Preloved: A sparklingly witty and relatable debut novel

Reviews

Karen Louise Hollis

These are beautifully written and often thought-provoking. Gwen is in her thirty-eight years old, newly unemployed and trying to work out what to do with her life. Her character descriptions are astute and sensitive and each one comes to life from her words.

I thought the Scrabble one was particularly poignant. Plus the whole theme of recycling!

The writing style is clever, observant and witty. I’m sure Lauren Bravo knows my mother, because she’s uncannily similar to Gwen’s mum Marjorie! The characters are beautifully described, especially Suze, Gwen’s childhood best friend. The proof copy of the book I received was fully recyclable, though I have no plans to do that at all, I shall pass it to my family members to read and enjoy.

So many themes are interwoven in this novel, there is plenty to think about on the pages and it is a story that will stay with you after reading the book. She decides to volunteer in her local charity shop, where she meets a lot of interesting people and encounters many interesting items. I really liked Gwen and could understand her confidence issues.

These are often linked to the main story, so note the characters’ names. ) and then it’s new life when another owner buys it. I also love charity shops and the novel very cleverly shows how multi layered they are – there’s the back story of the item and its owner, there’s what it means to the charity shop workers (how high they price it, where they put it, etc. In-between the main story, we have little vignettes telling the back stories of some of the items brought into the charity shops.

The story covers lots of topics like loss, bereavement, family relationships, romantic relationships (or lack of) and finding your way in life.