I thought this would be an easy review to write as this book is just fabulous but how to do so without giving any spoilers away. I don’t even want to mention the plot as given in the blurb..just go into this book blind. A book that is a real page turner that has a growing sense of unease and menace that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. An author at the height of her craft this book took you on a journey into the unknown which just as you thought you knew what was happening more information would make you question yourself. A book of humanity and values which will stay with me for a long time. Book of the year 2025 beyond doubt. I can’t do this book justice in a written review and will be recommending far and wide. Bravo. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

Three triplets at a boys home in an alternate Britain dream of being cured of a mysterious bug and being allowed to join their friends at the Big House in Margate. A taut novel that is engaging and unsettling in equal measure, with a perfectly created world that feels like a small sidestep away from our own. Hypnotic, immersive and deeply affecting, this might be Catherine Chidgey's best novel.

4.5⭐️

A new to me author. This is so very different it’s hard to describe it, or do its creation justice. It really is one that you need to read for yourself.

It is set in 1979, in a fictional world but with enough references to the era to make it feel real.Triplets Vincent, Lawrence and William live in a special home in the Forest of Dean.

It had me intrigued from the beginning trying to figure out what was happening at the home. The storytelling is slower paced. The way that the breadcrumbs are laid and then the pulled together is very cleverly constructed. All the hints are there so when the reveals come they make sense. I really felt for the plight of the boys. It elicited several emotions sadness for the boys in that environment and @nger at the way they were perceived.

I loved the uniqueness of the plot, it’s got good character depth and development so I was very invested in the boys lives.
The only thing that stops this very different work being a 5⭐️ is the slowness of the pace.

Catherine Chidgey is a versatile author – her fifth novel “A Beat of the Pendulum” was an experimental “found novel” based on daily entries assembled from a variety of sources (from newspaper articles to satnav instructions to spam emails), her sixth “Remote Sympathy” (Women’s Prize longlisted and International Dublin Literary Award shortlisted) and the only one I have read was historical fiction a heavily researched but fictionalised retelling of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp (drawing on its proximity to Weimar), and her last “Pet” a psychological thriller.
 
This her ninth novel is very much in the science fiction dystopian mould of Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” but with an alternative history angle (here on the assumption that Von dem Bussche’s aborted plot to assassinate Hitler succeeded and that the Allies struck a peace with Germany which included the sharing of concentration camp experimentation findings).
 
The links to “Never Let Me Go” are very strong: The Sycamore Homes standing in for the Hailsham Boarding School, Three Mothers – Mother Morning, Afternoon and Night - standing in for the Guardians,
Mother Night playing something of the Miss Lucy role and even with Margate replacing Cromer as a seaside destination.  It lacks though I think Ishiguro’s narrative voice being perhaps a more conventionally told novel.
 
Much of the novel is told in the first party voice of Vincent – one of three triplets who are the only remaining inhabitants of their Sycamore Home (the Homes initially founded in 1944 after the peace, we are now some 35 years later) – a school for children where they learn from a multi-volume Encyclopaedia “The Book of Knowledge” but are otherwise largely kept to the house, where they are carefully monitored by the three Mothers in respect of their health (the children being especially vulnerable to a bug which necessitates a variety of medicines), their dreams recorded first thing each morning in the Book of Dreams, and their behaviour (particularly examples of anger or temper) in a Book of Guilt.  When they are allowed in carefully prescribed visits to the nearby town they are regarded with clear suspicion by the locals.  They are also visited at intervals by an ageing Doctor (Dr Roach) who supervises and directs many of these activities.   All the other children have left the home over time – most to the dream destination of Margate where they live a life of permanent fun-fairs and amusement arcades – something the boys eagerly await.  The three triplets have different characters – William in particular prone to violent and dominant acts.
 
Other third party chapters tell the story of Nancy – thirteen years old, she lives with her mother and father but to her increasing disquiet is neve allowed to leave the home (and even hidden in wardrobes when there are rare visitors there), they dress her up and take pictures of her in old fashioned clothes, seem to believe she has tastes which she does not share, and her father works on an elaborate model railway and village.
 
And the third set of chapters tell, again in third person, of a female politican newly appointed as the Minister of Loneliness in the new 1979 Conservative government, run by a determined female Prime Minister who as part of their wishes to get Britain back on its feet and cut spending have decided to close the remaining homes and try to find places in homes for the last children to be placed (the responsibility for which falls on the Minister).  They have also as one of their first acts decided to reinstate the death penalty – including for existing murderers whose death sentence had been suspended when the penalty was suspended, the first of which is a notorious child-killer. 
 
To say anything more would be to give away the plot of the novel – and the skilful way in which the author both gradually reveals the real truth about the Sycamore Homes and weaves the three stories together into a climatical resolution of each.
 
Overall I found this an enjoyable novel.  There is an impressive marketing buzz around it (short memo vidoes, which triplet are you quizzes etc) which I think might result in the novel getting British Book Award nominations next year, but it did not really spark for me perhaps as it did feel a little derivative.

I looked forward to reading this as it was set in the New Forest but apart from a few mentions of ponies it could have been anywhere. It is a strange story of three boys with a hidden past. I gave up half way through as I could not engage with the characters.

I knew from the blurb that I would enjoy this book, and I was right! It’s a compelling read with a central mystery (or two) that steadily unfolds through Vincent’s POV, as well as that of the Government Minister for Loneliness and a young girl called Nancy.

While I don’t want to give anything away, it’s very hard to say anything about this book without mentioning Never Let Me Go. And if you’ve read the latter, you’ll immediately know the central idea. And that is the main reason it’s not quite a four star for me (3.75 - but NetGalley only gives full star options so have gone with a 4 here). While an extremely enjoyable read, raising some great questions about nature vs nurture, the whole way through I couldn’t help but feel I’d - at least in part - read the story before.

Is it different enough to be worth reading in its own right? Absolutely (at least I think so)
Will you constantly be thinking of Ishiguro? Quite possibly.
Does that matter? That’s up to you!

Ultimately, an enjoyable addition to this sub-genre of dystopian/speculative fiction which I would certainly recommend!

This was such a brilliant book, and it had the most original storyline I have read this year. I went into this story blind which I think is the best way. I was immediately immersed in the story and couldn't put it down.

The story is set in 1979 and follows three triplets who are living in a dilapidated government run house being cared for by three mothers (mother night, mother morning and mother afternoon) The boys life is extremely regulated and formullaic under the 'care' of their mothers.
They are taught each day from a huge 'book of knowledge ' and anything they do wrong is written up in the 'book of guilt' Their nightmares are written up in the 'book of dreams '
The boys hope that one day they will be the chosen lucky ones who get to move to Margate and experience unlimited fairground rides by the sea. Margate is the place of their dreams.
The story is narrated in three parts. Vincent, one of three thirteen year old triplets is one of the main narrators. It is also narrated by a government minister who is in charge of this government 'sycamore scheme' and the boys' future. The third part is written by a girl called Nancy, who is also living a reclusive life with her two parents.
I had so many questions reading this!
Why were the children all living in this run-down house? What had happened to the previous children (as there used to be a lot more of them)
Why were the three boys always getting ill? Why weren't they ever allowed into the local village or allowed to mix with other people?
I was completely immersed in this story and desperate to find out what lay ahead for the three boys. There is an impending sense of dread as the boys slowly make discoveries about their life.

I really don't want to say more than this, but this was a creepy, atmospheric, and thought- provoking story that I would highly recommend! It will definitely be one of my top books of the year. It's one I can't stop thinking about days after reading!

.I really enjoyed this book which immediately reminded me of Ishiguro’s "Never Let Me Go" although Ms Chidgey then made it her own with her clever plot twists and well drawn characters. She managed to keep an underlying sense of tension and things being off kilter throughout the novel's parallel stories demonstrating how the different children lived. Some of my favourite parts involved the children's explanations of things from the book of knowledge and the mother's ishikawa arrangements!
Thank you to netgslley and John Murray press for an advance copy of this book.

Such a phenomenal book. If you’re a fan of Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, you’ll love this. It’s poignant, touching, shocking and thought-provoking. Five stars from me!

I seem to have different views than the majority of readers about this book. I am afraid I just didn't connect with it, and struggled to enjoy it .I am glad other readers enjoyed it much more than I did., maybe it was just not for me.

This was something different and I loved it. It was a slow burn at the start but I enjoyed the way the details were drip fed to the reader until you realise this is not a normal children's home and then you start getting the wider context and everything speeds up. I really original and unique story that was fabulously engrossing with a heart-pounding climax. Brilliant. More please!!!

Vincent, Lawrence and William are identical triplets and the last residents of one of the government funded Sycamore Houses. Here they live with three Mothers, Morning, Afternoon and Mother Night. Their misbehaviours are recorded in the Book Of Guilt, their dreams are recorded in the Book Of Dreams and their knowledge comes from the Book Of Knowledge.

The boys are allowed to venture outside the compound for little errands but are not supposed to interact with the people of the village. With the change of government, funding for the Sycamore Houses are cut and the remaining children are meant to be released to families to live a life on the outside world.

This book is incredibly gripping. I couldn't put it down. As I read the book, I had so many questions about the children, the institution, the Mothers, the purpose of those houses, why the regular population isn't keen on the children... I could go on forever. A riveting read.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I had high hopes for it.

I was a little worried at first because there's a lot of names in it - William, Lawrence, Vincent, Nancy, Mother Morning/Afternoon/Night, Doctors, Ministers, Villagers - and I am terrible with remembering names, but I didn't have any problems at all.

I was confused to begin with - is it a fantasy? Psychological thriller? Historical? Character study? And now I've finished it, it's a bit of everything, and with a real thriller element that I was not expecting.

If I'm honest, for the first few chapters, I couldn't really explain what was going on. If someone asked me what it was about, I don't think I could have told them. But I didn't actually mind that. I might not have been able to pinpoint exactly what it was about to begin with, but that just adds to the confusion that embraces all the characters, but I loved it nonetheless.

But then at about 35-40% through, BAM! It's all explained and I was not expecting it at all. It's a great surprise, if not necessarily a nice one (in context of the plot and in relation to the characters). There is no doubting her storytelling ability. It's so clever and so layered that you're discovering bits you didn't expect all the way to the end.

I think it's Catherine's character creation I loved the most, especially of the three main lads. To make them different enough to be individuals, but clearly part of a set, without it feeling forced and clunky, it was so natural and I could see them standing there so clearly.

I found it surprisingly moving. It's uncomfortable in places, funny, and interesting. But I was really, really moved by it. It was moving in its sadness, in how normal everything felt but at the same time, as far from normal as you can get. It's hard to explain, but hopefully you'll know what I mean if you read it.

I own two of Catherine's other books - Pet and The Axeman's Carnival - but I haven't read them yet, but this has definitely persuaded me to move them up my tbr list. I think this will definitely be a standout book, a real conversation starter, perfect for book clubs.

I wasn't sure about it to begin with, I was a bit confused, but I soon started to love it and now I've finished it, I can say with certainty that this will be on my 'favourite books of 2025' list.

The Book of Guilt - Catherine Chidgey - out 22 May.

Genre: dystopian/speculative fiction.

Brief blurb: - Set in England 1979, Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a secluded New Forest home, part of the government's Sycamore Scheme. Every day, the triplets do their chores, play their games and take their medicine, under the watchful eyes of three mothers: Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night.

My thoughts: Deeply uncomfortable, thought provoking and beautifully written. If you enjoyed Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro you will love this. 4 stars

I went into the Book of Guilt with no previous knowledge, and I think this is how everyone should go in. The pacing is slow but not so slow that you lose interest. It's more compelling, there was a lot of 'what on earth is going on here' and needing to read through to make some sense of what was unfolding. It tested my historic knowledge as some of the descriptions of WW2 were not as I knew them. What it did best was make me care and root for the characters, needing to know what would happen to them, and why this was happening to them.

Chidgey has once again proven herself a master of atmosphere and psychological complexity in The Book of Guilt: a novel that is as chilling as it is exquisitely written. With eerie precision, Chidgey draws readers into the closed world of Vincent, Lawrence, and William, triplets living in Captain Scott House, a place where truth is malleable and control is masked as care.

Set in 1979 England, this haunting tale unfolds within the unnerving structure of the Sycamore Scheme - a dystopian medical experiment shrouded in secrecy, where orphaned children living in group homes across the country are reared to exacting standards, given medications to help them resist “The Bug” and, by and large forgotten by the rest of society.

Our triplets are raised under the constant vigilance of “Mothers”, and their lives are centred around three texts: The Book of Dreams, The Book of Knowledge, and The Book of Guilt. This last one casts the longest shadow, chronicling every perceived moral failure and holding potential sway over the children’s future.

The triplets cling to the hope of recovering from their array of symptoms because that means they’ll move on to the Big House in Margate, a magical place they imagine filled with sun, sea, and fairground rides galore.

Chidgey’s storytelling is hypnotic, measured, taut, and steeped in creeping dread. She reveals the darkness of the boys’ world layer by layer, never rushing, always holding the reader in a state of anxious fascination.

As the boys begin to question the life they’ve grown up in, what unfolds is not just a gripping narrative but a profound meditation on indoctrination, identity, and the human cost of systems that decide who is worthy and who is not. Chidgey doesn’t rely on twists for shock; instead, she weaponises atmosphere and suggestion, allowing the horrors to infuse slowly.

Disturbing, elegant, and deeply affecting, The Book of Guilt is the kind of novel that leaves you changed. Long after you close the cover, you’ll find yourself haunted by its questions and the aching humanity at its core. Don’t let this one pass you by.

Many thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read via NetGalley. As always, this is an honest review.

Catherine Chidgey has become one of my new favourite authors, having read her novel Pet as part of our rebelreadersbookclub. When Catherine announced that she had a new book being published in 2025, I jumped at the chance to read an #arc of The Book of Guilt. Thank you, John Murray and netgalley. I avoided all reviews and snippets as much as possible as I went into her book Pet completely blind and wanted a similar experience with this one.
Set in the late 70s in England, orphaned children are homed by the government in isolated residential care homes dotted around the country in rural villages. One such home is Scott House, which is part of a hidden and inconceivable government scheme known as the Sycamore Scheme. We meet triplets William, Lawrence, and Vincent, who are dressed in assigned colours of red, green, and yellow and dressed accordingly. It starts off like a quaint post ww2 story set in a decrepit big house near a little village with the boys being cared for by nurses known as Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon, and Mother Night. Their actions are closely monitored by each mother and their behaviour, good and bad, and dreams are all recorded in great detail in the The Book of Guilt. The boys are given medication daily to fight a ‘bug’ , yet as time goes on the boys question why the children are leaving to the place of dreams, the ‘Big House’ in Margate and why are they the last in the home and when will they get to go to Margate.
I really don’t want to delve deeply into the story or characters as I want it to blow your mind as it did mine. The overwhelming sense of foreboding grows at such a slow pace that, at times, you are led into a false sense of security. Catherine’s prowess at creating characters you easily love, hate, fear and pity all in one go is second to none and you never know what secrets will be unearthed or lie ahead, but you can guarantee that you will be shocked (jaw on the floor shocked). This is such a clever and compulsive read, and I’m not usually one that enjoys a book with even slight dystopian themes, yet this book felt so realistic and, in that sense, utterly terrifying Catherine is also incredibly talented at transporting you back to eras gone by with her use of current affair references, music, and toys … the list goes on. I’m really struggling not to go into any more of this incredible tale, but I will say this, The Book of Guilt has been my book of 2025 to date and I feel it will be impossible to beat for originality and characters. A book that will stay with me for years … imagining the ‘what ifs’ . Thank you, John Murray and Netgalley, for the chance to read this arc. #thebookofguilt is due to be published on 22nd May – make sure to read this one, it’s fantastic!!

A very effectively told story of a world with a slightly alternate history and the ethical consequences of undefeated and accepted fascism. It might as well be a story of our future, considering the direction things have been going for the last decade. I really enjoyed peeling back the layers of the narrative and at the same time realizing with increasing horror the magnitude and implications of what is happening (I'm trying not to spoil it). It's incredible what Catherine Chidgey has done, and I was hooked from the first page. The only thing I liked less is a short section at the end that explains everything in the novel. It was unnecessary and repetitive. I would have preferred even less telling and much more showing, letting us fish in the dark, or rather sepia, as the novel plays very well with the 1970s nostalgia. I suppose this aspect would work even better with British readers, who are much more familiar with cultural references of the time than I am.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (and then some)

You know that rare reading experience when a book unfurls in your hands like a blood-red rose—beautiful, dangerous, and layered with quiet menace? That’s The Book of Guilt. It doesn’t announce itself loudly. It slips into your consciousness, petal by petal, and before you know it, you’re gripped, unnerved, and whispering what the hell is going on to an empty room.

Set in a chillingly plausible alternative Britain, Catherine Chidgey’s novel operates with all the precision of a scalpel and the emotional weight of a confession. From the opening lines, there’s a sense of something not quite right—Vincent, Lawrence and William are triplets living under the gentle tyranny of three ‘Mothers’ in a government-run home where sins are recorded, dreams are documented, and the ultimate aspiration is to be chosen for Margate. (Yes, that Margate. But not as you know it.)

The writing hums with dread. It’s subtle and sophisticated—no fireworks, no gore, just that creeping sense that the world you're in has slipped a degree off its axis. Chidgey’s slow-reveal mastery is on full display here: the truth arrives like mist off the sea, and by the time you realise the extent of the horror, you're already in too deep to turn back.

The speculative premise—copies, created in labs, grown into children, monitored, medicated, and eventually disposed of if they show “deviance”—is a staggering metaphor, and a gut-punch critique of systems that dehumanise in the name of progress. These are children who “weren’t the same,” who drank their tea differently, wore colour-coded shirts, and were punished for things they never chose. And yet—they dreamed. They loved. They suffered.

I was floored by moments like this:

“We didn’t know the name of our sickness, and its symptoms varied from month to month and boy to boy: we just called it the Bug…”

Or this:

“We knew the basic set-up, but we put it out of our minds, the same way we ignore the origins of our pork sausages.”

You see what she’s doing, right? Chidgey doesn’t preach—she implicates. She turns the reader into a complicit observer. The “copies” become a mirror, and the reflection is uncomfortably human.

Vincent’s narration is beautifully controlled—fragile, intelligent, full of small griefs that bloom into larger ones. Nancy, living an eerily domestic life that slowly intersects with the boys', becomes a second axis of emotional weight. And as for William—cruel, chaotic William—the relationship between him and Vincent wrecked me. It’s about the kind of love that hurts and binds at once.

“And yet, I loved William better. I still can’t explain that, but perhaps you can understand—perhaps you have loved in that way too.”

Yes. I have. That line alone earns this book its stars.

There’s no clean resolution. No sermon. Just this quiet devastation that stays with you. You think you’ve reached the end, and then Chidgey throws in one last quiet horror:

“We were ever so relieved when we found out it wasn’t an actual boy.”

Reader, I stopped breathing.

Fans of Never Let Me Go, The Handmaid’s Tale, or We Are Not Ourselves will find a familiar ache here—but The Book of Guilt is entirely its own creation. And I mean that in every sense.

It’s smart, unsettling, achingly tender in places, and deeply, deeply political. But most of all, it’s necessary. Chidgey is writing at the top of her form. And this book? This book is a classic in the making.

Thank you to John Murray and NetGalley for the ARC—I will be thinking about this one for a long, long time.

This was a brilliant read - suspenseful, eerie, philosophical, and completely unexpected. This is a masterclass in world-building and nostalgia - I was completely bowled over by Catherine Chidgey's skill for storytelling. I'm hesitant to reveal any spoilers, so will simply say: this is already one of the strongest publications of 2025. A captivating work that reminds you why you first fell in love with reading.