Jamie Matson had once enjoyed a wonderful life working alongside her best friend, organising adventures for single-parent families, and her son Bo’s artistic flair a source of pride rather than concern.
She hadn’t been prepared to lose her business, her home, and her friend. Not all in one dreadful year. And now she finds herself reeling - rebuilding her world, with Bo at its heart - swallowing her pride and asking for help.
Jamie certainly hadn’t expected to find such hope and camaraderie in the queue at her local Food Bank - thrown together with an unlikely and colourful group of people - all of them struggling to get by, yet still determined to reclaim their lost careers and agency over their lives. Even if just choosing their own groceries again is a goal they can all share.
As their friendships flourish, they quickly find it’s easier to be objective about each other than about themselves, and decide that - when you’re all out of options - it’s okay to bend the rules a little and create your own.
Review: I feel like this book is the one that no one is writing. This book is real life. This book reflects what happened so quickly and so uncontrollably to so many people as a result of everything that happened in 2020. And yet it is not a depressing book, it is not a book that will bring you down and it doesn’t focus on 2020 it’s the aftermath. This book is uplifting and hopeful and shows what human kindness, hope and spirit can look like. I am a huge fan of this book and I will be pushing it on everyone!
I loved getting to meet Jamie and Bo, hear their story and see Jamie fight so hard to give her son the life he deserves. Jamie and Bo are a single parent family suffering at the hands of the rental market, the minimum wage job market and then the judgement rather than help that they receive from Bo’s school. Jamie had it all but unfortunately a travel company couldn’t survive what happened in 2020 and so she finds herself in this position. She is such a relatable character because she sees how unfair and unjust the world is, especially her little world and yet she doesn’t complain about it because she knows that she has to play the game just to survive. Bo is such a great kid but is so let down by his school. He also suffers from chronic asthma which I also don’t think is talked about enough in books but it is something that affects the lives of so many children like Bo.
Bo’s school is a whole other kettle of fish.I really hope that Penny Parks didn’t write this school from first hand experience because the way that school treats Bo and Jamie is so bad and does not follow the duty of care that schools have. They are also certainly not an inclusive school and I felt so bad about the way they treated poor Bo-I would have loved to have taught a child as thoughtful as he was! Bo is so great and is the antidote to all the negativity in their world. He is artistic and funny and asks all the questions that people are thinking but are too afraid to ask-I loved that about him.
There is a whole cast of characters who are living similar lives to Jamie and Bo and getting along with their lives regardless because they have to. I thought that Jamie’s ‘Village” was well-selected and well-written because everyone who reads this will be able to find someone they can relate to and someone they can empathise with. I can’t go into too much detail about the supporting cast of this novel because to do so would definitely involve spoilers! I was angry at points reading this book but I was also hopeful and joyful and I just loved seeing these characters triumph in the face of adversity. I really loved this book and I hope everyone picks it up because I know you will relate to it as much as I did!
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