A thoroughly enjoyable read following the highs and lows of a modern family. The characters are all very relatable and believable. Grace is the flawed mother whose past is continuing to haunt her and shape her relationships, despite her best efforts to leave it behind. Patrick is a middle-aged dad whose life didn't turn out quite the way he planned and is still living in the shadow of his brother, the successful music producer. Lilly is the teenage daughter grappling with the intoxicating emotions and bitter heartache of first love. I particularly enjoyed the quirky and socially awkward youngest daughter, Mia, whose insightful and often highly inappropriate comments had me in stitches.
I've read several of Fiona Neill's other books and this one was completely different and a pleasant surprise.

This was a brilliant read. I've been a big fan of Fiona Neill since the start and she just gets better and better. This novel has ripples of unease from the beginning - the uncertainty of the land and weather mimicking the uncertainty in the Vermuyden family. I loved Grace - and Lilly - and their mother. This is a story of the ties that bind and the strength of a mother's love - and what feeds our parenting approach. And how sometimes when we are caring as much as we can, it can look like we don't care at all. Bloody loved this book - to the point that I choked up at the end (you'll see why when you read it)

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the Arc of this book.
At first i struggled to get into the book but once I did I enjoyed it and it was eventually an easy read. .
I found the book engaging and the ending very moving and I liked the character of Mia but like others I found Grace annoying, but did have some sympathy for her.
I would definitely recommend.
The only reason I am giving it 3 stars is I had trouble getting into it.

Heart wrenching, friendships and complex families. There were times when it was dangerously close to home. Took me a little while to get into this, but it soon picked up and had me turning pages for different reasons. There are some very profound insightful statements and I can see this one replaying over in my mind for a little while.

The story of a family who can't communicate with each other. An overbearing mother, a husband who has landed them in debt, a teenager who is rebelling and a younger daughter who is very much ignored.
A bit of a nothingy read, which left me disappointed and loathing all the characters apart from Mia who I just felt sorry for!

"Human beings are nothing more than layers and layers of secrets, she decides." This is the truth that this story dwells on. Grace and Patrick are married with two daughters Lilly and Mia. Grace has never told Patrick the truth of her past life, she has spent all her life trying to avoid her past. She is living her life through her daughter Lilly and spends her time pushing Lilly to great heights as she believes a good mother would do. Patrick has his own secrets, not least that they have severe financial problems which has meant that they had to move house into a house that is falling down around them. Lilly, although doing well in school, has her own secrets, mainly revolving around a secret boyfriend and her relationships with her friends. They are doing things that her mother definitely would not approve of. Mia has her own life, she is an odd little girl that suffers in school because she doesn't fit in with her class mates and her teacher has no clue how to handle her.
The book begins when Mia finds an old positive pregnancy test and Lilly lies about who it belongs to. Mias overactive imagination makes her think mad things relating to an archealogical site and a skeleton that has been found there. Lilly then becomes ill and all the stories begin to intertwine. There is a sense of doom hanging over everyone
I really enjoyed this book, the characters are fascinating and their interactions are very interesting. Fiona Neill delves into family relationships and explores them deeply. I really enjoyed Mia, she obsesses about subjects to a point where she is nearly living them and yet there is a great innocence about her. Her relationship with Tas and her pet eel Elvis are lovely. This book is a great read.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I hadn't read a Fiona Neill title before, but I'll definitely be looking out for more. This title really got under my skin as there's so much lurking in the background and as the story unfolds it keeps changing direction leaving you a little off balance. None of the characters are hugely likeable, but due to depth in the way they are written, it's possible to understand how they've got to where they are and relate to their very human flaws. Difficult to put down and stays with you long after you've finished the last page.

Beneath the surface nothing is as it seems. The Vermuydens are one messed up family. Even their new build house is sick.
Grace, the mother, is so tightly wound it is painful to watch. Patrick is weak, and a liar, in debt to his unpleasant brother. Lily has to keep secrets in order to have a private life. The best character is 10 year old Mia. She repeatedly gets the wrong end of the stick, with serious consequences.
This is a dark tale, that evokes the mysterious Fens., and how they can be a treacherous place. Four stars.

As I'm trying out new genres, this is a psychological drama style. I was intrigued to read this book based on the blurb. This book focuses on the dynamics of the Vermuyden family.Truth, lies and secrets. A absolutely gripping and compelling story. An absolute must read.

This is a beautifully written book about a totally dysfunctional family who all have secrets. Grace had a rough and tragic childhood and is determined her two daughters will have the best chances but Lilly and Mia have their own ideas. Patrick is full of lies and immaturity and resents his better off brother. There is loads going on here and I loved the ending. It finished the whole story perfectly. Often an ending is rushed and unsatisfactory but this is rushed and breathtaking - literally. We hurt towards the denouement with genuine mystery.

I loved Mia - she is a dreamer with an imagination her teachers cannot cope with. Her school show and tell is one of the best scenes I’ve read in fiction in many years. Grace is captured well and her damage and its repercussions are slowly unravelled... This is not a formulaic story but has many voices, many elements and many twists to keep you engrossed. Recommended if you’re looking for a different read which is thrilling and has depth but also great story telling.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This is a book that I found readable and I was considering it as a three star book but for some reason, I found the ending really moving and so it boosts it up to a four star book. It was an enjoyable and easy read. I loved the character of Mia and her quirky thoughts were very funny at times, and I found Grace very annoying, although again by the end I felt sympathy for her. Recommended.

This book is about a young family living on The Fens and the secrets that the keep from one another in order to protect each other.

The main character was Mia a ten-year-old girl who is clearly different from other children with her quirks and odd behavior that some people cannot fathom. She quite often has an almost second sense of things before they happen which can be disconcerting for her family.

I enjoyed this book and felt that the author managed to tell story from the view point of the different characters in a well balanced way. I loved Mia’s character and view points on adults and life in general.

This book appealed as it is set in a place I know from visiting family. The premise of the book is good and the writer keeps you engaged and intrigued as to what will happen. The secrets family's keep from each other are shown to be distructive and have far reaching results.

All about pressure and trying to lead lives/ambitions that we wanted to achieve, through our children. Gave me a very descriptive idea of what The Fens look and feel like never having visited.

I just loved the quirky yet precise way in which Mia [ the younger sister] thinks and acts in this novel set around a family living in the Fens. Mia worships her sister Lilly and, by keeping secret some of the things Lilly tells her, unintentionally adds to the problems that her family find themselves facing. Fiona Neill's excellent writing brings her characters vividly into focus and results in a novel that is not only thoroughly engaging but also eminently believable. Parts made me laugh out loud and elsewhere I found myself sharing the anger and heartache of the characters. Just a teaser to tempt you to read this. Throughout the book Mia keeps a pet eel called Elvis in a bucket by her bed! It's only at the end that she finds the urge to set it free irresistible. To find out why you'll just have to read this immensely enjoyable novel.

Beneath The Surface was a different kind of read to what I was anticipating and although I did enjoy it the ending fell short to what I was expecting.
The book is told in alternate point of views of the different characters and although this worked for the majority of the book it did require a lot of concentration, so this lead it to be a book that for me wasn’t easy to drop in and out of as it required it to be read in large chunks. This was a book though that made me question “do we really know what others in our close family think, feel and lie about”?
This book features the Vermuyden family, at the start we are going over the history of eldest daughter, Lily’s collapse at school, the impact it has on her and the rest of her family, as the book progresses it becomes a little fast paced but fades away again at the end.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin UK- Michael Joseph for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Beneath the Surface is quite a twisty turny book. I did not see the story coming together as you don't think that something you know is actually wrong. It is a quick read and having not read anything by this author before I would be interested in reading others.

I have to be honest that this was a slightly different novel to the one I was originally anticipating, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.

Beneath the Surface focuses on family relationships, and the fact that no matter how well we think we may know our parents, children, friends etc, there is always something new to discover.

Everyone lies, even if they appear to be the most honest person on the outside.

Lilly is everyone's golden girl, beautiful, bright and popular. When she collapses in an English lesson, her friends and family are distraught, their world turned upside down.

But this is only the beginning of their nightmare.

Told from alternate characters points of view, this is a novel that requires concentration, and I'm not sure the ending will satisfy all, but it's a good character driven novel nonetheless.

Thanks to Penguin Books for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


This is a book about family dynamics, and how we think we know people well but people always have their own secrets.

Neill is very good at writing novels of this genre. Her writing is very easy to follow despite a few different character viewpoints. The novel flows nicely and keeps you reading whilst you try to guess everyone's secrets before they all come out! I would definitely recommend this, and other Neill novels, to friends.

I have to be honest, I struggled to get into this story and I am a very patient reader. I’m glad I persevered as the beginning payed out the historical trauma of Grace and introduced us to her own family, the middle got meatier and more intricate and twisted. I did get slightly bored again towards the end as I was getting impatient for the climax. Some of the tale I could predict, some of it seemed a bit far fetched. But nevertheless, I persevered and overall was did enjoy the book in the end, it was just so complex I felt it took a lot of concentration( better to read in 2 sittings rather than in 5 as I did as I had to flip back a few pages to refresh my memory where I left it) thank you to the author Fiona Neill, Michael Joseph and Netgalley for an ARC for an honest review.