Virginia Lane is not a Hero - Rosalind Stopps

 

There is something wonderfully uplifting about a novel that has a protagonist of mature years kicking butt. The title doesn't suggest that, it suggests it's going to be an Eleanor Oliphant, Dawn Brightside kinda story but it isn't! Many nails were bitten and many tissues were used during the reading of this book.

Ever since her beloved Jed died, all Virginia wants is to be left alone. But the little girl who lives down the street is so sweet, that even in her grief state Virginia's heart softens whenever she sees her.

And that's why Virginia knows there's something wrong in the little girl's house. So when the mother asks Virginia to take her child far away, somewhere safe, Virginia says yes.

The last thing Virginia would call herself is a hero. She's just doing what anyone else would do, right? But when she realises how much danger the child is in, she knows she needs to do everything she can to keep her safe… Because sometimes it's the most ordinary people who end up doing the most extraordinary things. 

Thus sayeth the blurb! But the book is so much more. For a start there are some memorable characters, not least Virginia herself, but Jackson and his brother, Noah (surely one of the most philosophically precocious and preceptive eleven year olds to populate the pages of a story!) And then there's Annie, a pen pal of Virginia's late husband whose own story could have been the subject of a full length novel, not to mention Noah and Jackson's grandmother, battling illness. And yet it is not a wholly character driven story, there is a dark, tense plot that explores several contemporary social issues not in a preachy, teachy way but in the best way for maximum impact - a novel. 

Whilst on the face of it the events in this story are very unlikely in a reality situation this is fiction and in the hands of a gifted story teller it all works. There is a pleasing balance between the darker aspects of the story and  some deadpan humour in some places.  

Rosalind Stoops gets under the skin of all her characters and enables the reader to feel what they are feeling, no mean feat, given the range of ages contained within the book from a toddler to a pensioner! So whilst Virginia is ostensibly the main character the others are never far behind her. 

You read a book like this and are forced to consider what you might do in a similar situation. Could you be bold enough? It is a fiction that offers more than the mere telling of a story it asks us to consider some of the more dire aspects of today's world and the impact on others. In this story there is a resolutions but an astute reader will know that it is not always the case.

My thanks to HQ Stories for a gifted copy of this book.