author Fiona Neill.

It’s set in the Fens, where Patrick and Grace Vermuyden and their two daughters, teenager Lilly and ten year old Mia, are living in badly built, damp and draughty house. Grace says it’s because the marshland beneath is reclaiming the land. It’s not just the land and the house that cause the problems the family face. They’re a dysfunctional family, all of them keeping their secrets well hidden from each other – as the subtitle indicates: Everyone Lies.

Patrick’s in debt, Grace keeps the tragedy of her childhood to herself, wanting her daughters to have the happy childhood denied to her, Lilly seems to have everything going for her, a clever girl who looks set to do well and go to university, until she suffers a seizure and collapses at school. Whilst Lilly spends time in hospital as they try to discover what is the cause of her illness Grace discovers to her great dismay that Lilly has been living a secret life.

As for Mia, she is a problem child and always in trouble at school. Her only friend is Tas, who lives in a caravan on the Travellers’ site. She’s an eccentric child with a vivid imagination, who keeps an eel she calls Elvis, in a bucket in her bedroom and she has a knack of saying the most inappropriate remarks at the wrong time. At times I really didn’t like her much – especially for keeping the eel in captivity and also because of the barefaced lies she sometimes tells. And it is Mia’s actions, for ever wildly thinking up reasons for what is going on around her that add to their problems. Even as she tries to put things right everything just seems to get worse.

Beneath the Surface is an emotionally charged novel about the burden of keeping secrets and the effects that misunderstandings and lies can have. In parts I found the story weighed down with words, but I was gripped by it and anxious for all the characters as it seemed they were in an ever decreasing spiral of disastrous events. After quite a slow start it gradually builds to a dramatic climax that took me totally by surprise.

Grace Vermuyden is put in an unenviable position when her daughter Lilly mysteriously collapses in class.
Lilly has never been a problem for her, unlike her little sister Mia. But as Grace desperately tries to find answers, she discovers Lilly's secret life, as well as many other untold truths from within her own family.

I was gripped by this book from the first chapter, but unfortunately the pace was really slow. Fiona Neill does a really good job of describing the sort of normal interactions that might take place within a family, but we lose a lot of the intrigue as a result, and the book felt like a chore to finish.

Mia is undoubtedly the most interesting character, but with Grace taking on so much of the story, she's not allowed to truly shine. The other characters aren't really developed enough to get attached to.

The concept of the book showed promise, but unfortunately the execution was really disappointing.

An atmospheric family drama set in the Fens, near Cambridge, Beneath the Surface tells the story of the Vermuydens, whose secrets, lies and betrayals begin to emerge after teenage Lilly Vermuyden has an unexplained seizure at school one day. The effects on the whole family, including her anxious mother Grace, debt-ridden father Patrick and intelligent outsider younger sister Mia are intense. Fiona Neill’s narrative is carefully constructed, slow-moving at times while still maintaining the tension and capturing the voices and emotions of each family member. The Fenland landscapes and their history are also richly portrayed. Although the ending felt a little rushed and left a few too many questions unanswered, I very much enjoyed the voyage.

The fenlands to the east of Cambridge make for a perfect setting to this story of a family whose secrets, lies and tensions lie barely hidden beneath the surface, reflecting the precarious foundations of land reclaimed from the sea. The precocious younger daughter Mia is a delightfully eccentric character who steals the show as soon as she appears, which made my interest flag when she wasn’t around, but thankfully the plot picks up towards the end.

Beneath the Surface is the first book by Fiona Neill that I’ve read. I was impressed by her skill in depicting the minutiae of day to day life. She’s created characters with substance and this is a complex tale of relationships, lies and deception.

Grace and her husband appear to have the ideal life. Their children, Lily and Mia are very different. Lily is destined for Cambridge and is under pressure from her mother to study hard...but she has a boyfriend and her interests lie there. Mia is often ignored and is quirky. When Lily collapses at school her sister is keen to uncover the truth.

The story is well paced and the plotting is intricate and twisted. Nothing is as it seems and I was surprised a number of times. Layers are peeled away as dark secrets from the past come to light. I felt the story lost a little pace in the latter part, but overall, I enjoyed it and will certainly look for more from Fiona Neil.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

Beneath the Surface wasn't as gripping as I needed it to be.
The writing was great, I enjoyed that. I'm not sure about the pacing, I picked up and put it down many times, and I didn't get a feel for it very well.
I think, for me, the characters were the problem. I didn't quite connect to them, no one was acting their age and I found those moments to be quite infuriating.
The story seemed to be an interesting one, but as I said, not as gripping as I wanted it to be. I think it's okay, it's just not my favorite.

On the surface Grace Vermuyden appears to have her life in order after a chaotic and traumatic childhood. She lives with her intelligent and hard working husband Patrick and her two daughters - Lily and Mia. After an intensive summer, things cracks begin to appear as Lily collapses in class and Mia´s imagination slowly goes out of control. Lily´s collapse, sends Grace into obsession as she seeks to discover what secrets her daughter could be hiding and the reason for her collapse. Everyon in this novel has a secret and it is clear that these secrets will be uncovered slowly with devastating consequences.

I really enjoyed reading the first third of the novel, especially enjoying the dark setting and the gothic stories that Mia recounts. However I felt the story lost momentum and lost interest in the characters halfway through reading the work.

I would like to thank Penguin UK for letting me have an ARC of the Book - Beneath the Surface from Fiona Neill.

A family’s destructive secrets
All families have secrets, but it’s highly likely that not all families have secrets that are quite as huge as those that the Vermuydens are keeping from one another.
Grace had grown up in a very chaotic household and she doesn’t want that for her daughters. But when 17 year old Lilly collapses at school, it triggers a chain of events where the family members realise that there are consequences to keeping their secrets.
I actually liked the Vermuyden family. Grace is a mother trying her utmost to give her daughters all the things she never had. She can come across as a pushy ‘helicopter’ mother, but as the story progresses, we realise that there’s no wonder that she tries so hard. However, it can’t be easy for Lilly, who all of her efforts are directed at. She has a great responsibility: mainly to achieve all of the academic things that her mother didn’t have the chance to achieve.
Mia, who is 10/11, has a much easier time of it with regards to her mother. I don’t actually think that her parents expect much of her at all. She’s quirky, really not the same as her peers - something which we seem to value as an adult, but dread when we’re children.
Patrick, the father, is the hardest character for me to warm to. He’s having huge financial problems which are impacting on his family, yet he is keeping the extent of these difficulties from his wife. If it were me, I’d be livid!
This is a great book. I read it within two days because I just couldn’t put it down. I really enjoy these kinds of books - books about families and their issues. The style in which it was written really worked well for me too - I felt as though I was there in person, watching the story unfold (I suppose as a reader, I was!). They were all very human, relatable characters. The teenagers were well written as well. All too often teenagers are written as unpleasant, selfish and calculating, but here we could see their more sensitive, caring sides. They were all just trying to fit in, deal with growing up and their impending adulthood.
I’d recommend this book, there’s just so much to think about - and there’s such a good ending!
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Michael Joseph for sending me a copy of this . It’s not a book that I would have immediately chosen to read, but I’m so glad that I did!

In this book we meet the Vermuyden family: Grace and Patrick and their two daughters, Lilly and Mia. Grace has had a troubled childhood and has carefully ordered her life to give her daughters the security she never had, but when Lilly inexplicably collapses in school, the order of Grace's world begins to disintegrate, and the past comes back to haunt her.
The book tells the story of the family as they seek to discover what lies behind Lilly's illness amidst a great deal of gossip and speculation from the local community. In the process, many secrets are exposed, particularly in relation to Grace and Lilly.
I enjoyed this book. Each of the characters is flawed, but they are also likeable and true to life. I particularly enjoyed Mia's quirky eccentricity and her unique way of looking at the world.
It took me a while to get into this book, but by the time I was a quarter of the way in I was gripped and read the rest in a couple of days. It's the first of Fiona Neill's books I've read, and I'd be interested to read more.

I read this book in a day, it captivated me from the prologue and maintained the intrigue and suspense until the very last page. Grace appears to be a neurotic mother but she has her reasons, her daughter lily has a seizure and Grace becomes more intense but what has caused Graces seizures, I had a feeling what it was as I've seen it in my job. Mia I loved for all her quirkiness and Jo nonsense chatter saying exactly what she thought.
Secrets and lies throughout the book culminating in a very tense ending

I would congratulate Fiona Neill on the character of Mia who was quite captivating and was for me the most redeeming factor or the book. This was a real family saga and well told but with a rushed ending that somehow didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the story.

A well written book about a dysfunctional family and the various issues they face. Which can happen to any of us. Enjoyable and recommended

The Vermuyden family live in a damp new build in the Fens, having had to move from Cambridge due to financial problems.
The father Patrick, is an eternal optimist, who ignores problems, and hopes that they go away if he doesn’t address them.
The mother Grace has a tragic past that she doesn’t talk about, and is very protective and involved in her children’s lives.
Seventeen-year-old Lilly is an exceptional student who is destined for Cambridge, but under a lot of pressure, and who also has secrets from her family.
Ten-year-old Mia is an eccentric little girl with few friends and a pet eel called Elvis.

When Lilly collapses in school, she triggers a series of events which cause many secrets to be revealed, and relationships destroyed.
I raced through the first three quarters of this book, desperate to know where they story was going - I felt so much sympathy for both of the two girls, and was so cross with the parents who seemed to over-parent, or ignore them. Even Grace’s past was no real excuse for her actions.

However, for me, as the book came to the climax, it seemed to lose momentum, and lose its way – the last section just didn’t ring true and the end was odd.

So three stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read this book.

This is not my usual type of book, but I was invited to read an ARC copy from Netgalley and the Publisher.
This book tells the story of a family who seem to be normal, until the teenage daughter has a seizure at school.
It soon becomes apparent that the family are extremely dysfunctional, and are all hiding secrets from each other.
I found this book to be slow to start with, and I struggled to keep reading it. As I continued to read on, the storyline became far more interesting and there were several twists to the plot, which kept me guessing about what was going to happen next. I found that I engaged with the storyline more as I read further into the book.

A gripping book about the relationship s between mothers and daughters. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy this was to read and read it over a few evenings. I was gripped by the twists and turns and the relationships between the characters.

Oh my goodness I enjoyed this book it is so tense and full of twists and turns. Everytime I thought I had it figured out I realised i was so wrong! Will definitely be reading more from this author

The Vermuyden family are dysfunctional and this is clear from the start. Family secrets and lies is what makes up the plot of this book. The characters are well thought out and most likeable, some not. I found it hard to like the character of Grace, I found her to be overbearing however this became clear as the story goes on, why she acts like she does. Mia is a brilliant characters, eccentric and straight up, mostly overlook by her parents.
The plot comes at a steady pace however the ending felt a little to fast and didn't feel like it was written in the same way as the rest of the book.

A real page turner. A difficult read in the sense that it explores the relationship between mothers and daughters added to which the family has many secrets. So many emotions and sadness which touched the heart. I didn't want it to end which is the sign of a great read. I loved it and would highly recommend it.

Very interesting story with twists and turns at every stage. I thought I had worked out the plot but how wrong I was! Very engaging characters which drew you into their life’s, I was left at the end wanting to know what happiness next, very intriguing! Highly recommended.