Purple People by Kate Bulpitt @qwertykate @unbounders @RandomTTours #PurplePeople #BlogTour

Purple People by Kate Bulpitt was published by Unbound on the 9th July 2020. My thanks to the author and the publisher for the review copy and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me on to the blog tour

 

A curious scheme is afoot in Blighty. Attempting to tackle spiralling levels of crime and anti-social behaviour, the government has a new solution: to dye offenders purple. 

 

For once, even journalist Eve Baxter is shocked – she’s spent years gathering the world’s weird and wacky news, but has never seen anything as loopy as this. Learning of these shamed ‘bruises on society’, the nation is agog – and divided. There’s anger and agreement, protest and debate. Oh, green and pleasant and now purple land... 

 

But still, there’s a mystery to be solved: just how do the transformations to Purpleness occur? Transfixed by clues and conspiracies, Eve wonders if this could be her route into real news. And when her friends and family are affected by the Purple scheme, she begins to investigate...

 

 My Thoughts: 

Purple People by Kate Bulpitt is quirky and original and I was completely absorbed by it from the zany fingerprint cover right through to the very last page. I just loved the concept and the absolute laugh out loud moments that I couldn't stop until my sides hurt. 

There is a cast of truly excellently written characters but none more so than Eve Baxter who is a journalist working for Say Fantastique. She supplies off the wall stories to them. So when people start turning purple in England this seems like the perfect sort of thing and most definitely something that should be investigated.

Word is out that PM Theo Fletcher has announced a scheme that will see criminals and those creating a public nuisance turned purple. A way of singling them out against other more law abiding citizens. 

This is a brilliant satrical look at events that are happening today and the divisive nature of things. Whilst being quite comedic and off the wall there is a serious side to it and important themes are tackled such as human rights, class and politics.

The characters drive this story and I was reluctanct to finish this book as I loved it for its inventiveness and I really enjoyed the character of Eve Baxter.  I can't say that I have ever read anything quite like it. 

If you like your reading original and quirky then look no further then Purple People. It is most certainly one of my most memorable reads this year.

About the Author: 

Kate grew up in a small seaside town, where she spent her formative years being most strongly influenced by the unlikely combo of George Orwell, Victoria Wood and Smash Hits. She studied Writing and Publishing at university before spending over a decade working in film, mostly in New York, where she also dabbled in stand-up comedy. In 2011 she was part of the second Curtis Brown Creative novel-writing course; a short story anthology written by that group, The Book of Unwritten Rules, was published in 2016. Kate currently lives in Brighton, a seaside lass once again.    Purple People is her first novel. @qwertykate

 

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