Loved Meredith, I loved the Glasgow setting and was instantly hooked from the moment I picked this one up.
I really felt for Meredith from the start, for how small her life had become and then as it's revealed how it became that way and I felt that her issues were explained well.
I really enjoyed the dual timeline for past and present and liked the characters of Sadie, Tom and Celeste too.
Heartbreaking but hopeful
My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for my eARC in return for my honest review.

Warm and delightful, Meredith Maggs is an exceptionally cheery character with a story to tell. She goes about her day working, baking, assembling jigsaw puzzles and cuddling her cat but hasn't left her house in 1214 days. Easy enough to do in this day and age, but why?

In Meredith, Alone we go about each day popping back and forth in time with Meredith who is so bright and sweet anyone would love her. It is easy to care for her and worry about her situation, which is explained gradually as the story unfolds. Luckily, Meredith is not actually alone. She has friends and family who care for her and help her as much as she helps them. A truly lovely book, Meredith, Alone brought a smile to my face.

Meredith, Alone is a rare book in how good and assured it is for a debut novel. Congratulations Claire,

We follow Meredith who lives in Scotland but hasn’t left home in more than 3 years. The reason why is soon revealed and it’s powerfully heartbreaking, Meredith is largely estranged from her mum and sister.

Claire doesn’t hold back on painting fully dimensional relationships which are messy, complex and endearing. Meredith’s connection with her sister has weathered many storms but at the heart of it, there’s love. Meredith’s mum is plain toxic and harmful on all levels.

I loved the jigsaw analogy of what Meredith lives as a hobby but also a metaphor for her life - how she is trying to fit pieces together after a traumatic experience. How will she forge ahead and re-engage with the outside world?

Meredith, Alone is a beautifully observed book - Claire takes time and care to help Meredith and you as the reader to navigate the here and now of the plot.

It contains a spectrum of emotions so be prepared for that. I loved it and will be recommending it to my friends and family.

Thank you to Michael Joseph team for my advance copy. There’s been a lot of talk about this debut, and it’s been well worth the wait now that Meredith is out in the world for all to enjoy meeting on the printed page.

I enjoyed ‘Meredith, Alone’ because it’s one of those rare books which feels so understated in its premise but is a story centered on a multi-layered MC.
Meredith hasn’t left her home in years and although maintains a job and a relationship with her best friend but hides away from the world. Her home is her sanctuary but it is about to be invaded by new friends and her estranged sister.
I did find this story quite sad at times as the reason behind Meredith’s seclusion is revealed. Although Alexander has a great writing style that helps you become invested in her characters, because the plotline acts more as a character study, the events do feel a little slow at times.
Overall I liked the story but the pace did lack a little for me personally.
(3.5 stars overall)

Thank you very much @netgalley.
This book is so original very one of a kind.

This book will bring out all emotions, you will laugh, cry, be happy and feel sad as you see life from Meredith point of view

With love and support from her friends you get very invested.
I enjoy it so much I went and bought a hard copy in Asda.

Well written, thought provoking, tough topics in places. I will be recommending the book via my book review blog. I look forward to reading more by Claire in the future

This book was a DNF, as it was just not for me unfortunately. The subject matter made for difficult reading, and I found it depressing. It was very slow moving and repetitive in parts. The writing is good, and many other reviewers have rated it highly. However I could not connect with the characters, I’m afraid.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

Meredith hasn’t left her house for 1214 days and counting…. She’s happy there, working from home and being kept company by Fred the cat… but would she be happier if she could reconnect with the outside world.

Meredith Alone is an absolutely wonderful read, I loved her character and also her childhood friend Sadie, Tom who befriends her through a charity and Celeste who enters her life through a loneliness chat room.

To remove yourself from the outside world is usually the result of trauma and as the book progresses we get to know and love Meredith and also discover the events that lead us to where she is now.

Unfortunately in life the bad stuff and the wrong people can put you in an awful place, where you just manage to survive and continue, but thankfully there are good people who stand by your side, support you, love you and help you heal, in your own time.

Meredith’s past may have been one of trauma, but her future is positive and she really does have the world at her feet, should she chose to step outside her front door.

A truly touching read, wonderful characters and I’m now left wondering what might happen next …..

This book had its ups and a lot of downs. A lot of people compared it to Eleanor Oliphant, I disagree. I thought Eleanor was far, far better than this. I enjoyed the book on the whole but, at times found it slow and quite depressing. I loved that cat Fred and Meredith’s relationship with him and the fact she loved doing jigsaws, which is one of my many hobbies. But, the book jumped about too much and didn’t flow as much as I hoped. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Brilliant book.

Meredith has agroraphobia and doesn't go out she lives with her cat.

This book starts to reveal what has made Meridith like this and how her issues begin.

I really enjoyed it, it was well written and well thought out.

This book deserves all the rave reviews as it is a truly special book. Meredith is such a great character, she is written with such genuine care that you can’t help loving her and her cat Fred. This story could easily have been quite sad and downbeat but the authors brilliant writing manages to convey the emotion of the story in a heartwarming, positive and amusing way.

What a fantastic book. Meredith, Alone sucks you in as as you journey through the reasons why a perfectly “normal” adult woman just may not want to leave her house. I laughed with Meredith, I cried with her. I understood her. I will be reading more by this author, whose writing has the right pace and empathy to keep you reading and not want a book to end.

Poor Meredith never goes out. She has her online support group and her adored cat. Something must change. Told in a dual timeline, we begin to understand what Meredith has been through. It is so sad at times with a bit of humour. Compassionately written. Anyone who has suffered from anxiety or depression will be able to relate to Meredith.

Meredith, Alone tells the story of Meredith Maggs, a middle-aged woman living with agoraphobia, though Alexander never names it as that in the book.. Meredith hasn’t left her home for roughly 3 years, and throughout the story we learn why that is, what traumatised her into this level of anxiety, and also watch her try to reclaim her life, little by little.

I picked this book up because of the mental health aspect of it. I have an interest in mental health, and I like to see how authors handle issues such as agoraphobia. And I think Claire Alexander handles it really well in this book. I haven’t heard or seen anywhere that this is based on direct experience, though in an interview with Radio 4 she did say that she has had struggles with her mental health.

For the record, authors shouldn’t have to reveal anything about their personal lives they don’t want to. Alexander does a really good job of portraying anxiety and trauma in this book, and that’s good enough for me.

Meredith, Alone does feel like a really well put together book. The characters feel like real people, and she includes just enough description to enable me to ‘see’ the settings without overwhelming the reader with too much description and information. I did feel though that the dialogue, whilst mostly written well, did feel clunky at points. Some of the things the characters said didn’t feel natural, but rather felt like Alexander had included them for the sake of info dumping (attempting to work information into dialogue rather than dumping it straight into the narrative).

There are two timelines in the story. There is the main timeline following Meredith at home after 3 years of isolation, as well as a timeline that jumps around in her past. This non-linear narrative explores the reasons behind Meredith’s current mental illness, slowly revealing her dysfunctional family and the impact they have had on her. I do like this dual timeline narrative (it seems quite popular in literary fiction at the moment). But I did find the ‘past’ narrative a little confusing at points, because it jumps around in time. I still followed the story, but I sometimes had to stop and wonder where in time the story was now.

Alexander does deal with a lot of dark themes in Meredith, Alone. As I mentioned in the content warnings section, there are a lot of discussions around mental illness as well as trauma. But these topics are handled in quite a light tone. The book doesn’t go into too much detail, or show much detail around certain acts. Which leaves me feeling that this book is primarily about exploring hope around these topics, rather than showing the depths of how difficult they can be to cope with, and that some people struggle to recover or cope with them at all (in opposition to books like Young Mungo and Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, also set in Glasgow). I think books like this are needed to balance out others that do deal with dark topics in a more gritty, perhaps even more realistic, way.

My biggest critique of the book, if you can even call it a critique really, is that to me, someone with personal experienced around what Meredith is dealing with, the situation and chain of events felt a bit unrealistic. The descriptions of mental illness felt grounded in reality, and I felt that it was good representation in that sense. However, I felt that Meredith, Alone portrays an almost idealistic situation for someone with agoraphobia.

Meredith works at home, as a freelance writer, which is handy as her illness means she can’t go to a physical workplace. How she transitioned into this line of work isn’t really explored in the book. But I did feel like Alexander had given Meredith this career so that she could work from home. In reality, most people with agoraphobia would either be living at home with their parents, supported by a spouse, or be on disability benefits.

Alexander never really discusses Meredith’s class, or socioeconomic situation. I got the feeling from the parts of the story set in the past that she perhaps comes from a working class background (her sister works in a supermarket and her mother seems to struggle to hold down a job). Yet there was never any sense of poverty, just a difficult family situation. Which isn’t necessarily a critique. I am just a little wary of books that code abusive families as poor, as working class, by default. This is in opposition to the fact that Alexander does clearly code Meredith as middle class. Which, again, is fine. I’m just always alert to stereotyping and how authors portray class in novels.

Overall, I felt that Meredith, Alone was an enjoyable read. It deals with some quite dark topics with a light tone, giving a sense of hope. I know there’s a lot of hype around this book, which is a debut novel for Alexander. For me, I don’t think it’s worth so much hype. It’s a nice story that kept my attention and kept me reading. It was a quick read, as well. I’ll be interested to see where Alexander goes with her next book.

Touching, heartfelt and immensely readable. Meredith is a kind and likeable protagonist who has is trying to make sense of the trauma she has suffered. I was rooting for Meredith throughout and could not put it down!

I have said it before and this book is further proof that 2022 is the year of the debut. So many of my favourites this year have been debut novels and this is now firmly in that list of favourites on fact right at the top. I started this book on a sunny weekend morning and did not stop until I finished (with meals breaks in between). Meredith is a character that I took to straight away and the situation she has found herself in now and how she got to that stage is just absolutely absorbing. Hints are delicately placed for you to pick up on along the way so you know she has suffered something to stay at home as long as she has and as such I felt very protective of her. Each time the story switches back to the past darkness looms but in the present day sunshine is starting to appear in the form of new acquaintances and I had everything crossed that Meredith would welcome them into her insular life. Alexander has lovingly created a multi layered character who you can't help warm to. She spends her days doing tricky jigsaw puzzles and it was not lost on me that her life has not been easy to piece together either.

Meredith Maggs hasn't left her house in 1,214 days. But she insists she isn't alone. She has her cat Fred. Her friend Sadie visits when she can. There's her online support group, StrengthInNumbers. She has her jigsaws, favourite recipes, her beloved Emily Dickinson, the internet, the Tesco delivery man and her treacherous memories for company.
But something's about to change. Whether Meredith likes it or not, the world is coming to her door . . . Does she have the courage to overcome what's been keeping her inside all this time?

What a stunning debut novel this is. I absolutely loved it and gulped it down, and then I was sad because I’d finished it. It really is one of those kinds of books. But how to describe it without giving too much away and spoiling its impact for a future reader?

It’s a dual timeline novel with Meredith’s agoraphobic present interwoven with flashbacks to her childhood and other points in her life so that slowly, over the course of the novel, the full picture is revealed.

It is moving, hopeful, emotional, encouraging, sad, funny, heart-breaking and heart-warming all at the same time: it’s a novel which gives you all the feels. The first-person narrative makes you extra invested and connected with the central character, and you are totally Team Meredith. You laugh and cry with her, you really care about her, and you want nothing but the best outcome for her, and because we’ve all experienced what it is like to be shut in our own homes during lockdown, we have extra insight and understanding of her situation.

The depth of characterisation is one of the many strengths of this novel. All of the characters are fully formed, really well drawn and entirely believable, whether they are major or minor parts.
Meredith’s journey is one of self-discovery and finding courage. She moves from focusing on herself and “taking”, to someone who focuses on others and gives, as she finds the inner strength and determination to tackle trauma head on, she takes her first steps on the long road to coming to terms with the past so that it no longer defines her or limits her future.

Through her story, the novel explores some very difficult and upsetting themes, which are all handled with the huge sensitivity, care and sympathy. There is real honesty, humanity and authenticity here, especially in the examination of the impact of trauma on mental health and psychological well-being, and we see just how important friendship, support, community and connectedness really are.

The prose in the novel is so clear, and whether it is feelings and emotions, actions and events, Meredith’s home or the outside world, everything is described in such a way that it feels real, vivid and relatable. It is always lifelike, and Claire Alexander never falls into the trap of making it “pat” or contrived. By the end of the novel Meredith is still very much a work in progress and life is not all neatly wrapped up and tied with a bow, although it is very much a hopeful ending.

Meredith Alone is an incredibly accomplished, strong and gripping debut with a very human core, and I know that I will be thinking about it for a long time to come. I can’t wait to read Claire Alexander’s next novel, and this one is definitely one of my Books of the Year.

This is Claire Alexander’s debut novel and I want to thank her for giving us this gem.

But before I dive in about the novel, I would like to make a comment on the cover (in which I seldom do). I love the cover. And I feel that it captures the theme of the story. The illusion that it seems deeper, bigger than it actually is. And I feel that it is a reflection on how some people view their personal, comfort space. Yes, some people might find being cooped at home is suffocating but to others, sometimes, it actually feels bigger, and enough.

Anyway, this story was written from Meredith’s perspective and I love that we are witnesses on her journey. And her thoughts. And that means, we are in with her struggle and I, for one, empathise with her: Her every attempt to step out and the crippling anxiety that stops her, followed by her frustration, regret and surrender.

And together with her journey to overcome her anxiety, I love all the people she has with her: the friend that stayed, new friends, and even a friendly neighbour.

This is a story about bravery, reconciliation, acceptance, family and friendship. And truly a heartwarming tale that might resonate to us. That is especially in the age where there is a growing awareness around mental health. And also the effect of the long pandemic lockdown to some.

Everyone needs to get to know Meredith Maggs! She hasn’t left her house for over a thousand days, loves jigsaws and her cat Fred, has a best friend Sadie, and loves to bake.
Meredith tells us her story in a first person narrative between the present day and flashbacks to episodes in her past. And what a story: both heart breaking and joyous, the story tackles some hard hitting themes sensitively whilst offering hope through the beautiful friendships that develop in the book. I loved the online support group characters, especially Celeste and her bravery. Tom is simply adorable and has just enough going on in his own life to endear him to Meredith without being overpowering. As for Sadie, we all need a best friend like her. It’s a book that you race through and don’t want to put down. It will pull at your heart strings and then leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling. I think it’s going to be in everyone’s beach bag this summer!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for a review.

Meredith is very much alone and hasn't left her house in years. She's safe that way, with just her best friend and the Tesco delivery person coming to her house. But then things start to change when she opens up to the possibility of letting people in, literally and metaphorically it is hard, but life changing.

I loved this, it reminded me in parts of Room, The Safe House, and Elinor Oliphant. There's also a real lockdown element to the story that we can all relate to on some level. A great read!