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  • Jenn Ashworth’s “A kind of intimacy”: where is the truth?

    As you already know, if you have read my previous article on Ann Morgan’s book ‘Beside Myself'(https://ineedabook.blog/2024/02/22/ann-morgans-beside-myself-from-intriguing-to-disturbing-2/), I have a certain attraction to disturbing books. Those books where you can’t easily empathize with the protagonist from the start, you don’t understand if he’s actually reliable and somehow, you don’t like him or her (as in this case). And above all, it doesn’t convince you.

    This is thanks to the skill of the author, Jenn Ashworth, who brings us into the unstable mind of the protagonist, Annie Fairhurst. The woman is like a swing that continually goes up and down swinging between a crescendo of conflicting and often conflicting emotions. In fact, until the end the reader is unable to identify with her, because if sometimes she seems like a poor sacrificial victim of her beliefs or rather illusions, on the other hand you would like to stop her and have her treated by a good one.

    Here this novel pleasantly disturbs the reader who does not make a pact of trust with his love, but rather reads every page with one breath in the hope of finally finding a (good) sense to what he is reading. An captivating and brilliant reading, which deserves the attention of the most psychologically curious.

    About the author

    Jenn Ashworth is a British author known for her contemporary fiction novels. She was born in 1982 in Preston, Lancashire, England. Ashworth studied English Literature at Cambridge University and Creative Writing at the University of Manchester.

    Her debut novel, “A Kind of Intimacy,” published in 2009, received critical acclaim and won a Betty Trask Award. The novel explores themes of loneliness, obsession, and the complexities of human relationships. Ashworth’s writing style often delves into the psychological depths of her characters, creating narratives that are both compelling and thought-provoking.

    Since her debut, Ashworth has published several other novels, including “Cold Light” (2011), “The Friday Gospels” (2013), “Fell” (2016), and “Ghosts of the Theatre” (2021). Her works have been praised for their lyrical prose, rich characterizations, and exploration of dark and haunting themes.

    In addition to her novels, Ashworth has written short stories and essays for various publications. She is also known for her involvement in the literary community, participating in events such as book festivals and writing workshops.

    Overall, Jenn Ashworth is recognized as a talented and versatile author whose works resonate with readers through their exploration of the human condition and the complexities of life.

  • Ann Morgan’s “Beside Myself”: from intriguing to disturbing

    Beside Myself is one of those books that if you see it among many, it doesn’t speak to you. But a little it intrigues you, certainly thanks to the cover that it’s a little ‘creepy’ or undoubtedly for the high-sounding title: it has a totally disturbing thing. And in fact this book is deeply disturbing because it drags you with it, page after page, into a story made of revenge, disbelief but also a lot of loneliness. That’s the very strong point of Ann Morgan’s book. Usually twins are painted as souls living in symbiosis, eternally linked, sometimes even in appearance, but above all in personality. In ‘Beside Myself’ the twin sisters protagonists are both aesthetically identical and temperamentally opposed. One is the praise and pride of parents, the other is their disappointment. And this diad of opposition is continually remarked in the book until something as unpredictable as it is chilling happens. It is a reading that deserves and can be read all in one breath!

    About the author

    Ann Morgan is a British author and journalist known for her book “Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer,” in which she documents her year-long journey to read a book from every country in the world. In 2016 she published with Bloomsbury the successful psychological novel “Beside Myself.”