I struggled with the start of this book. I have never read anything written in this style si it took me some time to adjust, but from about a third of the way in I was hooked. It’s such a raw book that I almost wonder if it is partly a memoir. You could feel every emotion strongly throughout this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book!

Is this book an exhibition of so many human emotions, a labyrinth of emotions? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. This book, for me, turned out to be just one emotion stretched over so many pages in such a tinkling tone and esoteric poetic prose, with a unique narrative thump that I could not put it down. That one emotion was 'trauma'.

I must tell you that I was reading a Murakami book alongside that was going too well in pace, when I received this book, and it was an interesting thing to check that after reading a few pages of this book, would I turn back to Murakami to complete that first or not? But I did not.
And this book, from the time I started, was almost unputdownable. Not that I was liking the story, which was in fact not to my taste, but the tone, the pace, and the poetic clink that its prose generated after every sentence. Levitating in the monologue (it was almost that sort of) of an unknown narrator who decided to remain hidden till the end, was sublime.

This is story of a woman, who is a photographer and biracial, who fights with the emotions of miscarriage and motherhood. Witnessing the violence endured by Black in US, she does not want to bring her black child into this world,
You think you're the only one who is afraid? I'm afraid for our black child too."


The book is small and can be quickly read. It has a multitude of themes. There is a question asked at the end of this book. Do you think the novel's length heightens its impact? My answer is yes. Had it been a bit longer than this, it would have washed away the impact it created in such a short body of work. I was perfectly fine with the length. Its compactness made it more conceivable, allowing the reader to widen the throttle of his own imaginative faculty. The abrupt end of the novel, leaving some questions unanswered, left this book more noteworthy, at least for me, because something should remain hung on the head of a reader so that he carries it home and remains wreathed in the smoke of the work he just read.

"Voices raise. A scuffle. A shout rings out, shattered glass, and a bang. The herd of bodies thickens and shifts in an agitated wave as police storm the streets. A grey cloud of gas explodes into the air. Everyone runs. Screams. A high-pitched scraping of vocal cords and eardrums, deep-bellied animal cries. I let go and lose you, stop and stand in the middle of the sidewalk, clicking, clicking, clicking and camera, A stampede."


The book may not be for all, but this book worked well for me, and I am recommending it to all who love a poetic language, with symbolism that connotes anxiety, uncertainty, fear, motherhood, and parenting on the human side, and racism, violence, and social security on the outside.

I thank NetGalley and Publishers for providing me with a copy.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

4.5⭐

A short and powerful novel on the topics of motherhood and marriage, blending with racial issues. This book was full of deep quotes and managed to sketch a cruel reality related to the way in which pregnancy struggles and societal racism can ruin relationships.

I felt that the focus on photography, the therapy conversations, the willingness of the protagonist when it came to documenting different matters managed to build an interesting story. I also felt that the book emphasised how tragedy can also connect people, not just push them apart. The stream of consciousness made the storyline harder to process and it also took a while for the book to catch a good pace, though.

A beautiful, sad, uncomfortable, sad, important book. I found it hard to read because of the difficult topics addressed - police brutality, miscarriage, death - it was well done.

Wanted to take the time to share my thoughts on a book which I feel will be on everyone’s TBR come August.


“Blue Hour” by Tiffany Clarke Harrison is a debut about loss, motherhood, black life and struggles in the US, which of course, hits slightly close to home in some aspects. The narrator (who’s name we just be on the verge of learning) is a photographer, struggling with the idea of motherhood as they suffer a miscarriage. After learning of one of their students shot by police, they withdraw into themselves, battling with opening up to their husband, unsure if the future he wants is the same.

While this novel is slim and isn't a lot of plot, it does centrainily ask you what the narrator will do next as the pages go, and what you would do if you were in their shoes. The emotions and thoughts that the narrator goes through will resonate to the reader, along with the husband Asher, and sister Viola. Two characters that have stark different emotions to the narrator, but love them in their own way.

It's a different debut voice, one I will definitely follow.

This book. It is something else, short and deep, emotional and difficult but also beautiful.
The themes are harsh and awful but told in a story of love and how we all need to worry about the future of our children.
After reading other books like His Name is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa it shows a fictional version however one that could be so true and it’s so unfair that it is.
The love the author has put into this is unreal

Full of musings, debate, anger, distress and yet, ultimately, hope, Blue Hour is incredibly powerful

This book is really good, it is thought provoking, eye opening and so so so sad. I don't think I've read a book that incited such anger within me for a long time, I'm angry for the people whose lives are the reality of the topic of this book. Its short but it packs a huge punch. The format was almost like a stream of conscious thought and I personally loved it but I don't think its everyone's cup of tea.

I read the digital ARC of this on Netgalley.
A novel told in vignettes the way the different threads are woven is beautifully intricate. The themes overlap and connect to form a complex narrative of our main character and her relationships as she navigates infertility, miscarriages, and grief as a black woman.
I loved how layered the characters were but especially our main character. I felt deeply attached to her and I spent the novel hoping that she would get closure and happiness as she endures so much hardship.
The writing style is poetic and intimate. If you liked Ocean Vuong's novel "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" I think you'd love this.

the "you" in the narration gave the novel a slightly didactic tone that i found hard to get past, it seemed very much a story for a book club.

This was a deeply traumatic and intimate look at a woman dealing with infertility and miscarriage against the backdrop of police brutality. Please do check any trigger warnings for this.

The book was short and written a steam of conscious narrative which was jarring at times and it did take some time to get used to which isn't ideal considering how short the actual book was.

"Blue Hour" is a poignant and thought-provoking novel that delves into the complexities of motherhood, identity, and hope in a society plagued by racial tensions. Set in New York, the story revolves around a multiracial woman who is grappling with personal loss and the pervasive violence inflicted upon people of color.

The protagonist's journey takes an unexpected turn when she discovers she is pregnant, forcing her to confront difficult decisions about her future. As she navigates her way through the complexities of impending motherhood, she is confronted with the harsh realities of a society that often fails to recognise and protect the lives of marginalised communities.
"Blue Hour" invites readers to empathise with the protagonist's internal conflicts and wrestle with the larger societal issues at play.
What makes this novel truly compelling is its ability to tackle weighty subjects with grace and nuance.

The unnamed narrator of the novella tells her story in snippets moving backward and forward in time in almost a stream of counsciousness style. She invites the reader to delve deeply into her deepest thoughts and experiences. We learn that the narrator is a woman who has recently suffered a devastating miscarriage and that she is born of many heritages and deeply loves her husband Asher, an Afro American. She feels she doesn't want to rush into another pregnancy despite Asher wanting to and when a student on the community photography course she runs is killed she wonders if having a child with their racially diverse heritage would ever be safe. She starts to make a documentary interviewing mothers whose children have been killed due to the colour of their skin whilst wrestling with her own thoughts and feelings.
This was interesting and different and the style of writing leant itself well to the novella length format. There are so really eloquent observations and the story gave me a lot to ponder.

“Blue Hour” by Tiffany Clarke Miller is a captivating journey through the complexities of human emotion and connection. Through eloquent prose and nuanced characterizations, the author navigates themes of loss, redemption, and the pursuit of truth. As readers journey through the narrative, they witness the characters’ struggles, triumphs, and moments of vulnerability, each resonating with authenticity and depth. It is a compelling read that will linger in the mind long after the final page is turned.

The unnamed narrator of Tiffany Clarke Harrison’s powerful, deeply moving Blue Hour is a photographer of mixed race whose parents and younger sister died in a car crash for which she blames herself. Her husband, Asher, passionately wants a child while she is ambivalent, her own desires overshadowed by guilt and the dangers a child of theirs would face on the streets, and when she does conceive it ends in sadness and loss. When a student on the community photography course she runs is shot, she decides to make a documentary, interviewing the mothers of children murdered because of the colour of their skin.

Harrison unfolds her brief novella in an episodic narrative flashing back and forth between past and present. Her writing is often poetically lovely, studded with vivid images that fit our narrator’s photographic eye. I found myself constantly scribbling striking quotes but hers is not a showy style, more subtly powerful underlining the narrator’s journey from intellectualising her pain to feeling and facing it. The miscarriage scenes are unflinchingly visceral - readers who have had the misfortune to lose a child or are close to someone who has might want to avoid this one. Racism and police brutality is the underpinning theme of the novel but it’s the love between our narrator and Asher, and their struggle to have a family that is to the fore. A beautifully express piece of fiction that ends in hope.

Tiffany Clarke Harrison's Blue Hour was selected by Barack Obama for his summer 2023 reading lost, which provided much spotlight to this debut novel. Due for publication here in the UK later in 2024, it is immediately clear when reading it why Obama highlighted it.

Blue Hour's unamed narrator, a gifted photographer, is in a marriage in crisis - infertile and grappling with ambivalence about motherhood. Then there is an incident of police brutality, a boy in her photography class, Noah, is the victim.

In this short novel Clarke Harrison packs in a lot: it is one of those novels designed to provoke debate - indeed the review copy I was given comes with a series of reader questions at the end to further those debates. Her writing, a mixture of stream of consciousness and 2nd person POV, is engaging and sharp. It a debut which makes me very keen to see where she goes next as a novelist.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.