The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
Think back to 1979 when Margaret Thatcher was first elected as the UK Prime Minister, Elton John was top of the charts, and the Yorkshire Ripper was at large. Well, this was the era that this book was set in and the location was a small town in Yorkshire. The main characters of the book were best friends Miv (short for Mavis) and Sharon who were aged 12 and were lovers of Enid Blyton.
Miv and Sharon took it upon themselves to find out who the Yorkshire Ripper was, even though the police were frantically trying to identify him. Their starting point was to devise a “List of Suspicious Things” and this could include people and places. Their detective work led them to scrutinise the lives of many people that they came across, but things didn’t always go to plan e.g. they travelled to the red-light district in Leeds by bus, spotted the local vicar there and ended up being escorted home by the police. They were naive and didn’t understand many of the terms they heard adults bandying about e.g. what was a prostitute.
Racism was an issue the girls encountered first hand and witnessed the local shop owned by a Pakistani family being burned down. Nevertheless, they befriended the shopkeeper’s son Ishtiaq who they played chess and cricket with. Domestic abuse and marital affairs came under their scrutiny too as well as mental health issues. The ending was a bolt from the blue and totally unexpected.
This is book about the power of friendship and looking after people in the community. It was both funny and sad - to be honest, I didn’t know what the girls would get up to next. As a result, it was a very addictive read and educational as I didn’t know much about the Yorkshire Ripper. I was a similar age to Sharon and Miv in the late 70s and I could relate to much of the narrative including the swirly carpets that everyone had in their homes.
This was Jennie Godfrey’s debut novel, and I would definitely recommend it. I’m looking forward to her next book!
[Submitted by Lynda]
