It’s wonderful when a writer you admire praises your work. I have permission to quote the whole of Anthony Peregrine’s review which he posted as a Verified Purchaser on the book’s Amazon page. Anthony is an excellent travel journalist who writes enticingly and knowledgeably about France for the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph and other publications. I’m so pleased with what he’s said about my writing.
Anthony Peregrine reviews Elfrida Next Door
“I read Elfrida Next Door through in one afternoon – which perhaps tells you all you need to know about my appreciation of the book. Very difficult to let it go, even though I should have been doing other stuff.
The story romps along. I particularly liked the fact that bad guy Nicholas was just so recognisably normal. Not some kind of evil svengali, but an ordinary fellow having let extraordinary circumstances catch up with, and overtake, him. That was utterly convincing, as was the whole “confinement” story
In truth,, I thoroughly enjoyed the company of the characters. I thought at first that maybe locked-up Angela was a bit unbelievably wimpish – but then I thought back to all those women who emerge after years of confinement at the hands of abusive men, and so many of them seem, at least, ambiguous about their captors. After that, I realised that Angela worked well. That’s one of the key strengths of the story – none of the main characters is a caricature. And there’s uncertainty on all sides.
So, well, in short: terrific. And, if I thought the story ended a bit abruptly, it’s maybe because I wanted to spend more time with these people. Ms Barrett has a great gift for creating characters like that – normal men and women whose complexities run deep.”