Read this book

It's everything people say it is and more

I loved its innocence, its warm heart and nostalgia

Just read it - you won't regret it.

This is a beautifully written, engaging and strangely heart-warming book, by an author who I am excited to see more from. Miv, our young, lonely and heartbreakingly earnest protagonist, is one of the most believable children in literature I have read in years. Her dogged determination that she is not only capable of solving the Ripper murders, but that this is sure to stop her family from moving Down South, forms the perfect backbone to this exploration of growing up at a very particular point in time. You can tell that the author is drawing on her own experiences here, and the descriptions and details are just thorough enough as to be evocative, without being overdone. Omar and other supporting characters are equally well-drawn, and although the cast and scope of the book is comparatively small, this is to its benefit, as it demonstrates the size of Miv's world, and allows us to explore every avenue to its fullest extent. A perfect little window into a tumultuous time in British history, and more importantly, into one little girl's life - I loved it.

I find this a hard one to review as I wasn’t keen on the central premise which is that Miv, a young 12 year old girl, has decided she is going to catch the Yorkshire Ripper. She starts eyeing those around her with suspicion and writes ‘lists of suspicious things’ for people she thinks need further investigation. The Yorkshire Ripper’s years at large were a terrible time for women in Yorkshire and I don’t like any reminding of the horrors that he brought during those dark days.

Miv has a tough home life as something has happened to her mother as she remains in her bedroom most of the day and is barely taking any interest in everyday life. Her sister, Auntie Jean, has moved in to look after Miv and the household. Meanwhile, Miv and her best friend Sharon, embark on a series of adventures to try and investigate all the people around them who make it on their list of suspicions. Miv is a fan of the Enid Blyton ‘Famous Five’ series so some of the adventures resemble those but some take a serious tone as Miv comes to see that her interference is not always a good thing and can have serious and unexpected consequences.

The writing is good in that the author captures the late 70s/early 80s period very well with her character based novel. We have the family who have come from Pakistan running the corner shop who are now subject to racism. Also abusive marriages, school children bullying one another and a lot of things that were considered the norm in that era which would be unacceptable to most now. It was also a story of community coming together, forging unexpected friendships and helping one another out in the face of much prejudice and adversity.

I think many will enjoy this book and it was a great piece of character driven writing.
With thanks to NetGalley and Cornerstone, Penguin Random House UK for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely stunning! If this is the standard of a debut novel by Jennie Godfrey, then I can say with absolute certainty that she has a phenomenal talent for writing and I can’t wait for more!

This story, set in the late 1970s/early 1980s, is primarily told from the point of view of Miv, a 12 year old girl with a difficult home life. Life in Yorkshire is dominated by fear of the Ripper and Miv and her best friend, Sharon, decide to begin their own investigation and track him down themselves.

What actually happens, is that each suspect they “investigate” has their own story and their own challenges, which we read in the intervening chapters. As the girls get to know their community, they grow to understand some of life’s complexities; racism, acceptance, love, loss, friendship and abuse, amongst other things, and their actions inadvertently bring members of the community together, to help and support each other when they all need it the most.

An emotive and beautifully written coming of age story, with wonderful characterisation. This is going to be one of 2024’s top books, I have no doubt.

5⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Jennie Godfrey and Random House Cornerstone for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Jennie Godfrey has certainly come up with a very original storyline. By setting the background in a gritty N..Yorkshire town in the era of the "Yorkshire Ripper" murders we are guaranteed an intensely human story. And that is just what we get.
The main character is Miv, an 11 year old girl who is experiencing tough times at home. Overnight, her Mum has fallen completely silent and isolates herself for hours, if not days, at a time. It turns out she is hiding a dreadful secret. Meanwhile Miv's Dad is struggling to cope and mulling about possibly moving the family somewhere else. Then, to cap it all, Aunty Jean has moved in as a "substitute " Mum with her own very set ideas on discipline.
What can Miv do to reduce her worries? Perhaps, she thinks, if she discovers who the Yorkshire Ripper is her life will get better, the family won't need to move and life will return to normal. So she buys a notebook and, with her close friend Sharon, sets out to make lists in it of incriminating details of any possible suspects. Little does she know what unexpected consequences this seemingly harmless activity shall lead to.
Her naïve approach to identifying the potential killers is both endearing and concerning It exposes her to racial prejudice, opens up a gap with her best friend, damages then resets her relationships at home and exposes her to some truly harsh realities. But above all it causes her to re-evaluate her opinions of people and to recognise, if she rushes to judgement, that the biggest loser is her.
By the time she closes her notebook for the last time Miv is, without doubt, a much stronger, happier and empathetic person with a new found appreciation of family and acquaintances. It’s not often you read such a well constructed and uplifting novel. A book that very definitely succeeds in promoting the benefit of practising tolerance.

A book about life and lives, what goes on behind closed doors and how not everything is what it seems. This book is written with the story of the ripper story in the background and how it takes over a young girl’s life. Heartbreakingly sad, joyous and I’m rather glad I didn’t give up on the slow start.

Where do I start in reviewing The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey? Firstly, she is a fabulous writer. - it is hard to believe this is her published debut. Secondly, this book is proof that it is possible to fall in love with made-up teenagers. I absolutely loved Miv and her friends. I completely identified with them (I was just a few years older than them in 1979) and the author has absolutely nailed their 'voices'. Thirdly, the seamless inclusion of the perspectives of a number of the characters in Miv's community adds depth to the book, and allowed me to consider the adult themes as well as the children's world. I didn't want to put it down and I read it in record time.
I have no hesitation in wholeheartedly recommending this book. Book clubs will love it, and I am buying it for my teenager, as it is really modern, with a 1970's vibe. All my friends will be sick of me raving about this charming, heartbreaking and funny book. I just know that all of them will find something of themselves in Miv.
I am so glad this was my first book of 2023 - it is going to be hard to beat.

'The List Of Suspicious Things' by Jennifer Godfrey - Call Off The Search, A New Bestseller Has Arrived!

'The List of Suspicious Things' by Jennie Godfrey is a book which struck so many chords with my teenage memories of South Yorkshire in the late Seventies, that the resonance of the notes still linger in the air, weeks after reading this wonderful novel.

A rites-of-passage book set against the paranoid background of the savage 'reign' of the Yorkshire Ripper, it sensitively highlights the humanity of some of the folk who battled through those harrowing times, through the eyes and growing pains of 12-year-old Miv, and her family and friends, and the community she grows up in.

The prose and narrative flows effortlessly like a river from source to sea, meandering and rippling through the consciousness with ease. What a journey !

As a boy (4 years older than Miv) then, I well remember those years, as my family decamped to a mining village in God's Own County for five years between 1974 and 1979, after living in 'That London' (as well as periods in Africa, and Suffolk), so I well remember the shadow the Yorkshire Ripper cast, as well as the prevailing attitudes and issues of the time, which the author so vividly portrays. To say, living there *then* was something of a culture shock (after Africa, Brixton, and Ipswich, anyway), is putting it mildly !

They say 'The Past Is A Different Country', as it ever was; Yorkshire especially, as some might say it has always been a 'country', for better or for worse, in it's own right (I love it so much, Reader, that I moved back 10 years ago!). The humanity and spirit of the people shines brightly through magnificently in this wonderful book.

'The List of Suspicious Things' by Jennie Godfrey is a stunning achievement for a first novel, heartily 'Highly Recommended' to the max, and I look forward to catching the Author's further tomes!


Big Thanks to NetGalley for providing a ARC, very much appreciated :)

This book is a love song to strong women, Jennie Godfrey has packed the pages with them and set the story in a time a lot of us can remember when it was particularly scary to be a woman.
I grew up in Yorkshire, near to where this book is set, and although I was too young to really grasp what was going on at the time, the events surrounding the Yorkshire Ripper had a large impact on the way I was parented and the stories my mum and aunties shared with me as I grew up. There's so much nostalgia in the writing - the phrases, the things Miv and Sharon do when they are laiking out, the sense of community and your whole world being within a small geographic area, and the corner shop being the heart of everything. Also, the way that women just took what was thrown at them in their stride and picked up whatever slack was needed.
This theme can be seen in auntie Jean who comes to live with Miv and her parents to run the house whilst Miv's mum is in the midst of a breakdown. She just packs up her life, rolls her sleeves up, and gets the dinner on! It can also be seen in Miv herself - when she hears her dad and auntie Jean talking about moving away, with the presence of the Ripper being one of the reasons, she decides that she will prevent this from happening by catching the Ripper herself. she enrols her best friend Sharon ( the prettier, more popular one of the two...did any young girl not feel this way about their best friend!!) to help her and they have their eyes opened to what is going on around them in the process.
This is a coming of age tale that deals with some really dark topics - murder, racism, abuse, alcoholism, depression to name a few - but it's not a doom and gloom read at all. The skill of Jennie Godfrey and her writing is that she made it heart-warming and reminds us that amongst the bad, there is good everywhere.

A lovely coming-of-age story with added mystery and humour. Miv, the main character, and her friends, family and antagonists are so wonderfully written and believable; warm, funny, brave, flawed. The backdrop of 1970s Yorkshire and the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper provide a really evocative setting and Miv's determination to find the killer help propel the plot. It's a gently epic book in all it covers, a real journey from childhood to adulthood, and thoroughly enjoyable. I can't put my finger on why this isn't a five-star read for me- perhaps it's just not my usual genre- but I can imagine a reader who was at a similar age to Miv during the 1970s, or who grew up in the same area, feeling a real connection and love for Miv and her story in a way that I maybe missed just a little.

What a fabulous book. Thoroughly enjoyed this tale of Miv and her bestie Sharon, and all the other beautiful, and some awful characters… many of which I felt I knew from my own childhood.
The life of Miv is hard and the circumstances she’s in are explained subtly and with great diplomacy and often wit. Will definitely be looking out for more books by Jennie Godfrey. Highly recommend. Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the proof copy.

THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS

Thank you Netgalley the author Jennie Godfrey and the publishers Random House UK, Cornerstone for my e-Arc copy of
The List Of Suspicious Things in exchange for my honest review.

A good Debut for Jennie Godfrey, a story which really evokes a strong sense of time and place. Godfreys’ writing really bringing the reader into the story with the strong descriptive pros really making you feel as though you’re there too.

My only negative is that I think the story at times lost pace and I became slightly bored.

But in general I was impressed with this debut and think Jennie Godfrey will go far in this genre of writing.

#NetGalley #TheListOfSuspiciousThings #Author #JennieGodfrey #Debut #GeneralAdultFiction #Publication #15thFeb1024

The Yorkshire Ripper is on the loose and killing women.

Miv is a 12 year old girl whose family life is troubled. Her mum has stopped talking, her aunt Jean has moved in and her dad is keeping secrets.

Miv can’t control her family life and there’s a lot of things, the adults in her life aren’t sharing with her. But one truth she can at least find is who the Yorkshire Ripper is. So she makes a ‘list of suspicious things’ and sets off, along with her best friend Sharon to find the truth.

Along their journey, they come across the usual young teenage dramas of boys, bullying and daily life, along with the added extras of domestic violence, death, racism, afairs and more murders. Can Miv find out the name of the Yorkshire ripper? Will her family also tell her the truth?

This was a good read although to start with, I found it hard to get into but eventually I did. I found the word ‘laid’ very annoying as it was used a lot and I couldn’t quite find out the meaning for it but eventually worked it out to mean, ‘play about.’ Miv is a likeable character and you could tell what she was going to be like from the beginning, always up to mischief and getting others into danger. I couldn’t quite find the relevance of the list though, as I would pop up every now and then but wasn’t used as much as what I would expect with the book title.

Wow, this is such an evocative story. It takes us back to 1979 and the fear that the Yorkshire Ripper brought to communities. 12 year old Miv is obsessed with finding the Ripper convinced that finding him will make her home life more stable. Miv and her friend, Sharon, start making a list of all the men they come into contact with who may have something to hide, could one of them be the infamous killer?
The story is mostly told from Miv’s point of view but also delves into the lives of some of the people in her local community. It is a poignant story, dealing with racism, abuse and mental illness . It is not always an easy read but so worthwhile. I love this book, it evokes so many memories for me of growing up in the 70’s. The characters are well drawn and believable and the descriptions of a Yorkshire town that has past its prime are perfect.
I can thoroughly recommend this book and look forward to reading more by Jennie Godfrey in the future.

JENNIE GODFREY – THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS ***

This is the tale of schoolgirl Miv and her friends and neighbours and their attempts to identify and catch the Yorkshire Ripper. It also involves abuse of the Pakistani community, prevalent back then, one family of which are her friends.

Miv starts lists of suspicious people, itemizing the reasons for her suspicions and does her best to track them down, while her friends start relationships and get tired of her constant detective work.

It is an engaging period piece with interesting characters and social comments of the class divides as perceived by a young northern girl brought up within that community. The author apparently is familiar with the setting and what happened back then.

In a sense it is risky, using a real-life serial killer for this girl to obsess over, as everyone knows Sutcliffe and what happened (and presumably there are relatives of those he killed who might object to their deaths being used for entertainment) and that it wasn’t a young girl who caught him. A bit like Frederick Forsyth’s Day of the Jackal – you knew the outcome before the story even started. But this isn’t as clever. I also found the writing slapdash – surprising given the praise lavished on the author and her literary qualifications.

All in all, an enjoyable story that could have been better.

In exchange for an honest review, I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley.

As a Bradford lass living through the terrifying era of Thatcher and the Yorkshire Ripper I totally get this book. Can't wait for the next one.

Not my usual sort of book but I really enjoyed it.
Set in a small Yorkshire town during the time of the Yorkshire ripper and a time of prejedice.
Miv is a child growing into her teenage years in a family where her mother is ill. Miv becomes obsessed with tracking the Ripper down which starts with a list of suspects.
Instead she discovers secrets in the close knit supportive but close mouthed community.
Once I started I couldn't put it down.

A good read. The story starts in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher was Prime minister Miv is worried about having to move down south with her somewhat dysfunctional family so she had an idea with her friend Sharon to try and find the Yorkshire ripper and between them they make a list of different people who they think might be involved. They uncover many things about many of their neighbour's and friends as they begin their journey with terrible consequences for more than one family but also find themselves in danger at times.Its a good story list of interesting characters with some humour and lots of excitement and emotion as you would expect from thirteen years old girls. Whether they ever manage to find the ripper you will have to read the book to find out

Such a joyful book!

Being a 70's born kid, I didn't live through the Yorkshire Ripper story but have always been fascinated by it. Having this as the backdrop to this tender tale gave this novel a gritty feel and without it, the story could have evolved with a twee feeling. It wouldn't have been so successful in my opinion.

I connected with Miv and her family very easily, even spiky Aunty Jean! I felt sorry for all they were going through. I recognized so many elements of the friendship between Sharon and Miv- who wouldn't?

There were many social references- toys, music etc. Being back in that more innocent time was a real treat.

Well done!

Set in the fearful time of the Yorkshire Ripper, The List of Suspicious Things shows us the world from Miv’s perspective. A child on the cusp of adolescence, she has a mother at home who has stopped speaking, a dad who is just about holding it together, Auntie Jean who has moved in to cope with the practical side of life but not the emotional bits, and all the awkwardness of growing up. There is also talk of moving down south, away from Yorkshire. At school she is not the most popular but she has a kind and lovely friend, Sharon who Miv can hardly believe would even be her friend. Sharon is pretty, blonde and everyone likes her. Moving away would be the last straw for Miv. The talk of the Ripper is everywhere, despite adult attempts to keep it from young ears. Miv, in an attempt to make sense of her world and keep her dad from wanting to move away, enlists Sharon to try and catch him, and they make a list of suspicious things, or more accurately, people, of which there are plenty in their town. Their sleuthing uncovers many things, some incompletely understood, such as adultery, racism, domestic violence, all happening in their small community. It is not as bleak as it sounds - this is a gentle book with dark things happening just out of shot. At least most of them. This is an accomplished novel which vividly brings to life a certain period with memorable characters and good storytelling.