To start with the positives, the premise of the story is good - twins out for revenge against the man they believe drove their mother to kill herself. The setting is a post-pandemic country (which remains unnamed throughout, although I think it is somewhere in Europe, possibly even UK) that has closed itself off from its neighbours and believes that books are harbingers of illness and germs. The library is a highly controlled area, with rigorous checks on those entering and leaving the building - no cosy circle time stories or checking out towers of academic texts! The narrative is told from the perspective of Ana and Nan (the twins), Dan (a security guard at the library) and Eben. Each chapter and shift of view brings new insights into the motivations of why the twins are conducting their terrible plan and the impacts it has on the others. At times, the story has real depth and bite and I could see this becoming a tense thriller/drama for TV.

Unfortunately, I just didn't care about any of the characters! I had no interest in whether any of them survived the events that unfold because they were all unlikeable. Was this deliberate by the author...? The 'twist' at the end I had guessed well before we got there (once they get up on the roof there's only one way down...) and I didn't feel that I had learned anything particularly new by the finish.

Ultimately, a story with a lot of potential and sadly just falling short of making any lasting impact - a shame.

The setting was quite interesting, and there were some plot twists which were intriguing. However, I did not connect to the characters at all. Just not my kind of book, unfortunately. It might be a good enough read for other people.

Realised this wasn't for me.
The blurb appealed, but it is set in some sort of dystopian future which wasn't what I was expecting.
Didn't enjoy the writing, strange sibling relationship or animal cruelty within the first few pages.
Easy DNF

Set in a dystopian near future, after the great sickness has swept through the land, this is an interesting story of twins Nan and Ana, who are intent on revenging their mother's suicide. Their mother was a prominent writer in the small country (evidently Wales, now independent) and a critic Eben wrote such crushing reviews of her work that she killed herself. Now, Eben is writing their mother's biography and with the unwitting help of one of the porters at the National Library, Ana and Nan intend to kill him.

This is an ambitious work which should do well as a book club read. It covers themes of memory, loss, thwarted male privilege, literature and language. My feeling is that it has been wrongly described as a psychological thriller although I can see that if it were described as dystopian it doesn't quite fit that description either. I enjoyed it but I didn't love it and I think this is because the characters were all quite psychologically distant. The twins, for at least part of the novel, appear cold and calculating, Eben is a creep with poor bladder control and Dan the porter is weak and stoned most of the time. There is character development however and some of the characters do redeem themselves. What I did love was the description of the library. It is a character in its own right and for me had a feel of Gormenghast about the place (although it is many years since I read that, so I could be wrong). Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for the ARC.

tense and excellent. i loved the atmosphere and how truly unexpected the setting was. it reminded me a touch of a dark and inverted version of peng shepherd's the cartographers

A great read. Loved this story so much I read it in one weekend.
I’m a massive bookworm so to read a book, about books set in a library was a joy.
Highly recommended.

At first I was a bit unsure but soon got swept up with it! I loved how this story unfolded bit by bit and I needed to keep on reading to find out more - a thriller with drama, betrayal and more! I don't want to say too much as I don't want to give anything away but definitely a recommended read.

I just couldn’t get on with this book. Set in (though not identified as such in the story) the National Library of Wales (now independent) in Aberystwyth, the story centres around twin sisters Nan and Ana, library employees and daughters of a celebrated writer and poet, who are plotting revenge on a critic who they believe drive their mother to suicide. The dystopian post-book world the story is set in did not feel necessary to the plot and it dragged quite a lot towards the end.

Not for me, but thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an opportunity to read and review the book

I liked the idea of reading about twins beause my husband is one!
Ana & Nan were born 12 minutes apart, and never knew their father. They were brought up by their mother, who was a well known writer, and celebrity.
The girls work in the National Library, but all is not as it seems behind those library walls! What could be going on? Where are all the books? Who was Eben the Poet?
The story line was great, and the characters were believable. I can't go into the story too much becuase that will give the game away, but this book is well worth the read.

The Library Suicides confused me as the first half I read I was intrigued about why Nan and Ann were so determined to take their revenge and I wanted to know more about Dan and Eben. . It was well written, enticing but then at the half way point, it became repetitive, the narrative became almost lunacy and not in character. It felt like the author got “stuck” and repeated the same thing over and over, so much I stopped caring. I didn’t care why or what. I even flipped forward to see why to see if it would save the story but no. It doesn’t. A shame as it started well but I’d avoid as the middle and end doesn’t matter.

The title and synopsis of this book sounded like it would be my cup of tea, however I found it quite hard going and I had to go back a few times and re-read sections.
The basic story is of twenty-seven year old twins, Nan and Ana, who are planning revenge on critic, Eben, who they blame for their mother's suicide.
An unusual book.

I hadn’t heard of this book but the title caught my attention, and the blurb sounded great. However, I was disappointed by it. I thought this was going to be a thriller, however there was a fantasy/dystopian element to it and it just wasn’t what I was hoping for. There’s nothing in the blurb that hints at fantasy, and I think that’s what disappointed me. I was also confused because it was a long time before it was addressed that this book isn’t set in the real world. I also didn’t particularly like any of the characters, so I really struggled with this one.

I liked it, I think a 3.5 but rounded to a 4. I think there are a few mis-cues here though. The cover and title suggest cozy mystery to me and the blurb says "locked room psychological thriller". It took me a while to find my bearings. While there is merit in being challenged (the blurb also describes The Library Suicides as "high concept") I'd suggest some kind of reference to the dystopian setting might target readers better.

Twins Ana and Nan know who drove their mother Elena, the renowned novelist, to suicide. Everyone knows, indeed her long-term literary critic, Eben has been in therapy ever since he pushed her over the edge, figuratively if not literally. Eben is hoping to find some form of redemption and peace of mind, maybe even to clear his name, by reading her diaries and writing her biography and the twins have finally given him access but only because they have devised an elaborate plan to get revenge.

Right from the first page this is a world and a cast of characters that are off-kilter. I think it helps to know that in advance!

The Library Suicides started life in Welsh and the English language version has been taken "in a new direction". I would be interested to know the changes. I can foresee book clubs choosing this book for discussion and I wouldn't be surprised if it made it to an academic reading list.

After reading the description and the title of this book I was really looking forward to it.
However it just wasn't for me. The two plotlines just didn't seem to gel well even tho it was all tied up together in the end.
Thanks to Netgalley for the Arc.

I found this book somewhat frustrating to read as it didn't totally grip me.

Quite clever premise and there were certainly some twists to the plotline but although I read it through to the end it wasn't a book that made me want to see what else this author had written.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with this review copy.

Fflur Dafydd’s The Library Suicides is an intense character study, set in a dystopian world, centring around a National Library. The story follows twins Ana and Nan as they attempt to exact revenge on the man who they believed killed their mother by driving her to suicide with his scathing literary reviews. In their mission, they manipulate one of the library’s indolent porters to unknowingly help them.

The book stood out to me because of the title and the cover; I expected a dark and mysterious thriller of sorts, and it being set in a library would be a bonus. I didn’t expect how much of a fantasy/dystopian twist the book would have, and I couldn’t really get on board with it throughout the book. It was difficult to get immersed into a world we barely knew anything about. I thought that the ending of the book would explain the reasons behind the Orwellian themes of censorship, the erasure of history, and the mysterious ‘neighbouring country’ we heard so much about, but there was no real conclusion for any of these things.

I enjoyed Fflur Dafydd’s writing, and I appreciated the complex, well-rounded nature of these characters. They were all incredibly unlikeable, but the multiple perspectives allowed me to see the events from each character, and not necessarily sympathise with them, but at least understand it from their point-of-view. I found my opinions of each of the characters changing depending on whose perspective I was reading.

The themes of censorship, paper bans, and hostile neighbouring countries intriguing, but not well fleshed out enough to flow with the rest of the story, and instead distracted from what was the best part of the book - the characters and their nuanced, complex thoughts, feelings, and actions.

I would read another book by Fflur Dafydd again, and just Googling now, I discovered that there was a film made from this novel, which I’d be interested in watching and seeing how the creators adapted the story to the screen.

Well this book had me hooked just from the title but it was totally not what I was expecting and I just could not put it down. I really enjoyed the world building – this dystopic society is similar but also so unlike our own in so many ways. The characters are also unusual and I end up batting for them even like those that were quite frankly unlikable. No plot spoilers as I think that this is a book that is best read blind. The plot was well paced and the twists were well and truly twisted! This book has a slight edge of horror but it also made me laugh. I’m so pleased I picked it up and I will be recommending. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

An unusual book set in a dystopian future in a small country probably based on Wales. The story follows the plot by twin sisters to exact revenge on the critic who they believe caused their mother to commit suicide.The sisters work in the nation library of the country, a country in which paper is outlawed for fear of spreading disease following a previous pandemic (Covid ?). As the plot unfolds we find that the country is governed mainly by women with men being firmly in second p[ace. There are also many references to a larger neighbouring country presumably England.
I found the story to be slow and hard to read and I was not sure what the author was trying to achieve politically.

Nan and Ana seek revenge on Eben for their mother's suicide. Good story and characters sometimes confusing but an enjoyable read.
I received this book from Hodder &,Stoughton and Netgalley for a review.

this is a dystopian novel which is mainly set in this library and the twins want to take revenge on the person that was the cause, as they felt, for their mother's suicidet. I could not gel witht he writing style and I did not find the characters compelling at all. They clearly had a lot of issues. Sadly it was not for me.