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ClareR (5841 KP) rated The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings in Books

Jan 24, 2023

The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings

Joanna Nadin | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

I loved this twisty tale about identity and ambition.
The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings by Joanna Nadin begins in a small Cornish seaside town. Jason longs for more than working in his manipulative fathers pub, and wants to escape his life. When a group of wealthy young people arrive in the town, including the twins Daisy and Bea, he is drawn into their circle.

He spends more and more time with them, until the night that both Jason and Bea drown in an accident.

30 years later, writer James Tate is asked by Daisy Hemmings to ghost write her autobiography. James is a master of reinvention: he knew Daisy 30 years ago when she, her twin and their friends spent a summer together in a small Cornish village.

It’s made clear from the start that James is in fact Jason (so I’m giving nothing away), but the really interesting thing is how exactly he did it, how he managed to convince everyone that he’s someone completely different.

The characters in this are all really interesting and so well written: the twins and how completely different they are from one another; how their wealthy friends contrast starkly against Jason and his life. Whether they’re likeable or not, I really wanted to find out more about them.

I enjoyed the alternating timelines - how happenings in 1988 impacted on the present - I particularly liked how we’re introduced to the Jason/ James character right at the beginning. Their lives couldn’t be more different.

I’ve relished both of Joanna Nadin’s previous adult books (The Queen of Bloody Everything and The Talk of Pram Town), and after reading Daisy Hemmings, I’m looking forward to whatever comes next.