I loved Fiona's previous book The Betrayals so was delighted to be approved for this new novel Beneath the Surface.
Another tale of a dysfunctional family this time set in The Fens.
The Vermuyden family live in a rather run down house and the reader soon discovers that everyone in this family are keeping secrets and hidden truths.
Lily the eldest daughter has a seizure at school one day and while the hospital tries to work out what has caused it her mother discovers a secret life her daughter has been living. Younger daughter Mia is a strange character. Not happy at school and rather eccentric, a not entirely likeable character.
With mother and father also hiding things it seems nothing can go right for this family in trouble.
It is a slow moving book but well written with it's setting described superbly.
I didn't enjoy it as much as The Betrayals but found it a worth while read with an ending I didn't see coming.

A slow burn of a novel but no less gripping for that. The characters- especially weird Mia - we’re well drawn, (mostly) likeable and utterly believable. The plot ground its way inexorably forward, taking me with it, and, if the symbolism was a bit heavy and final twists a bit (for me) excessive, it was nonetheless a tense, enjoyable and atmospheric read. I’d recommend it.

I was keen to read Beneath the Surface as I had read and enjoyed two of Fiona Neill’s previous books. This one, unfortunately, did not live up to my expectations.

It is a story of a dysfunctional family living in the Fens. Grace, the mother, is a paranoid, obsessive parent whilst Patrick, the father, lacked any personality and seemed distant from the goings-on. 17 year-old Lilly collapses during a school lesson and it is a mystery as to the reason. Much speculation as to the cause is rumoured locally. Her younger sister, Mia is hard to understand; she is obsessed with the local archeological excavations and was not a likeable character.

I found it to be a slow read which did not really draw me in. The descriptions of the Fens and surrounding area were excellent. I do like the author’s style of writing and look forward to reading more of her work.

This book has family saga written all over it. A clever tale told through correspondence, looking back over generations to explain a family dynamic that still haunts them today.
It is well written, although quite obvious what way the story is heading. A thriller it isn't I would say, but an emotional roller coaster of dominance affecting future lives. Abi is trying in her own way to get through the baggage and the description of her old relatives was stark and bare at times, not the most pleasant of characters were sometimes hard to read about and even harder to like.
It is quite a linear story, with not many bends to it, but a heavy holiday read if that's what you like.

One second, Lilly Vermuyden is sitting in her English class, the next she is lying on the floor convulsing uncontrollably. What’s wrong with the 17-year-old teenager? The doctors take test after test but do not seem to come closer to the cause for her seizure. Rumours start spreading and Lilly’s mother Grace totally freaks out. How could she not protect her daughter? Only Lilly’s younger sister Mia seems to know what is going on: archaeological excavations close to their home must have evoked evil spirits who now haunt the living. Mia gets totally worked up in her theory and behaves even stranger than normal calling her teachers into action. Life in the well-ordered Vermuyden household is close to collapsing and thus, well-hidden secrets threaten to be uncovered.

Fiona Neill’s novel sounded intriguing and actually it mixes quite some enthralling aspects: a family in which everybody seems to be on the watch in order to keep their secrets, a young girl totally immersed in Anglo-Saxon history and fascinated by spooky tales, and a medical incident that seems to be too complicated to find an easy explanation. Yet, somehow I couldn’t really connect to the story.

The story mainly lives on the characters who were multi-faceted and interestingly drawn. First and foremost, Lilly who is a typical teenager who hides her private life from her parents since she does not want to destroy the picture they have of her. She tries to please her mother und fulfil the expectations but can only fail here. There is some mystery about what happened that made her collapse that keeps suspense high throughout the plot. Her mother, on the other hand, is quite unsympathetic since she is a total control freak who does not grant her golden girl one millimetre of free space. There is a reason for her behaviour, yet, this is only inserted in a very brief excursus and thus remains too superficial to make her a really remarkable and complex character. Admittedly, I soon got totally annoyed with Mia. For quite some time I was wondering if she is somehow autistic since she doesn’t seem to understand how she tramples on the other characters’ feelings. Then, I thought she was rather precocious before I came to the conclusion that she is simply an entirely malignant egoistic young person. The father, Patrick, ended up deeply in debt and so weak that the story could have been told without him.

There are some major questions raised about family life, parenting, growing-up and how much privacy is healthy for people close to each other. It all adds up in the end, yet, somehow, I had the impression that a bit more focus on one or a maximum of two characters would have been better.

A dark family drama story.
They initially appear to be quite a normal family.
Then lily has a seizure.
There are debts and secrets.
Keeps you guessing what will happen next .
The book is quite slow paced but keeps you interested and wanting to know what happens next.

This story is about a dysfunctional family. The mother, Grace is hyper paranoid, the father, Patrick is ridden with debt. They have two daughters, Lily and Mia. Lily has has a seizure in class, this forces the family to take stock of the situation.

What an intense and emotionally charged read this is. It's beautifully written and shows how different people deal with the problems that life can throw at you. The characters are well developed but not all of them are likeable. The pace is slow. Quite an interesting read.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin UK - Micheal Joseph and the author Fiona Neill for my ARC in exchange for an honest review. Quite an interesting read.

I loved Fiona Neill’s novel The Betrayals, so I had high expectations for Beneath the Surface, another family drama. 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.

Many thanks to the publishers, Penguin UK – Michael Joseph, for my review copy via NetGalley.

A thriller set in the Norfolk fens – the geographical features of dampness, mist and water providing plenty of atmosphere and adding to the drama of the story.

Patrick, Grace and their daughters Lilly and Mia seem like an average family, but there are debts, Lilly’s mysterious collapse, Mia’s obsession with the local Anglo Saxon archaeological dig, and a positive pregnancy test…

All combine to produce a compelling story, with a cast of characters with which to empathise. I enjoyed this.

A well written family drama filled with secrets and suspense. An engrossing and thought provoking read.

Beneath the Surface is a family drama in which a seizure suffered by the elder daughter, 17-year old Lilly, in school becomes a catalyst for secrets, some long buried and some more recent, to come to the surface. It is also a character drama about Grace, a mother whose own unhappy and difficult childhood leads her to become an obsessive and controlling parent. While dramas about dysfunctional families with secrets are not really something I’d pick up, Fiona Neill is a good writer and Beneath the Surface is a decent book if somewhat long.

Before her seizure, Lilly was seen as a golden child, best student on track for Cambridge, competitive swimmer and popular at school. After the seizure, it slowly becomes clear that Lilly’s achievements are more to do with neglect that Grace suffered from her own parents and her subsequent projections onto Lilly. It also slowly becomes clear to Grace that Lilly, for reasons of her own, kept various elements of her own life private and this is not something that Grace can accept. At times, I found Grace in full Stasi mode (as she tries to discover her daughter’s secrets) blackly comic, which I don’t think was intentional. Meanwhile Patrick, Grace’s husband is much calmer, at least on the surface but he also has issues that greatly affect the family which he doesn’t share with his wife.

And then there is Mia, the younger daughter who is 10 and seemingly on the spectrum. She finds it hard to make friends in school so when her one friend might have to move away, she looks for ways to both keep her friend and help her sister. Because both of her parents are preoccupied with what’s happened to Lilly, parenting Mia becomes an afterthought and a bit of a chore. It’s not as if she’s neglected exactly but neither Grace nor Patrick really pay much attention to her. Throw in the setting, Cambridgeshire Fens and the family’s new house full of damp and builders; the theft of an Anglo-Saxon ring at an archaeological site nearby; the reaction of other parents to Lilly’s seizure and the worry (and subsequent media frenzy) that it might be something contagious and altogether, I thought it was a bit too much. These outside events dragged the story out somewhat and I think the main plot suffered.

Beneath the Surface made me think about the importance of trust, openness and responsibility in relationships and how Grace and Patrick, the wife and the husband, managed to be married for 18 years and have two children, without much trust (Grace), openness (both) and responsibility (Patrick). In this sense, I thought both were somewhat underdeveloped characters, I’m struggling to define Grace as anything other than obsessive and Patrick as anything other than bland and irresponsible. Still, overall, Beneath the Surface is an engaging read and a good exploration of obsessive parenting.

My thanks to Penguin and Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read and review Beneath the Surface.

Not my cup of tea. i couldn't connect to the characters and the book fell flat.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Tense family drama filled with characters who have secrets. The main theme is parenting: what makes a good parent and a happy home? Despite the majority of characters being hard to like, the book is very readable. Poignant.

This was not the book that I expected. It took quite a while to humanise the characters of this dysfunctional family and I felt that it ended too abruptly and left me hanging mid air. The fact that everyone lies was very apparent throughout but the truth of what the lies were only really came out at the end. The story was well written, flowed well and had many unusual aspects. I loved the historical descriptions about the land reclamation and the naming of Ely.

A thriller that will have you guessing till the end and a ending you could not predict, this has all the things I look for in a thriller and the twists are well you will see in this might read (honestly you must)
The story of Mia, Lilly and Grace but not nessasary in that order there are others and all relatable even if you don't like them they still exist in life as well as fiction just the three good the key.. Lilly is taken ill and the family's future will change yet the secrets of the past will dictate as they can in life but I hope not in this way. I think the best way to have a thriller or any book grab you is when it runs true to the way life can run yet you pray never for you. There is the failed relationship the sinking feeling when the money doesn't match the bills a feature in a increasing volume for writers now I feel but this is the under current here rather than the focus of the tale.
I really loved this book and yes it held my attention and I didn't want to put it down but now I've finished i have no choice unless I read it again...... I will let you know later.!!!

I am afraid this book was just not for me. I found it a slog to read and skimmed some of it to get to the end which was very rushed and quite a damp squib. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it

An original novel about memories and secrets with an unexpected ending. It follows a family as they try to unravel events.

I was absolutely delighted to be awarded the opportunity to read "Beneath the Surface" by Fiona Neill. This is the second book that I have read by this brilliant author, having previously read 'The Good Girl'. Both are superb five-star reads.

This novel had me totally gripped from the moment I turned the first page. I loved the characters, who all had their own issues and challenges. This story wasn't particularly fast-paced or shocking, but instead, it was an intense and emotional look at a divergent family. All of the characters, so well drawn by Fiona Neill, had an important part to play in the story and none of them seemed inconsequential or unnecessary.

I adored reading "Beneath the Surface" whilst simultaneously pondering the alternative ways different folk deal with the problems that life continually throws at them.

I can't wait to see what Fiona Neill will deliver next!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Penguin UK - Michael Joseph via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

After a chaotic childhood, Grace Vermuyden is determined her own daughters will fulfil the dreams denied to her. Lilly is everyone's golden girl, the popular, clever daughter she never had to worry about. So when she mysteriously collapses in class, Grace's carefully ordered world begins to unravel. Dark rumours swirl around their tight-knit community as everyone comes up with their own theories about what happened. Consumed with paranoia, and faced with increasing evidence that Lilly has been leading a secret life, Grace starts to search for clues.

I loved reading this, it is so unique and exciting to read. I am hesitant to call this a thriller, there are thrilling aspects and as the book progresses it becomes more and more of a thriller. However this is definitely more of a family drama, an excellent, intriguing family drama mind you. I very quickly connected with the characters, which always helps but helps even more so in this read. Then we follow the mystery of Lilly, what could have happened to her, is there really something mysterious going on or is there an easier answer?

This plot is gripping and I loved how Neill progresses events. This probably would have been a 5 star had the ending not been so rushed. It seemed like Neill needed to quickly wrap things up and I do not think the end was given the time it deserved or enough of an application.

I have briefly touched on the characters already but I must stress that I adored getting to know them and following them throughout their turbulent time. They are so interesting to follow as well as being a very ordinary family so it was very easy to relate to them. They all have their secrets and I adored discovering what they were. Mia has to be mentioned, she is such a unique character and brings a very different vibe to the read as well as providing an interesting insight and some hilarious moments too.

This is a family drama but what a drama it is ! This is enticing, intriguing, mysterious and a bit thrilling all in one. The Vermuyden's are a fascinating bunch and I urge you to discover what is beneath the surface.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for an advance copy.

17 year old Lilly has been uprooted from her home in central Cambridge to a damp, poorly built new estate at the northern edge. Her father Patrick has allowed his debts to get out of control. Meanwhile her mother Grace is hyper-controlling and pushing Lilly towards academic success. The last member of the family is quirky, eccentric, 10 year old Mia, with pet eel Elvis. Lilly has an unexplained seizure at school and family tensions and secrets bubble to the surface.

An interesting story of family dynamics, teenage life, and the effect of the past on the present.