In this new addition to Matt Haig’s collection of dark and mysterious tales, the gap between adult and teenage is bridged as he provides a novel that will be enthralling to both.
The Radleys are an ordinary family, or so it would seem. They live in an ordinary house, in an ordinary street, in an ordinary village. Any differences between them and other families are so discreet that they become negligible. However nature appears to avoid the Radleys. And if you happened to walk down their ordinary street of Orchard Lane at night, number 17 would lose its innocence: it is the only house that lets light escapes from a gap in the curtains of an upstairs window. It is only the combination of these small things that can draw a second glance at the Radleys. And it is at this point you will begin to notice that they possess a secret, that with the guidance of the Abstainer’s Handbook, the parents desperately hide from their children and everyone else.
‘The Radleys’ is an original young adult novel which will contrast with the wide array of genres on offer to teenagers due its realistic and blunt style. It maintains a sense of mystery and the supernatural throughout which leaves the reader clinging to every page. For those that love adventure and heart-pumping action, the storyline may leave something to be desired but everyone who hangs on secrets and the strange will be hooked by every shadowy twist that Haig creates. The book is the type which will be either loved or hated but Haig’s literary ability means readers will hang on right to the end before they decide.
