I was really hoping that this book would be a revealing insight into the largest women’s prison in the UK, but I don’t feel I learnt much more than I already knew from other accounts.
I felt that too much emphasis was put on the (quite underwhelming) authors crime and sentence, and that a lot of the book was based on her personal opinion, rather than fact.
She has obviously researched the statistics well and it is well written, but I felt it was a little too boring at times.
3 stars 🌟

Breakfast at Bronzefield is the story of "Sophie Campbell", a pseudonym , her experience in 2 Women's prisons and her efforts to rebuild her life afterwards. This book reminded me very much of Chris Atkins' similar insight as a prisoner in men's prison Wandsworth in his excellent book, "A bit of a Stretch". Like Atkins Sophie is eloquent , well-educated and the kind of person who never thought they'd ever end up inside. As she tells us though there's no such thing as a "typical prisoner" and many prisoners are well-educated and highly intelligent people.. Also like Atkins Sophie gives us the facts and figures to show that our prisons are failing to do anything to rehabilitate inmates or give them any kind of help or education that will allow them seamless integration back into society. I was shocked to read that in the 21st century some prisoners are handed tents and sleeping bags on their release ,I suppose that just about scrapes into following a duty of care but it's still a damning indictment of our society as a whole and reading about one unfortunate who found herself back in prison after being caught sleeping in a park in one of those tents would be funny if wasn't so tragic for the lady concerned.
Sophie is quite scathing about the standard of Prison Staff and I was reminded of a conversation I once had with a female Warder who told me, "they'll take anyone,they're desperate",
Sophie seems to spend most of her time in prison causing mayhem and then complaining that its everyone else's fault and I found myself trying to get around the fact that she was denying being a violent person outside of prison while smashing TVs and constantly kicking off inside. As she says though,prison is a whole new world and if you don't make yourself someone others won't mess with you'll get eaten alive. and she'd never behave that way "on the outside".
This is an honest book and I'll be just as honest and say that at time she doesn't come across as a very nice person, then when she's told more of her life story we see that she's a survivor and as I know myself sometimes to survive you have to forget nice to keep your head above water. I finished it with a massive respect for Sophie and in awe of her work ethic as she determinedly made the life she always wanted for herself against the odds . Sophie gets angry at times but at no point does self-pity enter the story and the book points out several important instances of how the prison and probation services and other so-called support services badly let down those in their care . Sophie is a strong.motivated and highly intelligent woman,not all prisoners have those advantages and the help they get is minimal .

Thanks to Sophie Campbell and Netgalley for the ARC of a thought-provoking book in return for an honest review.

I want to thank NetGalley, Sophie Campbell Books, and author Sophie Campbell for providing me with an ARC of this novel!

What an enlightening read, and a brave writer to boot! In Breakfast at Bronzefield, we follow Sophie throughout her stay at HMP Bronzefield, the UK’s largest women’s prison. I was drawn to this book by the cover (I know, I know, don’t judge a book by it’s cover). I love that it’s pink and gold, when it’s actually about a prison. There’s beauty to be seen there. This is a gritty read, and I love that the author didn’t hold anything back. These types of things are what NEED to be revealed. Puts you in mind of OITNB, but in my opinion even better. This is a super powerful read, and I recommend it to anyone.

Thank you again to those named above for the opportunity to read and review this novel!

The author (I’ll call her Sophie, though the Author’s Note seems to make it clear that this is a pseudonym used to protect her identity) is a young black woman who, after an incident she doesn’t describe, finds herself remanded in custody in Britain’s largest female prison. In fact, in total her stay in prison was to last some two years, divided between two separate facilities, and her account of that time is presented in this book. Her experiences are comprehensively and, I believe, very honestly documented and along side this she provides her own analysis of the shortfalls evident in our current prison system, supported by data obtained from a variety of sources.

Sophie grew up in the north of England. She makes it very clear that her father was a violent criminal and both he and her mother practiced substance abuse. In fact from the age of thirteen she’d taken it into her own hands to organise her schooling and subsequently became estranged from pretty much all of her family. She completed a good education (including time at a fee paying school, thanks to a scholarship award) and spent time in a decent if low paying job. And though she doesn’t provide details of the offence that led to her eventual jail sentence she does disclose that it involved a charge of Grievous Bodily Harm (a term used in English law to describe the severest form of assault) and also that of assaulting a police officer.

The broader descriptions of prison life didn’t throw up too many major surprises: it’s predictably grim, with poor food and constant bubbling tensions between inmates and with prison staff. Sophie openly discloses how she used tantrums and physical violence to achieve small wins with prison officers and settle grievances with fellow inmates. She was no saint, and she’s honest enough to admit that. Some elements that were rather more unexpected include the limited opportunities given to inmates to allow or encourage personal development and the almost negligible support provided to prisoners as they prepared for release and afterwards, when they found themselves once more back in the big wide world. Many, it seems, are sent on their way with little help, virtually no money and nowhere to live.

This is a gritty, no holds barred account and once I’d settled into it I found it compelling reading. If I were to offer a small criticism it would be that the desire to provide insight into the deficiencies of the system (and indeed recommendations for its improvement) rather got in the way of what could otherwise have been a flowing and cohesive narrative. But that’s a minor quibble and I quite understand her motivation for including this element. And though I find it hard to accept that Sophie’s behaviour whilst in prison was in any way tolerable I do very much admire her honesty, her tenacity and her drive. Through her own self motivation she’s managed to complete an education, survive a family group that would have sunk most people and despite a few false steps along the way put herself in a position to complete a university degree (she’s close to that stage as the book is published) and hopefully lead a rewarding and fruitful life. No small achievement!

Sophie's memoir is a comprehensive account of her time in prison and provides an insider's point of view of the vast improvements needed to reform a clearly tired system which are backed up by facts and statistics

It's hard not to commend her achievements and admire her tenacity and strength which we could all learn from.

Even though I found the narrative hard to follow at times, I do think it is an important book that needs to be read by all who would like to gain an understanding of a marginalised, often overlooked part of society.