Nightingale Point, named for the pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale, is one of a group of three high-rise dwellings on the Morpeth Estate, London. Its residents are people with normal lives and everyday worries. Some are are friends, some are isolated and lonely, but new residents or old, Nightingale Point is their home.
Some of the residents we will get to know intimately:
Malachi, the architecture student. He has had to grow up quickly to look after his younger brother, Tristan, as their mother was not able to cope. They now live on their own, trying to get by the best they can, but it it a heavy burden for Malachi to carry - especially as he is struggling to get over the break-up with his girlfriend, Pamela. He feels guilty that he did not stand up to her over-protective father or do enough to show her how he really felt.
Tristan, Malachi's fifteen-year-old younger brother. Tristan is drifting through life and mixing with the wrong crowd now Malachi is distracted by his failed romance. He is desperate to make a mark, but he knows deep inside that smoking weed and trying to impress the estate's resident "bad guys" is not something his family would be proud of. He misses Malachi and the close relationship they used to have before he became involved with Pamela...although she did make Malachi happy.
Mary, the nurse, who came to London as a young bride from the Philippines many years ago. She has raised her twins in the flat at Nightingale Point and now looks forward to the visits of her grandchildren. Mary keeps a watchful eye on Malachi and Tristan, and sees them as more her own children than her biological flesh and blood. However, Mary is hiding a secret life and the guilt she feels about her absent husband is eating away at her.
Pamela, still a school-girl and brokenhearted at her break-up with Malachi. She is now back at Nightingale Point living with her over-protective father again, after having been sent away for weeks when their relationship was discovered. Her father will no loner trust her to even leave the flat on her own and she craves the freedom she used to feel when running in the open air. If only she could speak to Malachi and tell him she is back and still loves him. If only her father had not locked her in...
Elvis, trying to settle into life in his new "perfect" flat, with his "perfect" possessions around him. Elvis has been living in sheltered housing until now and he finds life away from the full-time support he used to receive confusing - even with the help of his support worker George and carer Lina. He is a kindly soul, but has not been treated well by some of his fellow residents, and their cruel taunts are upsetting. But Elvis has an inner strength that will shine through and forge a connection with someone unexpected.
One fateful Saturday in 1996, life for the residents of Nightingale Point takes a horrific turn. Will our cast of players survive this day and what will their lives be like after their experiences?
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I absolutely adored this book and it is one of my favourite reads this year. Each of the characters is so beautifully written that they come alive for us in these pages and we really feel that we know them: their hopes and dreams; their guilty thoughts and deeds; their loves and their hates; their most intimate desires - they are all laid bare for us to see. Some of these characters we will come to love in turn, others we will certainly loathe with a passion, and righteous indignation will rear its ugly head at more than one point.
The wonderful thing about this book is that it takes you from the domestic concerns of the Nightingale Point residents to the lives of ordinary folk trying to come to terms with the most horrendous loss of home and loved ones - via the gripping detail of a disaster tale. Your attachment to the characters makes the events of the actual plane crash very difficult to deal with, especially those connected with Pamela. These events inevitably bring out the very best and worst of human nature and you cannot fail to read about them without having your heart in your mouth and tears in your eyes.
Emotion runs very high as our cast of characters try to come to terms with what has happened to them physically and mentally. There is a surprising amount of guilt felt by the survivors of the tragedy, about things that are really not their fault and it is tough being with them while they try to cope with this.
It is fair to say that you will shed some tears along with them, as well as wanting to shake some of them, and punch one of them to Kingdom Come! Bureaucracy will lead to frustration; lessons will be learned; hearts will be broken; new bonds of deep friendship will be made; and most will recover to some degree, but the scars will always remain.
Yes, there is a lot of deep-felt sadness in this book, but life finds a way in the end and I am not going to give away any spoilers.
Nightingale Point is the debut novel of high-rise heartbreak from the Costa Short Story Award winner Luan Goldie. It is based upon real life events that took place in 1992, when a cargo plane crashed into a block of flats in Holland. The aftermath of the plane hitting Nightingale Point will inevitably also bring to mind the terrifying fire at Grenfell Tower, which is so clear in the memories of all of us, so this book serves as a tribute to both the survivors of the 1992 plane crash and those of Grenfell....and a fitting tribute it is too.
I guarantee that Nightingale Point is going to be one of the biggest books of 2019, and it deserves all the praise that will be heaped upon it, so don't miss out!To get you started, click the following link for a chance to read the first chapter of Nightingale Point: Nightingale Point: Extract
From the cover of Nightingale Point:
Nightingale Point is best described as In Our Mad and Furious City meets White Teeth, and explores what happens to the people living on a council estate in East London when a cargo plane loses control and crashes into their homes. It's inspired by a true story - the Bijlmer air disaster in Holland - as well as Luan's own upbringing of growing up in Hackney's Pembury council estate. The result is an important, brilliantly written novel that explores themes of race, working class politics, mental health and the divisions we create in our own backyard.
On an ordinary Saturday morning in 1996, the residents of Nightingale Point wake up to their normal lives and worries.
Mary has a secret life that no one knows about, not even Malachi and Tristan, the brothers she vowed to look after.
Malachi had to grow up too quickly. Between looking after Tristan and nursing a broken heart, he feels older than his twenty-one years.
Tristan wishes Malachi would stop pining for Pamela. No wonder he's falling in with the wrong crowd, without Malachi to keep him straight.
Elvis is trying hard to remember to the instructions his care worker gave him, but sometimes he gets confused and forgets things.
Pamela wants to run back to Malachi but her overprotective father has locked her in and there's no way out.
It's a day like any other, until something extraordinary happens. When the sun sets, Nightingale Point is irrevocably changed and somehow, through the darkness, the residents must find a way back to lightness, and back to each other.
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