Synopsis
Intriguing and compelling… a tale that grips until the very last page – Jodi Taylor, bestselling author of The Chronicles of St Mary’s. The Things We Learn When We’re Dead is about how small decisions can have profound and unintended consequences, but how we can sometimes get a second chance. On the way home from a dinner party, Lorna Love steps into the path of an oncoming car. When she wakes up she is in what appears to be a hospital – but a hospital in which her nurse looks like a young Sean Connery, she is served wine for supper, and everyone avoids her questions. It soon transpires that she is in Heaven, or on HVN, because HVN is a lost, dysfunctional spaceship, and God the aging hippy captain. She seems to be there by accident… or does God have a higher purpose after all? Despite that, The Things We Learn When We’re Dead is neither sci-fi nor fantasy. It is a book about memory and how, if we could remember things slightly differently, would we also be changed? In HVN, Lorna can at first remember nothing. But as her memories return – some good, some bad – she realises that she has decisions to make and that, maybe, she can find a way back home. “Clever and compelling… this book is hugely original and well worth a read…hugely enjoyable.” Book Bag “A gem of a book…a really good book about life and growing up.” Book Lore Charlie Laidlaw was born in the west of Scotland and is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. He has been a national newspaper journalist and worked in defence intelligence. He is married with two grown-up children. Visit http://www.charlielaidlawauthor.com
My Review
I’d like to thank Charlie for sending me a copy of The Things We Learn When We’re Dead for a non biased review.
The Things We Learn When We’re Dead is a beautifully written and very unique book.
I started it not quite knowing what to expect, as I got further into the story it felt very much like opening a present that had boxes within boxes under the wrapping paper!
The book surprised me but in a good way. It was not what I expected at all , because of this it kept me intrigued from page one until I finished.
The story starts as Lorna is run over, she awakes in a hospital bed. By this point you realise she’s dead but the penny hasn’t dropped for Lorna yet. From here on in the story definitely makes you open your mind. From God who is an ageing hippy, heaven which turns out to be a spaceship and a chain smoking ‘angel’ this book will keep you entertained until the very last word!
All About Charlie
Charlie Laidlaw was born in Paisley and is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. He has been a national newspaper journalist and worked in defence intelligence. He now runs his own marketing consultancy in East Lothian. He is married with two grown-up children.
Where To Find Charlie
Wrong side of forty 