Amy and Lan: The enchanting new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Outcast

Review 1
What happens when Eden turns sour.
Not much seemed to happen but there was a feeling that something would. The friendship between Amy & Lan is poignant, but doomed. I did like the parts where Lan finds joy in small things, and when he explained that the past and present are real but not the future. Sometimes hard to work out which of the children was narrating the story, which couples were together and who their children were.

Review 2
It took me sometime to get into the flow of reading this book, perhaps the build-up of the story line was a bit slow for me! But the last third of it, the move/ the parting was quite gripping and made me emotional.

Review 3
I liked the interaction between Amy and Lan. The innocence of their relationship, the fun and freedom they had. I enjoyed the idea of everyone living in a small community. It’s difficult to say if I had a favourite character, although Finbar was intriguing, but of course we didn’t get any background information because it was told through the eyes of the children. I also kept waiting for something awful to happen involving any one of the characters, especially after the early scene involving the axe. The book had an almost inevitable sad ending. But also with the possibility of happiness for the future.

*Gifted by Vintage and the Reading Agency* Amy and Lan is both an amusing and tragic presentation of rural life in the mid-late 2000s. Its two principal characters, Amy and Lan, provide a strong narrative voice for the plot. The story of Frith and the families that reside is told through the childish eyes of its two leads; trying to comprehend and navigate the complex dramas of the adults on the farm.

I felt thoroughly immersed in Frith and its characters, particularly throughout the second half of the book. There was an attention to detail that enhanced the setting and time period; references to Gameboys, Geox shoes and Franz Ferdinand felt nostalgic as someone who grew up in the 2000s. The adult drama of Frith and the way in which it was filtered through the childish perceptions of its narrators, often relayed through overheard conversations, was a highlight. It was both believable and upsetting to read. The book is able to approach complicated characters without being mean-spirited or tasteless. I thought the portrayal of Finbar and his struggles with Bipolar Disorder (which the children mistake with Polio) was handled especially well. The anecdotes surrounding farm life and the animals that inhabit Frith was another highlight, especially the story of Gabriella Christmas, a cow that grows up alongside the children throughout the book. The uncompromising presentation of birth, life and death on the farm was handled excellently, I found Amy and Lan’s struggles with these facts of life very poignant and effective.

I found some of the early chapters relied too heavily on exposition; the history of the families in Frith was necessary to understanding the dynamics of the characters but I felt it could’ve been explained in a less obvious way than ‘the story’ told by the adults. I also felt the city outsiders that visited frith, disrespectful and ignorant of rural life, lacked depth and felt heavy-handed in their implementation. I think it stood out in a book where otherwise its flawed characters are treated with nuance.

Despite a few gripes I recommend the novel, I would happily read a sequel or watch an adaptation.

Initially, I did not expect to enjoy this book and took a few chapters to settle in. This was not helped by the alternate chapters by different narrators and the introduction of many characters. The story is set on a farm which has been settled by families seeking a simpler life. It is told through the eyes of seven-year-old friends, Amy and Lan. This perspective was particularly effective when describing life on the farm – one could feel the joy of their innocent play and the sorrow of the loss of much-anticipated animals. However, this perspective also subtly introduced darker elements as the children grew older; money difficulties, external influences such as school and the holiday makers, mental health issues, and betrayal. I felt that the adult characters overall were cyphers, with the possible exception of Finbar. The descriptions in the book were very effective and you could almost smell the hay. The losses were also palpable, especially in the last few chapters. I did enjoy this book and I would recommend giving it a try. Gifted by Vintage and The Reading Agency

A unique format with the story being told by 2 children (Amy & Lan) over a period of 5 years. It was slow to start and most of the parents seemed ill equipped for leaving city life and being self sufficient whereas the children loved the freedom and adventure that resulted from their parents lack of supervision and care. They became adventurous, resourceful and resilient.
I was irritated by many of the adults who were so engrossed in their own lives that the children ran wild in dirty clothes and missing school.
I was dissapointed at the outcome of the story and the disregard for the innocent children and adults.

Amy and Lan, Gifted by Vintage and The Reading Agency to the Bay Book Club in Redcar
A story about the “real” Good Life through the eyes of Amy and Lan, and what initially apppears to be carefree childhood, where they are trying to understand changes in their lives, some as a consequence of life on a farm and the relationship with the animals and ‘town’ kids, and others as a consequence of the behaviour of the adults around them. Although the reader could see what was coming in the undercurrents of conversations heard and the behaviours the children witness from the beginning but don’t understand, it’s still a shock when the infrastructure of Frith changes forever.
Initially I found it quite difficult to follow and without any direction, one chapter being written as ‘Lan’ , the next as ‘Amy’, which made it a bit more difficult to follow which parents/family belonged to which child, but it’s worth persevering with.
I adored Finpbar’s character, although had a small part in the book, he obviously was being cared or by the Frith Community, and the book portrayed traditional community support values, which took me back to the village I grew up in - everyone knew everybody, but also helped each other out.
Although a slow start to the book, once I got halfway through I had to finish it.
Would love a sequel to see what happens to the children and how their upbringing shaped their lives, and also what becomes of the Frith community and way of life

Gifted by Vintage and The Reading Group.
This novel tells the story of three families leaving city life to run a farm between 2005 to 2010.
It is narrated by two of the children, Amy and Lan, who are both aged seven. This device did not work for me as their voices and perceptions were largely indistinguishable so it served no purpose.
I did not feel that the writer offered any fresh ideas to the theme of the loss of innocence and it seemed laboured and unoriginal. The style, throughout,was heavy handed and lacked subtlety e.g the adults are aiming to create their own Paradise so we have characters named Adam and Eden!
The main characters were stereo typed with a token Asian woman and young man with mental health issues. Visitors from the city were uniformly ignorant, condescending and shallow.I did not engage with any of the people described in the book and found it hard to picture them except in very general terms. Adam, in my opinion,was the only one who was not one dimensional.
It was not credible that the supposedly feisty Harriet would allow her husband and best friend to conduct an affair for five years without taking any action.
Some of the recollections highlighted how wild and dangerous childhood can be, especially without the supervision of adults.
The references to popular music helped to set the era and mood, it is easy to identify with particular songs evoking memories.
The descriptions of the land,weather and farming tasks were vivid and well written.I had to skip over the many passages describing the inevitable sad endings for many of
the farm animals.
Overall, this book did not hold my interest and I am unsure of the target audience.

I finished ‘Amy and Lan’ wanting to know how they adapted/enjoyed/survived the next ten years of their lives. Will there be a sequel?
It was interesting reading children’s perspectives of living in a hippy commune farm; although I have to say I was not entirely convinced by Lan’s and Amy’s voices.
I wonder what teenage readers might make of it.
I found it difficult to get into but the last third was very quick reading.
Themes of growing up and losing the innocence of childhood are woven into the story, along with the difficulties of friendships. The effects of adult relationships on children beg the question of who really are the adults here.
The realities of ‘the rural idyll’ pervade the book.

Simple plotline of two children part of a three family group leaving the rat race for Country Living although not related they have a wonderfully close connection as they share life together ,it took a while to work out who was who in each family which was distracting,and I found the book a little hard to get into, pleasant read but I felt underwhelmed expecting some great happening or thrills, I didn't get the feeling of I can't put the book down and I almost abandoned it halfway through but as I was reviewing I felt I needed to read it all, surprisingly I got more into it towards the end and it does become more interesting and the underlying thoughts that you have at the beginning do actually play out ,the ending is actually quite sad especially for the children but not unexpected, I think it would actually be a good read for teenage children going through parents separating as it does have a very real storyline of how simple and idyllic life can be,seem and feel in childhood when the adults around them are actually living a life that's far from simple

The chapters alternate between Lan’s voice and Amy’s. It takes a bit of getting used to. Working out who belongs to each child and who the others were took me a long time. They are definitely childish voices, with childish interests. We get clues to what are the issues with the adults through their childish observations, which they patently do not understand. Lan says that Amy never thinks that her mum ’might just go off one day’, which is a hint at what his mum has already done and so might do again. He catches his mum and Amy’s Dad kissing and ‘it wasn’t a love kiss because they aren’t married’. He dismisses it because he does not understand.

What I liked best
I loved exploring childhood with Amy and Lan; finding out what interested them. Lan’s list of the best things ever was super- they were all things we would agree with, but forget in the hustle and bustle of adult life, like ‘rain on lettuces because they look like glass’ and ‘watching caterpillars chew.’ When they decided to spit toothpaste water on Em, it really made me laugh. As a child, it would be one of those thoughts that you couldn’t get out of your head once thought and so tempting. Lan says the there isn’t any ending to the story of Frith because it’s the story of how they came to Frith- ‘ and we’re never ever ever leaving’- a child’s belief that things will always be the same. Sadie Jones has really captured the mind of the child, free of preoccupations with money and jobs and focussing on relationships.
All the way through, there is a tension, as you know something dreadful will happen at the end, but it still came as a shock and left me crying with Amy.
This was an easy read and for most of the time it was cute, but there was always an undercurrent of ‘what is going to go wrong?’ It keeps you reading to find out.