Recommendation: Haven’t They Grown by Sophie Hannah

“Hannah’s real gift is revealing the contorted and convoluted nature of the human heart.” — Scotsman

I picked up this book for two reasons. The first being that it has beautiful blue sprayed edges — I’m a sucker for a ‘special’ format of a book. Deckled edges? French flaps? Gimme. I know some people think that these elements detract from the story, but I disagree. Anything that makes a book more memorable, anything that makes it stand out from the rest; that’s a win in my book.

The second reason, was that I’d never seen a premise like this before and nor could I get it out of my mind.

It’s been twelve years since Beth has seen her ex-best friend Flora’s children Thomas and Emily.

Twelve whole years have passed.

The children don’t look a day older than when Beth last saw them.

Why haven’t they grown?

“All Beth has to do is drive her son to his Under-16s away match, watch him play and bring him home. Just because she knows that her former best friend lives near the football ground, that doesn’t mean she has to drive past and try to catch a glimpse of her. Why would Beth do that, and risk dredging up painful memories?

She hasn’t seen Flora Braid for twelve years. But she can’t resist. She parks outside Flora’s house and watches from across the road as Flora and her children, Thomas and Emily. Except there’s something terribly wrong.

Flora looks the same, only older — just as Beth would have expected. It’s the children that are the problem. Thomas and Emily Braid were three and five years old. Today they look precisely as they did then. They are still five and three. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt — Beth hears Flora call them by their names — but they haven’t changed at all. They are no taller, no older. Why haven’t they grown?”

Although I was, at times, at risk of getting lost in the intricacies of the plot points and Beth’s, occasionally delirious stabs in the dark for the truth, Sophie Hannah’s brilliant premise kept me going. My confusion and misdirection was a clever trick on Hannah’s part as I was in the same mindset as Beth. I had to know what had happened to the children.I Beth and I, in tandem, ploughed on and waded through the muddy waters of confusion to get to resolution.

Throughout my reading of the book, I was praying there was no supernatural element. I personally don’t enjoy supernatural writing, or the majority of the sci-fi genre, primarily because a writer can live by the ethos that ‘anything can happen’ and then write it off as magic, aliens or ghosts. Luckily for me, Sophie Hannah lives up to her intricate plot writing reputation and says well within genre.

Sophie Hannah is notorious for setting herself the hardest of challenges; finding the most unbelievable plot, only to then be able to colour in the background and the journey to the answers with absolute ease. Haven’t They Grown is no different. The misdirection in this novel is exceptionally well thought out and planned. There are elements that I just don’t know how Hannah came up with — Hey Chimpy, anyone?

For fans of the twistiest of novels — I recommend I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh.

I’m definitely going to be looking through Sophie Hannah’s back catalogue to see what else catches my eye.