Keely has grown up living with her Dad and young brother at a caravan camp by the rugged coast, collecting coal from the unforgiving sea and delivering it to locals. When tragedy strikes, Keely’s life as she knows it is upended. Finn has grown up with his grandparents, never having known his parents. Shy, uncomfortable in his own skin and awkward with those around him, he can’t seem to find his place in the world. When Keely and Finn’s paths cross, they are two broken, lonely souls, at odds with the world around them and yearning for connection, affection. They find it in each other, consumed by a love at times beyond their understanding; but is love enough to move on from past traumas, to leave old versions of themselves behind, and to keep them living in the present, looking to their shared future. 

This one broke my heart; such beautiful, lyrical writing that balances both a quiet stillness and intensity with an absolute depth of feeling and visceral emotion. Set mostly in 1980s Northern England around the colder months, Crewe deftly and atmospherically conjures the bleakness, the seeping chill, the harshness of the landscape and climate. The first warmth we see is at the peak of Keely and Finn’s love, before dipping back into winter’s chill. Keely’s relationship with her father is beautifully explored; a man who has lived a hard existence and who does love his daughter in his own awkward way but is drowning in his grief. The sea, becoming a character in itself, is both a friend and an enemy; providing their livelihood but also taking from them. And Finn’s kindly grandparents try to do their best for him but a wall remains between them.

This is a novel about grief, loss, abandonment, and the ways we handle them; about trauma and the ways we carry forward; about our pasts that haunt us and come calling, no matter how much we try to push on. It’s about knowing ourselves, who we are; the people and places we have come from. It’s about the unclosable distances between people, the things that hang heavy but remain unspoken. It’s about the need to be understood, seen; to be listened to without interjection, to be stood by silently and solidly. It’s about love in all its unfathomable complexity. Keely and Finn, and their story, will get under your skin, and stay with you long after.

***

True Love has just been published by Double Day. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the DRC.

***

Paddy Crewe was born in Middlesbrough and studied at Goldsmiths. His debut novel, My Name Is Yip, has been shortlisted for the Betty Trask, the Wilbur Smith, a South Bank Sky Arts Award and The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize.