Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.
Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.
A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible – a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.
Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.
* * * * * * *
I really enjoy Alice Feeney’s writing, and I’ve read all of her novels. I think this one is now my favourite! This twisty new novel is guaranteed to keep you guessing right until the end.
Following his wife’s mysterious disappearance, author Grady Green loses everything. Unable to write, and desperate for solace, Grady takes up the offer taking refuge at a writer’s cabin on a remote island. But the island is strange and disorienting, and its inhabitants seem to have a whole range of secrets.
There are a whole host of strange and unsettling characters encountered by Grady as he tries to claw back his sense of self. Abby won’t leave his dreams, and when he begins to see her everywhere, Grady starts to question how much of his visions are due to his continuing insomnia.
With its grim beginning and the shift of setting to the mysterious island of Amberley, ‘Beautiful Ugly’ is much darker than Feeney’s previous novels. I loved it!
‘Beautiful Ugly’ is published on 30th January 2025.
Thank you to NetGalley UK, Pan MacMillan and Alice Feeney for this ARC in return for my honest review.
