Book Review - Below The Big Blue Sky by Anna McPartlin

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Title: Below The Big Blue Sky

Author: Anna McPartlin

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Zaffre

Publication Date: 23rd July 2020

Rating: 5 Stars

There's no family quite like the Hayes, and yet they're just like any other - they love each other, they look out for each other and they drive each other mad. When their youngest, Rabbit, dies tragically at just forty, the Hayes are almost torn apart by their grief.

Without her beloved mum, twelve-year-old Bunny is adrift; without Rabbit, there can be no Bunny. Her Granny is concerned when Bunny insists on being called by her real name, Juliet. Even surrounded by the noise and chaos of the Hayes, Juliet feels lost and alone.

Meanwhile, Rabbit's sister Grace has something else on her mind. She's got the gene that made her sister ill, and she hasn't told anyone yet. All she can think about are the things she's always wanted to do, like fly a plane or climb a mountain, or watch her four children grow up. She doesn't know how to share the news that may break her family, but she knows she needs their support, now more than ever.

Despite squabbling over what Rabbit will wear at the wake and their dad burying himself in the past with his diaries, the Hayes family know there's only one way they'll get through this: together.

This huge-hearted novel is about grief, family, the messiness of life and finding humour in the most unexpected of places. Below the Big Blue Sky will make you laugh, cry and fill you with joy.

Emotional… crying both at the start and end and bits in the middle too.  Takes a lot for real tears to fall when reading but Anna McPartlin managed that rather early in the book. 

It’s though uplifting, it feels like it comes full circle and if you haven’t read the first book, then it starts with a massive spoiler for the ending of that one! 

Split into various parts, and each part we alternate between the focus of various members of the Hayes family as they come to terms with life after Rabbit. It is really easy to follow with each chapter clearly headed and by the end I felt as though I was part of the bigger wider Hayes family. 

I have absolutely no words to describe this book, or how it made me feel. It was beautifully written, tugged my heart strings like nothing else and was a really special book to read. 

Realistically I can’t do justice to this book, it’s wonderful, it makes me feel glad to be alive and you will need to have tissues ready.  The author has written something so fantastic that all I can say Is read it for yourself, without much prior info and be gripped into this family’s highs and lows. You won’t be disappointed. 

Thank you Zaffre and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.