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The Art of Hiding

  • Amanda Prowse
  • Oct 2, 2017
  • 4 min read

Release Date-August 22nd 2017

Publisher-Lake Union Publishing

Genre-Women's Fiction

Kindle Edition-290 Pages

🌟🌟🌟Stars

All Opinions Are My Own

May Contain Spoilers.

What would you do if you learned that the life you lived was a lie?

Nina McCarrick lives the perfect life, until her husband, Finn, is killed in a car accident and everything Nina thought she could rely on unravels.

Alone, bereft and faced with a mountain of debt, Nina quickly loses her life of luxury and she begins to question whether she ever really knew the man she married. Forced to move out of her family home, Nina returns to the rundown Southampton council estate—and the sister—she thought she had left far behind.

But Nina can’t let herself be overwhelmed—her boys need her. To save them, and herself, she will have to do what her husband discouraged for so long: pursue a career of her own. Torn between the life she thought she knew and the reality she now faces, Nina finally must learn what it means to take control of her life.

Bestselling author Amanda Prowse once again plumbs the depths of human experience in this stirring and empowering tale of one woman’s loss and love.

Right, I'm going, to be honest here and say that I really struggled with this book and it was only the last few chapters that bumped this up to a three star for me. Until then It was a two all the way, so sorry. I'm obviously in a minority here in regards to how The art Of Hiding was perceived by myself as I've seen many positive reviews singing its praises and this is a well-written story it just personally wasn't really my cup of tea. So I'm going to try and pinpoint what wasn't working for me as there was never one major thing that stood out specifically and also what was actually floating my boat. So first things first I've never read anything by Amanda Prowse before, so was going in blind here. Well, my initial impression was that The Art Of Hiding was really well written, the words flowed easily and the writing style was one that was easy to get lost in. But here comes my main problem, the actual story itself, I found it a bit boring and somewhat one-dimensional. I also wondered whether the author herself has ever lived on the breadline or was this her portrayal of what she thinks it would be like to be in that scenario. I thought to myself why wasn't Nina McCarrick with no income not down the job centre and putting in an application, dare I say it for housing benefit. She was meant to be on her arse after all. It also annoyed me how living on the breadline was initially portrayed all doom and gloom and shitty childhoods, I didn't find it a realistic portrayal of how the other half lives it was very stereotypical in the way it depicted the rich and the poor. I found it hard to connect with the characters especially Nina who I found very whiny and almost childlike in some of her reactions. If I had to choose a character I liked the most it would have to be the sister Tiggy she was a breath of fresh air and also very forgiving considering the way she has been treated by her sister over the past few years I was so glad we had tiggy to add a bit of realism to this tale. So a brief description of The Art Of Hiding is Nina McCarrick has the perfect life. Until that is her husband Finn dies in a car crash leaving Nina and their Two sons in a mountain of debt and their whole lives unravelling. Nina moves her boys back to the streets of Southampton where she grew up and The Art Of Hiding is really the story of how Nina and her children cope and grow as individuals as their world implodes. As I said earlier I couldn't initially connect, but then a bit before the end I felt it and this is mainly what made me bump this up a star, I had a lump in my throat as Nina and her kids visit their former home with Tiggy, it was very poignant and sentimental and after pages of just reading, I actually started to feel the words written. Overall though this book didn't make me feel good, On finishing, I felt rather sad and deflated and I like my fiction to leave me feeling rejuvenated, an emotional wreck, happy even sad, but not deflated and down that's a no-no. I really do think I would enjoy other of Amanda Prowse's work as I really did like the writing style It was just the Art Of Hiding just didn't quite hit the mark for me. So, In conclusion, this is a well-written story hence the three stars, It personally wasn't quite for me, yourself well we are all diverse in our likes and dislikes so give it a go, I would so love to hear your take on this. I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an arc of The Art Of Hiding By Amanda Prowse, this is my own voluntary, honest opinion.

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