One Step Closer to You (by Alice Peterson)

(Amazon UK link)

I have loved every book I’ve read by Alice Peterson, since I first discovered her writing nearly fourteen years ago. Her novels cover some important contemporary issues, many of them related to some kind of disability. She does this very sympathetically, and with some great characterisation and storylines. It’s not quite six years since I first read ‘One step closer to you’, but I had almost entirely forgotten the plot, and had no recollection of the characters.

Polly is the main protagonist; she’s a young woman of about thirty. The main storyline starts in 2010, with Polly visiting her counsellor, Stephanie. There are a lot of flashbacks, which could have been confusing. But each short chapter is headed with the year concerned, and I didn’t find it too difficult to keep track. After the first chapter we’re taken right back to December 1989, when Polly is just nine years old.

Polly has a younger brother called Hugo, who she’s very close to. Hugo is partially sighted - he’s legally blind - and he gets a lot of attention from their parents; Polly is angry about that, but feels no resentment towards Hugo, who’s an extremely nice person, both as a child and - in later sections of the book - as an adult. At seven Hugo starts attending a weekly boarding school for the blind; a difficult decision for the whole family, and one that upsets Polly deeply, although it seems to be the right place for him.

So at a fairly young age, Polly starts experimenting with passive aggressive rebellion in the form of alcohol… we learn this early in the book, and it’s a theme throughout. In the main part of the story, she’s a single mother with a young son, Louis. We don’t learn until over half-way through the book why she and Louis’ father Matthew broke up.

Another important part of the story is Polly’s growing friendship with Ben, who is bringing up his niece Emily after her mother (Ben’s sister) died unexpectedly with a congenital heart problem. Emily and Louis are in the same class at school, so they meet at the playground gates. As single people bringing up a child they have a lot in common, and Ben needs a lot of help - he has no idea how to relate to Emily, so Polly starts by teaching him how to braid hair.

I loved the way that the friendship develops - there’s clearly a sense of being soulmates with a shared sense of humour; but neither Polly nor Ben is looking for a romantic relationship; instead they spend time together with the children, helping each other out, even encouraging each other to go on occasional ‘dates’ with other people. And although it’s not that long since I read the book, I had totally forgotten whether or not their friendship developed into anything more.

There were other parts of the story which I did recall, as the plot unfolded, but it didn’t matter at all. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and could hardly put it down by the time I had read the first few chapters. I found the main characters believable and likeable; I enjoyed the glimpses into the café where Polly works, and I thought the portrayal of AA, and of some of the people Polly meets in her gradual restoration to health, was very well done.

The writing is good, the multiple timeline style works well, and it’s an encouraging book despite touching on some deep issues. I’d recommend it very highly to anyone who likes women’s fiction with a bit of a bite.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews