Book Review: ‘Begin Again’ by Helly Acton (The Good Place meets Sliding Doors)
I’m a big fan of Helly Acton. I love the way her novels ‘The Shelf’ and ‘The Couple’ turn unspoken rules of society on their heads and frame them as the strange, damaging and nonsensical things that they are, and so I was really excited for another book of hers.
At first glance, this one didn’t seem to be in exactly the same vein as her previous novels, but I knew I would be in for a treat regardless.
Here’s what it’s all about:
Despite living firmly in her comfort zone, Frankie McKenzie feels unsettled. She can't help feeling something's missing. Is it a home to call her own? Travel? A more rewarding job? A relationship? Before she can work it out, she dies in a freak kebab-related accident after yet another dud of a first date.
But life isn't over for Frankie. Instead, she is offered a second chance: Frankie can revisit key moments from her past to see if different choices will lead her away from that fateful takeaway and on to the fulfilling life she's always dreamt of.
Soon, Frankie will see what her life would have been if only she'd caught that one-way flight, accepted the marriage proposal or attended the intimidating job interview. Will she finally find her Mr Right? Or discover she already had?
What would you change if you could begin again?
If you’ve read Matt Haig’s ‘The Midnight Library’ then you’re probably thinking ‘huh, that sounds familiar’ and you’d be right, but ‘Begin Again’ packed even more of a punch for me. While the basic premise is the same, it has the grittiness and realism that ‘The Midnight Library’ lacked - it’s a lot less sentimental.
Frankie is a bit of a mess. She’s feeling stuck in her job writing celebrity columns, resents her friends settling down and moving to the suburbs, keeps having disastrous dates, and she’s yet to get fed up of drowning her sorrows at the weekend. I really connected with Frankie, especially in terms of feeling left behind as her friends couple up and settle down; I think it’s a curse of a single, childfree thirty-something and it’s hard. It’s one of the things that Frankie comes face to face with in every iteration of her life, in different ways, and it’s an inevitability. I love the way that Acton validated those feelings of being left behind.
She did the same with Frankie’s feeling about her job. Another sore point for me, honestly…
Even with the emotional gut punches and intense cringe from some of Frankie’s experiences after being dropped into alternate lives, ‘Begin Again’ feels warm and witty and has elements of a rom-com. It’s fun and easy to read, and remains clever and thoughtful.
I’m always excited for a new Helly Acton novel and I’m already eagerly awaiting her next offering.
Thank you to NetGalley and Zaffre for the review copy.
Written by Sophie
