I wish more books were written in The style. I felt connected to both of the characters and was eager to read on and on.

“The three things are: Sapphie. You’ve met her already – top me up, a proper measure this time. That’s one. The other two are Gypsies and Cameroons . They are my staples. See that I never, and I mean never, run out of any of them. You can have a good dunk with a Gypsy. Oh, and coconut on the Cameroons.”

Note To Boy is the first novel by British journalist, BBC comedy scriptwriter, PR writer and author, Sue Clark. “Wanted!!! Urgent!!! Refined, respectable lady authoress seeks domestic assistant of same ilk. Usual rates” is what the card at the newsagent reads. Seventeen-year-old Bradley McCreedy grabs it before anyone else can and rings the mobile number. It’s a long walk from Kilburn to Lancaster Gate but he doesn’t have cash for the tube or the bus: that’s why he’s after a job. Anything to escape his dependency on his toxic family.

When he meets the old woman, she doesn’t react to his facial disfigurement like most people do: she’s only critical of his speech and grammar. The flat is in a dreadful state, dirt and decay everywhere, but Bradley isn’t afraid of hard work: he liked the sense of achievement it gives him. That locked room has him wondering, though…

But the old woman, Eloise Slaughter, “Style supremo and fashion phenomenon” has a different priority: Bradley has to write as she dictates her memoirs. Two mornings a week quickly become five: Miss E’s fairly happy, or at least not shouting so much as long as her priorities, once he has deciphered them (Bombay Sapphire Gin, macaroons, Romany Creams) are met. He keeps her fed and supplied with “Sapphie”, then brings her into the 21st Century with a “digital whatsit” to record her memories.

As Eloise sets down for posterity her journey from Midlands mediocrity to fashion fame as a Carnaby street icon and then through two marriages and countless affairs to her downfall via a vindictive competitor, she sinks deeper into that world: “Sometimes when I come into the room, she has a look on her face, like she’s looking right through me into the past. Don’t never want to get old.”

With a bit of security, Bradley gains confidence, enough even to court the young barista at the Greek’s café, Molly, whose ambition to excel in fashion and textile design eventually comes in handy. With unfettered access to the funds deposited regularly into Eloise’s account by her absent daughter, Bradley goes from minor pilfering of grocery money to more major personal purchases. Until, that is, the money runs out.

What a delightful tale! Clark’s main protagonists are perfect foils for one another: Bradley, the rough diamond, not quite honest but with a heart of gold, who turns out to be able to give Eloise just what she needs; And Eloise, once a fashion trendsetter, now determined to write her tell-all expose of London’s rag trade.

No sweet old lady, this, though: Eloise is a tough-talking old bird whose malapropisms, mixed metaphors (“To mix my semaphores,”) and spoonerisms are certain to have the reader laughing out loud: “no place for prudes and shrinking violins here”, “inner-tube babies and MDF clinics”, “that hangdog-in-a-manger expression”, “Why don’t we just let barking dogs lie?”, “‘Lionel Blair? Don’t you know anything, Boy? Used to be prime minister” are but a few examples. This is a charming debut novel, and more from Sue Clark will definitely be welcome.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Unbound.

this was a lot of fun to read, I loved the relationship between Eloise and Bradley, it was a lot of fun to read. I thought the author had a great writing style.

Eloise, who’s on the wrong side of 80, hires Bradley, 17, as her housekeeper. Supported financially by her wealthy, but absent, daughter, both she and her flat are, to put it politely, ‘in a state’. Bradley’s home life, with a feckless mother and brutal brother, is falling apart. To him, even the chaos of Eloise’s place offers a welcome escape, and he sets about the job with youthful vigour. I especially liked the part where Bradley is cleaning the fridge, and sees something move inside it….

The adventures of this ill-assorted pair begin when Bradley realises that Eloise’s stories are something more than the ramblings of a dotty old lady. She has a past, and what a past! Although Bradley has never heard the word ‘amanuensis’, and Eloise cannot remember it, that is what he becomes. His efforts to find out the truth about his employer result in happier times for them both.

Note to Boy is a fun read, with chapters alternating between Eloise, the writer of the notes, and Bradley, the boy. Bradley is employed as Eloise’s home help and amanu something (sic) and we follow his growth in confidence and knowledge as Eloise dictates her memoir. This is a comic novel, and Eloise’s heyday as a feted belle of Carnaby Street and subsequent fall from grace make for an entertaining read. I enjoyed Bradley’s journey of independence and Eloise’s stories of a colourful past equally, and their relationship was touching but not sentimental. Sue Clark creates credible characters that the reader really cares about.

I loved this so much, I thought it was a really funny, well written book. It’s is humorous but with lots of emotion, empathy. It’s what I think of as an easy read and by that I mean it sucks you in, it’s addictive and before you realise it you’re towards the end and a bit sad, it goes by so quick you don’t realise you’re reading. A real tender read full of nostalgia and quite poignant, I enjoyed every minute of this book. Highly recommended

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I love books which are written from multiple perspectives and this works extremely well for this book which has two very strong characters. This is a funny story with a broad streak of pathos running through it. Thoroughly entertaining, a bit unusual and very well written. It’s the kind of book which defies classification but will appeal to many.

Wow! This poignant, funny book was the perfect read. I loved the different points of view- alternating between teenager Bradley and eccentric OAP Eloise gave this book a really great structure and made it an enjoyable read. I could perfectly picture Eloise and her home and I loved her voice in this book. Definitely a book I will be recommending

Note to boy is the Story of a has-been fashionista who is writing a memoir about her life and fashion career. She is in need of an assistant and once she hires one she cannot be bothered to remember his name, 'The boy' puts up with his boss because he needs to money.

Most of the time the humor didn't work for me. I don't think this book was bad or poorly written at all, I just think it wasn't for me. The general plot of this novel was enough to keep me reading, but it wasn't enough to pull all of the elements of this story together in a cohesive way! I would absolutely read more by this author, but this particular story was not my brand of fun!

Funny and poignant. There is a type of person that books like this appeal to. And that type of person is me.

I love looking into other people's lives. It's why I love reading so much, It's an escape and this book is a vacation from every day life.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

There’s a genre for this, the wily geriatrics as they share their accumulated life’s knowledge to teach youngsters lessons or just to have fun adventures. Some of them are genuinely good fun and some are positively sappy and this is somewhere in between but neither quite. Told in alternative chapter from the perspective of both main characters, this is a story of a once upon a time fashion designer (self)named Eloise and a surly teen Bradley from the estates who gets hired to take care of her. Bradley turned out surprisingly good at his job, owning to a penchant for cleaning and organizing and general ability to take sh*t from growing up in poverty with an indifferent mother and an abusive older brother. In a way, he is ideally suited to put up with whims and peculiarities of Eloise. And that’s really something, because Eloise has lived on her own for decades, becoming increasingly more erratic, both her place and her mind resembled Grey Gardens. She had her time in the sun once upon the 60s, 70s and 80s owing to a combination of natural beauty and fashion savvy, then the sun set, owing to a certain lack of personal judgement and discernment, and has never risen again. Now she’s decided to write a tell all memoir about it and Bradley is meant to be a sort of amanuensis (a word she repeatedly tries and fails to come up with), in fact she forgets lots of things these days including Bradley’s name, so she calls him boy instead. And Bradley calls her Miss E. and a savvy kid that he is proceeds to skim her bank account, although some argument might be made that he really does deserve the money, after all he’s very good at his job. Eloise in fact has no money of her own left due to rampant profligacy of years past and is living off of her daughter’s charity, a daughter she’s never really been a mother to, but still. Eloise isn’t all that into families anyway, her idea of a connection is based in potential profits, she was always that way, it took her from her low class origins to the high society glitz one upon a time. She married for money, divorced for money, and lied and cheated her way to the top of the fashion business, until love for a wrong man ended it all. All of this is to say that Eloise isn’t an especially likeable character, no matter what age you meet her in, she’s an interesting character, to an extent, but not likeable or wise or charming the way some fictional elderly are. Bradley is more of a charismatic lead out of the two, a genuinely nice kid from low circumstances who tries to improve his lot and, whole not always by moral means, he does, unlike Eloise, have a moral center. And so eventually their uneasy at times and uneven most times symbiosis comes to juncture where a change must occur, in this case a change that might make them both much needed money, but first they’ll do some scenes (including a makeover and a takeover) that are straight out of a cheesy comedy. I mean, cue in montage music and all that. It’s one of the drawbacks of the novel, actually, the uneven tone. It’s uncertain what it strives for, it isn’t funny enough to be a comedy or serious enough to be a drama, it’s somewhere in between. Very decent for a debut, Unbound books actually always seems to do decent work despite the publishing platform sponsored by popular opinion. Or maybe that’s just because I have such a low opinion of popular opinions. But yeah, it works for Unbound. And this book too, it works, it just needed something and I’m not quite sure what…it’s difficult with character driven narrative when the characters or at least one of them consistently are so freaking selfish. And that’s Eloise’s main MO, defining quality, really, she’s a selfish person who has lived a selfish life and made selfish choices. Not really someone you can care that much about, amusing as she might be in her infuriatingly impervious self diluted and demented (as in senile) way. Suppose this way more comedy than drama, though, not because it was funnier than it was sadder, but because of all the corny cheesy moments and no morals or lessons learned. Bradley came out of this ok, though, the boy might go places. A fairly entertaining mindless sort of a read, Might have been more, the potential was there. But works as is. Thanks Netgalley.

This is one of the best books that I have read in a long time. It's so easy to read and you become absorbed in the story very quickly.
Boy - Bradley hails from a London council estate and responds to an ad in the local newsagents for domestic help for an elderly lady.
This elderly lady is Eloise a former 1960's wild child and fashion trail blazer.
Boy thinks he is helping Eloise with her domestic arrangements but in reality she wants him to transcribe her life story and what a life story it is. Bradley continues to help Eloise with both her story and cleaning, all of the time battling his own family issues.

Boy and Eloise's relationship goes through lots of ups and downs and the ending is just superb - a little bit of a twist but it is just delightful.

The novel is hilarious in parts, its cleverly written and very heartwarming.

A real laugh out loud, entertaining, speedy read!

The two main characters in this book are an unlikely pairing but you'll see their relationship blossom into something really special.

Told from the POV's of both main characters. Bradley who's a bit of a chancer and trying to make something better of himself and Louise, a 60's celebrity now battling with dementia. I loved reading about Louise's life stories, they really made me smile.

A true nostalgic story full of feeling.

Highly recommended if your after a quick read.

Thanks to netgalley and Unbound for the ARC.

A 60s fashion celebrity, now reduced to a posh London address, but living in squalor and battling with the onset of dementia. A 17-year-old boy from an abusive family from a council estate.
An unlikely pairing, I hear you say. But, as with many ill-matched protagonists, the chemistry works.
Both have battle wounds and insecurities, but also strengths they don’t really know yet. When Bradley McCreedy is employed by Eloise Slaughter’s daughter to look after her batty, eccentric and demanding Mum, he grabs the chance to get out of his life in fear. and when Eloise demands to record her memoirs with his help, he is at first bemused...
Told from the viewpoints of Eloise and Bradley, the story unfolds.
A story of nostalgia, raw feelings, regret, but also a clumsy kindness and developing cameraderie that is extremely touching.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. The two main characters prove to be more alike than they would care to admit. Bradley, a chancer looking for a way out of his desperate and violent home life inveigles himself into the house of Eloise, a faded and jaded ex Fashion Queen.
It’s fun to try and guess which particular designer Eloise is based on, but the author frequently namechecks the Carnaby Street regulars, probably to avoid those very comparisons. Love the conceit that she invented every fashion of the 60s, but was cruelly robbed of her rightful crown by more media-savvy arrivistes.
The story is told by both main characters and their voices are distinctive. You end up rooting for both of them, even though their actions and attitudes are often not reasonable or kind.

A fun, fast read, Note to Boy will definitely keep you entertained. I even laughed out loud in spots, something I didn't expect given that one of the two protagonists/narrators is an incontinent, not particularly pleasant old woman teetering on dementia. The two first-person voices are wonderfully distinct (hooray!). Characters evolve, grow, and learn some lessons, and while the endings are all tidy, they're not all happily ever after. It's an ideal beach read, commuter read, or rainy-day read.

Thank you, NetGalley and Unbound, for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Eloise Slaughter is quite the character,both in her youth,and now,as an old lady overly fond of her gin.
My favourite bits in this book were definitely her talking about her life.
There were some sweet moments,and enough humour to have me smiling several times