Hush, Hush

There’s a reassuring familiarity and lugubriousness about Nora Grey’s life, lived out in the quiet, sleepy, rain-washed backwaters of suburbia. In many ways, Nora lives a limited life, her father died prior to the novel’s start and she is a diligent student at school. All of this changes, however, when she is paired up with Patch, the new boy, in her biology class.

The drama of the novel arises largely from the wholly convincing portrayal of the relationship that develops between Nora and Patch. This goes from wariness and apprehension to a point of excited assurance. There’s an electric quality to the way it evolves. It’s the burgeoning of Nora’s life that is most admirable in the book. That Patch is a fallen angel, feels almost incidental; he is the key that unlocks Nora’s life and it is this quality of absolute animation and of full engagement with the opportunities and possibilities surrounding her that makes the book both arresting and inspiring.