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The Lip

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The Lip

By: Charlie Carroll
Narrated by: Chloe Endean
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About this listen

A haunting debut novel of a young woman living on the edge in a Cornwall the tourists never see, struggling with the aftermath of family tragedy.

Away from the hotels and holiday lets, there is an unseen side of Cornwall, where the shifting uncertainties of the future breed resentment and mistrust.

Melody Janie is hidden. She lives alone in a caravan in Bones Break: a small cliff-top on Cornwall's north coast. She spends her time roaming her territory, spying on passing tourists and ramblers, and remembering. She sees everything and yet remains unseen.

However, when a stranger enters her life, she is forced to confront not only him but the terrible tragedies of her past.

The Lip is a novel about childhood, isolation and mental health, told in the unique and unforgettable voice of Melody Janie.

All of this is Bones Break. All of this is mine. I know every inch of it; I know it as intimately as the seagulls. I stand at dead-centre, my feet teetering on the edge of the lip. Below, the thundering tattoo of waves on rock. Wind catches the tips of my hair, lifting them above my ribs: less force than it takes to knock me down; enough to make me right myself with a step to the left, and then another back again. Here on the lip, it is vital to know where my feet are.

©2021 Charlie Carroll (P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Genre Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction

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Critic reviews

"This unsparing debut novel portrays the unromantic side of Cornwall few visitors see and which so many novelists choose to overlook. Charlie Carroll inhabits his damaged heroine completely." (Patrick Gale)

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Wow! Being Cornish, I was interested in the story and about the statement: 'the Cornwall holidaymakers never see'. It is clear that it is written by a Cornishman who not only knows the land, but the language, terminology and the ways of ‘us locals’. With a flawed yet likeable character, I found myself rooting for Melody Janie all the way, through all the twists and turns her life takes on her own little patch of Cornwall, ‘Bones Break’ and ‘The Lip’. It sucker-punches you in the opening line and leads you, mesmerised into the rest of the book. Tense, gripping, I sat up listening until the wee small hours some nights not actually knowing where the story would take me. It was a journey worth taking, with its twists and turns, ups and downs, like a walk along a Cornish cliff path. Brilliantly read too and by someone with that necessary slight Cornish accent and mercifully not the dreadful ‘ooh-arh, ooh-arh’ of a ‘mumerset accent’.

Stunning , gripping, fantastic

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This story starts quite dark and stays quite dark.

I nearly gave up early doors because I like a happy tale, and I hadn't realised this wasn't necessarily one. However, I hung on in there and I am glad I did. While I expect there are few of us that have been in the characters boots one can, still, relate to the reactions to the situations.

The language used in terms of vocabulary and phrasing is engaging. Nothing not to like.

Well I wasn't expecting that!

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Chloe really does justice to this amazing book. Her voice and tone fit Melody Janie perfectly.She has a staccato , quirky storytelling technique which brings Melody Janie's character to life.Her interpretation of the other characters is spot on too. She brings out the suspense and emotion of the book so well and shows appreciation of the beautiful language of the book. Well done Chloe

Outstanding book and narrator

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