Tennis Lessons by Susannah Dickey @SusannahDickey @RandomTTours @DoubledayUK #TennisLessons #BlogTour

Tennis Lessons by Susannah Dickey was published in Hardback by Doubleday on 16th July 2020. My thanks to the publisher for the review copy and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part in the blog tour. 

For fans of I MAY DESTROY YOU and FLEABAG 

'A raw, fierce, shockingly honest coming-of-age story.' LOUISE O'NEILL 

'Incredibly funny and honest . . . by turns charming and disgusting and I loved it' NELL FRIZZELL

'Propulsive . . . brilliantly vivid . . . stays in the mind long after reading' IRISH TIMES

'A beautifully written and psychologically incisive bildungsroman...the arrival of a young writer to watch' OBSERVER

The darkly funny, fiercely honest debut novel about a spirited young misfit and her rocky road to womanhood, stopping at each year along the way.

You're strange and wrong. You've known it from the beginning.

This is the voice that rings in your ears. Because you never say the right thing. You're a disappointment to everyone. You're a far cry from beautiful - and your thoughts are ugly too.

You seem bound to fail, bound to break.

But you know what it is to laugh with your best friend, to feel the first tentative tingles of attraction, to take exquisite pleasure in the affront of your unruly body.

You just need to find your place.

From dead pets and crashed cars to family traumas and misguided love affairs, Susannah Dickey's revitalizing debut novel plunges us into the private world of one young woman as she navigates her rocky way to adulthood.

My Thoughts:

Tennis Lessons by Susannah Dickey is the Authors debut novel. I found this to be a great surprise as there is an individuality that shines through in the writing and the skill with which the story is told is extremely accomplished. I was really transfixed as the pages rolled past. 

This story is told in the second person which is something that I found unusual but worked spectacularly in the delivery of the contents. Our main protagonist does not have a name and is referred to as the 'you' of the second person narrative. This is brilliant as the 'You' only draws the reader in to compare experiences. 

Tennis Lessons evolves over the years of our protagonists life from a very young age up until just under thirty. The reader learns of her experiences growing up and the way she develops. All of the good things and the bad things. This is really a no holes barred story and I loved it for that. The awkward experiences that can shape lives. I found myself nodding at some points and squirming at others. I found the times of those teenage school years to be particularly moving. The feelings of never quite fitting in but also being afraid to stand out, and of course the way we feel about our bodies and how they change. 

I really adored the protagonist of this story. I found her warm and although sometimes troubled, highly likeable. I was rooting for her throughout to forge her own path. I was sad when this book ended as I could have kept on reading to find out what happened next in her life. 

Tennis Lessons is beautifully entrancing and well thought out. I found it to be completely mesmerising and I will be thinking about is for a long time to come. This is a very impactful story and deserves to do well.  

About the Author:

Susannah Dickey is from Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland. She is the author of two poetry pamphlets, I had some very slight concerns (2017) and genuine human values (2018). Her poetry has been published in Ambit, The White Review, Poetry Ireland Review and Magma, amongst others. In 2018 she was shortlisted for The White Review short story prize, and in 2017 she was the winner of the inaugural Verve Poetry Festival competition. You can find the author on Twitter: @SusannahDickey

Please do have a look at the other stops on the blog tour: