Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King is a collection of ten short stories which explore themes such as "desire and heartache, loss and discovery".

I liked some of the stories more than the others. Five Tuesdays in Winter is the one I liked the most, about a bookshop owner falling in love with his employee and his relationship with his daughter. Creature was my least liked, I didn't really want to finish that one. I don't like the idea that 'coming of age' and 'sexual assault' are often paired together and don't like to read about it. Some I found pointless like the North Sea I understand the relationship it depicted between the mother and the daughter, but I found the end very odd and uncomfortable. Mansard was strange didn't see the point of it? I didn't feel like there was a plot or we were moving towards anything. Waiting for Charlie was interesting and to some extent memorable.  The others fell flat for me, and I don't recall the plot for them. Timeline was trouble especially as we were flashing back to two relationships whilst in the present for the main story line and I don't think it was as clear as it could've been.

King's writing however was arguably the best part of Five Tuesdays in Winter.

Book 168 of 2022 

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan, Picador, as I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.