This month Lisa visits Wild about Story in Mawdesley, where she meets singer, storyteller, and bookshop curator Tracey Collins to review Room 706 by Ellie Levenson
‘Storytelling is at the heart of Wild about Story, with a dusting of love for the wild,’ Tracey enthuses. Located at Cedar Farm, surrounded by handmade, local crafts of all types, Wild about Story is a small but perfectly formed treasure trove of beautiful books for all ages, with a stunning selection of titles celebrating nature. ‘Nature is the most important thing,’ says Tracey, ‘and it’s intrinsic to myth and story.’
Passionate about growing a new generation of readers, Tracey also reads to children at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. She explains: ‘The space between you and the listener is where the magic happens, and hopefully the child will meet you in that space.’
Wild about Story began life as a single librarian’s trolley and has blossomed into a wonderful community. ‘Being a bookseller is inherently joyful,’ Tracey says – and in such an enchanting space, it’s easy to see why.
wildaboutstory.co.uk
@wildaboutstory
Room 706
by Ellie Levenson
This high-concept drama meets Kate, a wife and mother to two young children, in a hotel room in the middle of the afternoon, as her lover prepares to leave. She turns on the television and watches in horror as she discovers their hotel is under siege by terrorists. Instead of bathing and basking in her glow before returning home to her loving husband
Vic and their two children, she is trapped in room 706 with James, a man she definitely doesn’t love. With no idea if she will make it out alive, Kate begins to reflect on her life, her choices, and what her future might hold if she does get the chance to leave this hotel. If her body is found here, how will she be remembered, and will Vic ever understand? Kate’s memories of her younger self and reflections of early motherhood are pitted against her more visceral needs, creating a novel that is both thrilling and introspective.
Tracey’s verdict
4/5
Part thriller, part romance, with a spicy dose of relationship drama, this story really makes you take stock. Becoming tangled up in a random terrorist incident feels increasingly likely these days, so this novel brings the idea of ‘it could happen to anyone’ close to home. It’s a full-on experience of how the choice to have an affair can go from being the most exciting thing to feeling like some kind of madness. Cutting to the chase, it asks, would you do things differently if you had your life over?
This book kept me wanting to know more, but the ending didn’t quite satisfy me.
Lisa’s verdict
4/5
What a fantastically tense concept. Not only are the lovers in imminent danger of death, even if they get out alive, they’re in a lot of trouble.
For me, Kate was a difficult character to sympathise with, yet she was still likeable, and more importantly, she was interesting. The novel explores why people make the choices they do by deep-diving into Kate and Vic’s past whilst keeping the action moving in Kate and James’ current predicament, hour by hour. I was hooked throughout, connecting deeply to the characters.
Then the ending came and my jaw was on the floor.
What’s next for book club?
Over the following months, expect author interviews and carefully curated book recommendations for seasonal specials. In May’s issue, we meet Southport-based Zoë Richards, author of Garden of her Heart and Tell it to the Bees.
