Review: Tollesbury Time Forever
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 3, 2012
I don't even know where to start with this novel. To say I was enthralled would be an understatement.  The beauty of the writing, the use of the English language in the finest way it can be used and the wonderful phrasing would be enough to recommend this book. But add a compelling and heartwrenching protaginist to a story that moves with grace, charm and wit, and you are soon drawn in.Often we call a book a "page turner" or say we "just couldn't stop reading it", but in this case it understates the need to keep reading.  I read this in one day, taking it with me around the house as I tended to chores and cooked dinner.  I didn't want to stop reading for even a minute and when I finished it, I went right back to the begining and re-read it.Tollesbury is a small village in England.  The kind of place that has been off the beaten path for hundreds of years.  A place to grow a family and live a slower life away from the big cities.  The town where Simon Gregory goes to live his adult years as battle his personal demons.As Simon tries to cope with the ever changing emotional battle for his mental health we are privy to the intellectual battle he wages with the music he grew up with and his childhood fears. Or are we?  Nothing is quite clear as the plot twists and turns with unanticipated reversals and surprising revelations.  Just when you think you have Simon quite within your grasp he turns into a cunundrum  within an enigma tied with a puzzle of ribon.  Nothing is ever quite what itseems to be. Is it him?  Or is it us?We often hear the term "literary fiction" and think of a book so caught up in the language that it forgets to add a plot.  The plot in Tollesbury Time Forever is not lacking in anyway.  It is interesting, compelling and emotionally moving.  But have no doubt, this is literary fiction at it's best.  I am sure this novel is going to win awards and well deserved they will be.Karen Bryant Doering