Stuart Coop

You know, there was a lot of talk about this third novel from her.

So I thought, uh-oh, OK, here we go.

And, again, I was flabbergasted by this story, which is set in a Californian women's prison and the main character has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

So it's a book about being institutionalised, the relationship between, you know, other prisoners, the people that run the prisons, you know, power structures and all that.

But what's really affecting, or I found really affecting...

is the constant theme which is that she's separated from her young son Jackson and the realisation that she's never going to see him outside of prison ever again and how he's going to be brought up and then various things happen which we would file under spoiler so I won't go there.

But very, very moving in parts, terrifically drawn characters and captivating and with an ending that I started to wane a little towards the end.

I went, where's this going?

Where's this going?

How's she going to finish it?

And she finishes it in a way that I file under breathtaking.

A lot of it I found, I had to stop.

I went, I can't go there at this point in time.

It was very, very powerful and very affecting.

Yeah, because she does it so well that you were just there going, what would it be like to never have this relationship with a child?

And she's gut-wrenching in the way that she conveys a lot of those scenarios.

It's such a big call to it.

It is such a big goal.

That'll do.

That's okay.