Jill Clough

Reviews of "Morph" include: 5.0 out of 5 stars You won't be able to put it down... Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 September 2018 This book amazed me in two ways - firstly, the Lake District so well described that it made me want to go out there and up the fells (and I'm really not an avid hiker...). Secondly, the characters in Morph were well written and the complex issue of growing up and getting to know the person that you are was so engagingly written, that I kept re-discovering both myself and also different people I have met growing up and at university. Morph is a powerful reminder that we are all struggling with one issue or another - and that we never really know what is going on inside another person until they share their thoughts with us. I started reading the book early in the morning and was finished about 12 hours later: I could not put it down and neither will you. An amazing work of literature! Reviews of "Anna and the Snake Queen" include: 5.0 out of 5 stars Finding the magic Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 December 2020 Verified Purchase I thought stories about unhappy children mysteriously transported to, let alone saving, a magical world were a thing of the past: yet that’s precisely what happens to Anna and her little brother, Mikey in Jill Clough’s excellent "Anna and the Snake Queen". But don’t go looking for similarities to the Narnia genre: Jill Clough’s central characters are confronting a very twenty-first century problem, that of domestic abuse, particularly as it is experienced and described by children. The children, with their mother, are obliged to find magic in a safe house where they are seeking refuge from their violent, manipulative father, and at first find joy and excitement in the enchanted island of Pelm. But, in a twist that bears comparison to the author’s assured debut novel "Morph", they find that the magic required to save both the family and the threatened island has to be found not in talking animals, nor even in a sentient form of nature (beautifully created in the rich writing), but much closer to home. "Anna and the Snake Queen" tackles harsh realities while avoiding both preaching and sentimentality. Yet, notwithstanding its unflinching depiction of hidden abuse, it gathers admirable pace and succeeds in expressing hope and trust in the goodness of ordinary people. First review of "If Dreams Die": 5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful mixture of fantasy and reality Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 March 2022 Verified Purchase This was a great book, with wonderful world-building. I particularly loved the descriptions of the Longsleddale valley, the sights, smells and sounds of the Cumbrian Fells. As she's shown in her previous books, this author has an amazing ability to create a sense of place. There were so many things to like - Bird's love of music and the way music weaves through the story, the thin veil between our world and the world of Fae, the tension between Bird and Tom's mother. I liked the way Bird matured in the telling of the story, her struggles with right and wrong. I liked her relationship with her brother, her parents, her aunt and uncle. This is a story I could read again and again.