This Is How We Are Human by Louise Beech @LouiseWriter @OrendaBooks #BlogTour #BookReview #JubilantJune #ThisIsHowWeAreHuman

Happy Tuesday!! I’m seriously thrilled to be joining the epic blog tour for Louise Beech’s This Is How We Are Human.

Massive thanks to the wonderful Anne Cater for inviting me on the blog tour. I read my own purchased e-copy of This Is How We Are Human.

The Blurb

Sebastian James Murphy is twenty years, six months and two days old. He loves swimming, fried eggs and Billy Ocean. Sebastian is autistic. And lonely. 

Veronica wants her son Sebastian to be happy … she wants the world to accept him for who he is. She is also thinking about paying a professional to give him what he desperately wants. 

Violetta is a high-class escort, who steps out into the night thinking only of money. Of her nursing degree. Paying for her dad’s care. Getting through the dark. 

When these three lives collide – intertwine in unexpected ways – everything changes. For everyone. 

A topical and moving drama about a mother’s love for her son, about getting it wrong when we think we know what’s best, about the lengths we go to care for family … to survive …  This Is How We Are Human is a searching, rich and thought-provoking novel with an emotional core that will warm and break your heart. 

What Did I Think?

This book is about sex, sex and vulnerable people. Mainly sex to be honest. But not in a smutty way. It’s the side of sex that gives you a connection in life, whether it’s a friendship, company but also that carnal urge.

Sebastian is a 20 year old (or rather 20 years old, 6 months and 2 days) but he’s no ordinary young man. He’s an extrordinary young man with autism. He knows what he wants, more so than any other man his age but with his overly protective mum Veronica around, it’s proving a lot more difficult to get. From the heartbreaking opening (my heart was in my mouth as I read it) when I met Sebastian right to the very end (equally as emotional), I adored this sweet innocent young man.

But this is not just about being vulnerable like Sebastian, Isabelle is a vulnerable soul. Trying to keep her studies going and earn enough money to look after her dad, she’s taken advantage of by her clients. My heart really went out to this young woman trying to do the best with what life has given her. Her heart is in the right place, looking after those she cares about.

Yet another beautifully written, at points heartwarming at others heartbreaking, story comes from the mind of Louise Beech. This woman’s books are each so different from one another but also unique – I really don’t know how she does it. The story Beech has curated in This Is How We Are Human felt so real, a situation that could easily occur in real life. The characters she has created are so personable and individuals I just wanted to smother with comforting hugs. Bravo Louise, another brilliant, emotional read 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Who Is Louise Beech?

Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. The follow-up, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Both of her previous books Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer Who Lost were widely reviewed, critically acclaimed and number-one bestsellers on Kindle. The Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award in 2019. Her 2019 novel Call Me Star Girl won Best magazine Book of the Year, and was followed by I Am Dust.