Published 18th March 2021 by Two Roads.
From the cover of the book:
Away from the hotels and holiday lets, there is an unseen side of Cornwall, where the shifting uncertainties of the future breed resentment and mistrust.Melody Janie is hidden. She lives alone in a caravan in Bones Break: a small cliff-top on Cornwall's north coast. She spends her time roaming her territory, spying on passing tourists and ramblers, and remembering. She sees everything and yet remains unseen.
However, when a stranger enters her life, she is forced to confront not only him but the terrible tragedies of her past.
The Lip is a novel about childhood, isolation and mental health, told in the unique and unforgettable voice of Melody Janie.
'All of this is Bones Break. All of this is mine.
I know every inch of it; I know it as intimately as the seagulls. I stand at dead-centre, my feet teetering on the edge of the lip. Below, the thundering tattoo of waves on rock. Wind catches the tips of my hair, lifting them above my ribs: less force than it takes to knock me down; enough to make me right myself with a step to the left, and then another back again. Here on the lip, it is vital to know where my feet are.'
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Melody Janie lives all alone in a caravan on the edge of the Cornish Cliffs - her beloved kingdom of Bones Break. Fate has not been kind to Melody, and she prefers to keep herself very much apart from other people, especially the tourists who invade her privacy. She normally spends her time watching them from afar and spying on their movements, but with no wish to know them better.
But when a stranger intrudes on her little corner of heaven, Melody Janie is forced to take action and challenge him about his act of trespass on 'her land', and in doing so she is forced to confront the truth about her own past at the same time.
The Lip is an outstanding novel, set in a Cornwall that is somewhat different to the one we generally read about. No romantic, windswept happenings for our author Charlie Carroll here, although the vistas may indeed be beautiful. Instead this is a book about people clinging onto the edge with their fingertips while all around them their world falls away, and it's a theme Carroll injects into his novel in more ways than one.
Melody Janie quite literally lives in the edge of the cliffs, which are eroding under her at an alarming rate, but she is also on the edge of the local community, preferring solitude over mixing with those that know her story (or think they do), and both of these circumstances are products of the tragedies of her childhood. Her world has shrunk to the confines of Bones Break and she lives only to protect the last vestiges of her mother's dream and uphold the custodianship imbued in her by her father.
Charlie Carroll also uses this book to give us brilliant insight into the hidden side of Cornwall. Beneath the picture-postcard scenes, Cornwall is one of the poorest areas of the UK, and has a very uncomfortable relationship with the tourists and second homers that are attracted here by its beauty and clement weather. As traditional ways of life have disappeared, Cornwall needs the money tourism brings, but the proliferation of holiday lets and the demand for bolt-holes from the rat-race has priced many locals out of the housing market, especially the young, and tensions understandably run high. How long can the real Cornwall cling on?
The Lip allows us to see both the beauty and the beastly sides of Cornish life through Melody Janie's eyes, which is really rather clever, and her story allows Carroll to bring in a whole raft of themes in the telling too - childhood, unresolved trauma, isolation and the pressure of modern life all there for us to examine in their dark glory - and oh boy, does he pull off a wonderful sleight of hand in misdirecting us in terms of what we think we know about Melody Janie's story. Bravo, Mr Carroll!
The Lip was an absolute delight for me, and far more of an emotional journey than I was expecting. It took me to some pretty raw and uncompromising places, but along with the darkness, this is also a tale that encompasses the beauty of friendship found in unexpected places, taking a chance, and coming to terms with what life has thrown at us. When the world falls away from under our feet, we do not always have to sink down into the depths - an ending can also be a beginning, and the ending of this book is one that will touch you to the very core. I loved it!
The Lip is available to buy no from your favourite book retailer.
Thank you to Rachael Duncan of Two Roads for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
His debut novel, The Lip, is out in 2021.
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