Book Synopsis:
This book will have you breaking your heart one minute and laughing out loud the next.
In the dying days of the old asylums, three paths intersect.
Henry was only a boy when he waved goodbye to his glamorous grown-up sister; approaching sixty, his life is still on hold as he awaits her return.
As a high-society hostess renowned for her recitals, Matty’s burden weighs heavily upon her, but she bears it with fortitude and grace.
Janice, a young social worker, wants to set the world to rights, but she needs to tackle challenges closer to home.
A brother and sister separated by decades of deceit. Will truth prevail over bigotry, or will the buried secret keep family apart?
Told with compassion and humour, Anne Goodwin’s third novel is a poignant, compelling and brilliantly authentic portrayal of asylum life, with a quirky protagonist you won’t easily forget.
Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home is available in paperback and ebook now. You can purchase your copy using the links below.
My Review:
Matilda Windsor is coming home is a beautiful, absorbing, heart breaking read that will definitely be staying with me.
Firstly I have a bit of a fascination with the old Asylums so I always find them interesting to read about. It’s thankfully hard to imagine in these days such a cold, final method of care for mental health patients as there used to be – especially as some of the patients didn’t actually have mental any mental health problems which I always find quite shocking. As such I enjoyed reading about the transition from the old style asylum to the softer community approach we have now.
The author clearly has some experience in this field which made this story seem very real and my heart broke for Matilda and all the other patients, especially those who had spent so long in the asylums that they were unable to live outside of a care setting. I absolutely loved Matilda as a main character and enjoyed following her story throughout the book. Her story is heartbreaking and I often wished I could reach into the book and give her a hug. I loved the descriptions of the imaginary world she has created and felt glad she had that to take her away from her everyday life. The different characters help offer different views of the care system which I thought was a good touch as it helped me to understand more about the history of asylums and the mental health care that used to be available. It was especially interesting to see the reasoning behind the old Asylums and the attitudes towards the patients.
Overall I really enjoyed this book which had a great pace to it. I quickly grew fond of Matilda and found the book hard to put down as I wanted to find out more about her life. I think this would be a great book club read as I feel there would be lots to discuss.
Huge thanks to Zoe from Zooloo’s blog yours for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
nne Goodwin grew up in the non-touristy part of Cumbria,where this novel is set. When she went to university ninety miles away, no-onecould understand her accent. After nine years of studying, her first post onqualifying as a clinical psychologist was in a long-stay psychiatric hospitalin the process of closing.
Her debut novel, Sugarand Snails, about a woman who has kept her past identity a secret forthirty years, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize. Her secondnovel, Underneath, about a manwho keeps a woman captive in his cellar, was published in 2017. Her short story collection, Becoming Someone,on the theme of identity, was published in November 2018. Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book ofprize-winning short stories.
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Thank you so much for your review and for taking part in the tour today xx
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