Bristol author Marguerite Valentine’s new novel Echo documents a young girl’s transition from troubled adolescence to adulthood in uncompromising detail. Stylistically, meanwhile, the book seamlessly melds realism and magical realism. Marguerite took time out of her busy schedule to talk to Bristol/24! 7 – starting with her influences and background and when she began to write. “Thinking about influences on my writing, I realised fairly early on that for many, life is tough, usually because they’ve been dealt a bad hand of cards – but it’s how they play those cards that’s of interest to me. My work and background in...
Read MoreEcho is sharp and sassy – she courts challenge – meeting and losing her first and only love, discovering hidden information about her missing father, an obsession with a Welsh poet, and the very person who should help her – lets her down spectacularly – the revenge is sweet and entertaining. You will love Echo from the beginning to the end – It is a compelling read. Lorraine Edington
Read MoreEcho – Marguerite Valentine. This page-turning novel is set in a dramatic landscape that reflects Echo’s early experiences in handling relationships. We are taken on an adventure into the heart of a feisty teenager who doesn’t flinch in adversity but remains true to herself whatever the circumstances. Anna Schlesinger (5 stars)
Read MoreMarguerite Valentine’s novel Echo, transports the reader in the, often irritable, humourus and also painful and tender world of the young adolescent : Echo. Echo, tries to separate from her mother, without the help of a father, who left Echo and her mother when Echo was born. Echo’s efforts to try to find a father figure in the outside world, without having had any experience or capacity to discriminate between seductive and real affection, results in her having to learn from bitter experience, who the people are who have her real interest at heart. For Echo to transform into the adult, who calls herself Anja, she has to learn to listen and develop her own...
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“I waited for ten minutes and then I closed in on him. I could see JF sitting at his desk under the window. His hand was on the touch pad of his computer and he was looking intently at the screen. I had to be fast. I stood on the pavement in the shadows, pulled on my mask, then keeping to the wall, slithered down the steps. I reached basement level. I stood watching him. He was oblivious to my presence and to the security light which snapped on. I tapped lightly on the window. He glanced up. I pressed my contorted rubber face against his window, dragging my hands down as if I was clawing my way in.” Urban, angry and quirky, Echo is a young woman who won’t...
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Marguerite Valentine is a former child protection specialist now writing psychological thrillers. Her debut novel is 'Between The Shadow And The Soul'.