This is similar to the way Virginia Woolf delivers news of Mrs Ramsay’s demise in “To the Lighthouse”. In early scenes details about the ultimate fate of a particular central character might be mentioned in a sentence’s subclause. Instead, it moves in scenes backwards and forwards in time drawing fascinating connections across decades. But the book doesn’t follow a linear line. The story stretches from his early days living amongst many siblings at his family home Fox Corner to his late life as a grandfather. The novel focuses primarily on the life of Teddy, a WWII bomber pilot. This is undoubtedly masterful storytelling and it is a tremendously powerful book. So I plunged in and was completely swept away by the strength of Atkinson’s writing. Simon of SavidgeReads and others have assured me it’s not necessary and that it even might be preferable to read them in reverse order. Taking on the challenge of reading the entire Baileys Prize longlist before the shortlist announcement has meant I don’t have this luxury. The geek in me likes to read things in order and I wanted to clear some time to get to the first before reading this second book. However, I was aware that it’s a kind-of sequel or companion novel to her previous book “Life After Life”.

I’ve never read Kate Atkinson before although I know how well-regarded she is so I was eager to read “A God in Ruins”.

I must admit that I was sent a copy of this novel a year ago, but it’s remained sitting patiently on my shelf begging to be picked up.

Kate atkinson a god in ruins review