I don't think I've ever read anything like this before and I don't think I will again. Such a riveting and thought-provoking read. I was so conflicted throughout, torn between feeling sorry for Chrissie and then remembering what she did. I was also so shocked at the ending! A must-read for any thriller fan.

This was a very difficult story to read which I think affected how much I enjoyed the book. I found the story a bit slow at times, but I would imagine that this would be a great book for the right people but unfortunately I don't think it was for me.

This book is a tough one for me to rate and review. The story itself is interesting, and its hard to know who to trust.
I felt sorry for Chrissie as a child, yet I was also disgusted by her actions so didn't want to feel sorry for her. Conflicted.
I felt a bit disapointed that her mother was never charged with neglect.

This book felt like it had taken some inspiration from the Jamie Bulger case in the early 1990's. If you are of a certain age in Britain, you will know this case. I think, for me this also made me question my questioning of the reality of the book. I would read it and think, well that wouldn't happen, there is no motive there, then would think of Jamie Bulger and realise that no, that would, and did, happen.

Overall, this book is uncomfortable, difficult subject matter and will stay with you. I can't say that I enjoyed it, as that is the wrong word, but I did find it interesting and it challenged me.

I was reading this as a mother with an 8 year old girl so the subject had even more impact for me. I found it hard to read about a neglectful mother and child murder. While I enjoyed the style of writing and praise the author for that, I can’t say it was a pleasure to read. I read for enjoyment and to relax but this wasn’t relaxing.

I read this and it was fantastic

I never know what to expect from a debut novel (first fiction) and i went in totally blind with this one. I would recommend this to anyone.

Its a beautiful written but harrowing story about abuse and the negative impact on childhood, adulthood, self worth and how it affects everything, even the decisions we make.

It had me gripped just from that one opening page, i implore you to read that first page and not be wanting to read the rest of the book to find out what happened.

Amazing and i will be reading more from this author

Unfortunately I only got half way tgrough this book. It's very well written but I didn't get on with the subject matter. The story is told from the viewpoint of a mischievous young girl who kills another child in the mistaken belief that dead doesn't mean forever. Her mother is neglectful at best. Harrowing but not as compelling as I needed it to be to finish it.

Incredibly harrowing, heart-rending and thought-provoking debut novel.

A gripping read but tough subject matter from the very first page as the book begins when Chrissie is only 8 years old, having committed her first murder.

Already accustomed to fending for herself every day, as her mother doesn't even bother to buy food for her, nevermind showing any affection, and her father turns up once in a blue moon., the only way Chrissie can survive is by latching onto other families or stealing. To make matters worse, she is mean to everyone, creating a prickly exterior to protect herself and feel some sense of control, and consequently has no-one willing to look out for her.

Possibly taking an offhand remark seriously, we see how the mixture of neglect, naivety and sense of powerlessness ignite a spark and create a perfect storm.

The story unfolds across dual timelines of Chrissie's childhood and her early adulthood, now with her own young child to care for while she continues to struggle with her conscience and trying to understand her relationship with her parents.

A gripping, highly emotive and often uncomfortable but thought-provoking read, with sensitive subjects brilliantly handled.

This was a fabulous debut and I can’t wait to see what the author will create next.
The story is written in dual timelines. Chrissie child murderer in the past and Julia with her five year old daughter in the present.
I was glued to both storylines and you become so engaged with the story of these women.
Stunning!
Thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley #TheFirstDayofSpring

An absolutely incredible debut novel. I loved the 'voice' of this book. It grips you straight away with its first line - “I killed a little boy today.”
At times though I did struggle a bit - it is quite dark and a little unsetlling, but then it's a genre I don't normally read.
Thanks for the ARC.

I found this to be a really dark read, a difficult subject matter and very interesting. This was a very engaging read, a bit slow at times but overall a great read.

A solid read, great at times, though I expected to like this a whole lot more.

The first chapters are strong, and surprisingly - as I almost always hate them - the ending was my favourite part. No spoilers(!) but the insight the last chapters gave into actions and emotions of the characters was very well played out, so tender and authentic.

For such a chilling topic, this is very readable, and switches from a dark, bleak present to a darker, bleaker past. The chapters from younger Chrissie were more enjoyable, but at the same time, these were the ones that became a little repetitive; admittedly it’s a tricky balance to strike between the voice of a child being genuine but not monotonous, especially a child like Chrissie who does have only one or two focuses in life.

Overall I enjoyed this, read quite quickly, and definitely found myself wanting to return to this to find out not only more about young Chrissie, but how her actions as a child had impacted her future. I’d recommend The First Day of Spring and I’ll look out for this author too!

I adored this book, such dark subject matter but oh what a wonderful story and book, a true gem…if I could read it all over again I would…fabulous

While this wasn't a page turning read, it left me living in the grey area of right and wrong which is what makes it so compelling to read.

I’m really sorry but I couldn’t read this book after a few chapters in. I just can’t get myself to finish it due to the main plotline. It’s all on me and my fault that I haven’t read and research more the title before requesting it.

This book was extremely sad and compelling to read. We follow Chrissie who aged 8 kills another child, then we follow her 2 decades later after release from a secure detention center.

Throughout the Chrissie chapters we see her horrendous home life and the ways that she was failed repeatedly that led, in part, to the crime she committed.

During the Julia chapters we see her as a single mother struggling with the guilt of what she did and trying to raise a child when she was never shown how to.

This book analyses some very difficult subjects in a sensitive and non sensationalised way. The way the story is told we are shown that there is some sympathy due to some people who have committed the worst crimes. It also touches on institutionalisation, mental health issues and poverty through the eyes of a child, which for me made it even more sad.

This is a book that will be staying with me for a while.

The first part of the book was engaging, but I found it slow-moving and slow to continue. It’s a difficult trigger subject of child and domestic abuse, murder of children, and a girl who is a handful and who wants to be loved but has absent parents. The story is set between the child’s 9 or 10 year age and adulthood when she’s got a child herself. It’s s psychological story involving motherhood. It’s a sad book, but the girl eventually grows up to come to terms with things and to be the mother she never had to her child.

This book will be staying with me for a long time. I was hooked from the first chapter, and the way in which the author captured the essence of the 8-year old protagonist was unparalleled - it became impossible for me to hate the character despite her being utterly unlikable. Heartbreaking. A tremendous debut, and will be looking out for Nancy Tucker's future works.

t has been some weeks since I finished The First Day of Spring and it has taken that long for me to gather my thoughts and react to what I had read. I really wasn’t prepared for this book. I chose it because of the title and bright inviting cover (not the final UK publication cover I might add!). And honestly with everything else that is going on in the world at the moment I’ve only been reading books that are essentially light and fluffy. No offence to the other authors I’ve read is intended here - escapism is what has been needed over this year so far.

Chrissie is a neglected child. She knows how to steal sweets from the corner shop without being caught, she volunteers for the milk monitor role at school to get access to extra milk, she knows the best hiding places for hide and seek and the best wall for doing handstands up against it. Now she has a secret and she can feel it fizzing inside her like a Sherbert Dibdab. She never feels like this and the power it brings with it is unlike anything else in her life.

Fifteen years later Julia is trying to be the perfect mother to five year old Molly. She is always fretting and worrying, about routines, about meal times, about school shoes, what the other mums at the school gate think about her. The most important thing she worries about is that Social Services will take her daughter away. When the phone calls start Julia is too afraid to answer them. She knows that her past has caught up with her again.

Nancy Tucker has done an amazing job in this book, her fiction debut. The First Day of Spring is a dark and intense read. It has you gripped from the get go as the book opens with Chrissie's shocking confession. Written from her own childish perspective her views on life and her surroundings are skewed by the lies told to her and the lack of care and love in her life. It isn't the easiest story to read but it just gets under your skin and no matter how distressing the narrative gets you just have to keep reading to find out how it ends up.

Supplied by Net Galley and Random House UK in exchange for an honest review.

If I tell you that this story starts with a child killing a child you might never read this book. I almost didn’t read it. The subject matter felt too dark and I literally hovered over the first page undecided…but I would have missed out on one of the most brilliant and astounding books I will read this year. Everything about this is exceptional.

Whilst the story does start with the killing of a child this is not a gruesome book. Chrissie is 8 when she kills a little boy. She thinks death is temporary; she kills for the way it makes her feel which she describes as fizzing. She is a little girl who is starved in every way imaginable - neglected physically and emotionally, she endures long periods without food and without love. This story follows two narratives- that of the young Chrissie and that of Julia, who is the grown up Chrissie now with her own child.

The writing simply blew me away - it’s utterly unique, raw, gritty, right to the bare bone of emotion, thought and feeling. The book imagines the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the subject we don’t want to read about…and she makes it imaginable, thinkable and a story we want to read..

The strength of this book lies in the writing and in particular for me in the way it captures the voice of the child. In my early childhood in a rural Yorkshire village I often played out with children who weren’t allowed home until later in the evening, who weren’t expecting much for tea.. And I remember those conversations with friends which swing on the balance of power..I haven’t read anything which has so powefully conjured up those conversations, it unearthed feelings and emotions that were so buried.

And all the way through this book your head will engage in a moral discussion -does Julia really deserve to have her own child, to what degree is Julia.. Chrissie? Did Chrissie’s circumstances excuse what happened? And you will think of your own children, and your heart will cry out against her and then you will listen to more and you will be soothed by the special and beautiful relationship between Julia and her child and not want anyone to take her away…

I also listened to this on audiobook - the narrator is superb - completely and utterly the voice of Chrissie…

With thanks to Netgalley and RandomHouse U.K. for a copy of this book. I purchased my own copy and the audiobook because I loved this so much.

Nancy Tucker, The First Day of Spring

Nancy Tucker’s The First Day of Spring is the compelling, forcefully written story of a child murderer. The shock of the first sentence – “I killed a little boy today” – takes us with great immediacy into the mind and grim life of Chrissie. Eight years old, Chrissie is socially ostracized, lonely and appallingly treated by a mother who rejects and ignores her, dragging her along on one humiliating occasion to an adoption agency in the hope that she can simple give her away. Clever and resourceful, Chrissie is able to use her abilities only to try to find small survival strategies and to get someone – anyone – to notice her.

Tucker has the courage to risk the slow, repetitive accumulation of detail in the child’s narrative – tense and moving for us as readers, but also capturing the sense of inescapable daily repetition, the countless deprivations in the life of a child who has nothing. She is wretchedly alone in her small world of ‘the streets’, in which everyone tries as far as possible to ignore her. Her only goal is often to gain entry to a house where the parents will feel compelled to offer her a little food. Facing slow starvation, she is frequently unable to think of anything other than her hunger. At home, “the kitchen cupboards had nothing inside except sugar and moths”.

For a brief time, the act of killing another child gives Chrissie a feeling of specialness. When people around her talk about the murder of the boy she repeatedly tries to hint at her secret, and the knowledge of her guilt gives her a fizzing sense of power: “I could feel everyone’s eyes on my back, and I bubbled with the power of it.”

Chrissie’s narrative alternates with that of Julia, the name that grown-up Chrissie takes. We follow her after her release from the secure unit in which she has spent the intervening years. Now herself a parent, Julia not only carries the burden of her childhood guilt but is despairingly trying to learn how to mother her four-year old daughter Molly, terrified at every turn that she is doomed to fail and that, everywhere she goes, there are “scheming social workers crouched in the shadows, waiting to wrench her out of my useless hands”.

The cumulative effect of The First Day of Spring is the creation of an unforgettably poignant and disturbing narrative voice. There is no romanticised poverty here. Instead, there is the overwhelming accumulation of inner torments - the harrowing substance of a life of desperation.