Jake Morgan has never been scared of dying. It’s living he can’t quite commit to.

Homeless, jobless and aimless, he thinks he is happy. Then one night his estranged sister Gina calls him back to the home he ran away from as a teenager. Their father is suffering from dementia and she thinks it is about time Jake grew up. With nowhere else to go, and loan sharks on his back, Jake returns to the small village he grew up in. He goes back to help his father, but ends up being forced to face the question he ran from.

What really happened to his mother who vanished in 1996? Jake decides it’s time he had some answers, if only to stop himself constantly wondering what the point of his existence is. Will he be able to get Gina on side to uncover the truth? Will his confused father be able to help him work out what was wrong with his mother? And when he finds it, will Jake really be able to handle the truth? This Is Nowhere is a story about a family blown apart by untold truths. A mystery that must be solved in order for a fragile young man to find some meaning in life.

 

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Reviews of This is Nowhere by Chantelle Atkins:

“I’ve read all Chantelle Atkins’ books and in my view this is her best ever. Her previous novels, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side and The Mess Of Me, are excellent but probably best defined as belonging to the Young Adult genre, if only because in them the protagonists are variously disturbed teenagers.

In some ways it’s a similar scenario with This Is Nowhere – couldn’t-give-a damn, workless and shiftless young man is made so as a result of growing up in a dysfunctional family (big sister Gina, for her own reasons, is terrible!) But there’s a lot more depth to Nowhere. I felt that in this book the writer’s work had really come of age. There was more tenderness and a fuller and more diverse spectrum of characters of various ages and personalities which, speaking as an oldie, I could really relate to and care about…

…I really liked the structure of the book; the way Ms Atkins tells two stories in alternating chapters: Jake in the present uncovering the dark hidden truths of the past; and his back story as a child and teenager and the traumatic events that led to his leaving home.

You can enjoy this book on several levels, according to taste, I feel: as an unputdownable mystery but also at a deeper one, exploring the human psyche, the way in which personality is formed by experience and how events of the past can come back to haunt. Chantelle Atkins shows this with great sensitivity and humanity.

I thought This Is Nowhere a terrific read on any level though, and recommend it most highly.” John Needham via Goodreads

“I have read all of Chantelle Atkins’ book so far and thought they were all fantastic. This Is Nowhere however is by far the best yet. It was well written and the characters were real.
The story follows Jake Morgan as he returns home after a long absence to look after his aged father. But there is a mystery – what happened to his mother all those years ago?The chapters alternate between what is happening to Jake in the present day and how he tries to sift through the secrets and lies that surround him and what happened to Jake when he was a child and what he saw of the relationship between his parents. We follow him as he gradually uncovers the mysteries that have haunted his family for years.
Absolutely gripping stuff that kept me guessing right until the end.
I look forward to seeing what Chantelle comes up with next.” Justine Pateman via Amazon.co.uk

“Like other reviewers, I have read Chantelle’s other books, and eagerly downloaded this one. It did not disappoint in any way!

I agree that in some ways it is her best work to date. As in all her books the imagery is second to none and the story is easily pictured as you go along. The structure of the book moving from present to past moves along nicely and works really well as a tool to unravel the mystery.

This is Nowhere is a triumph in two genres; one chronicling the life of a fairly dysfunctional family, and the other as a superb mystery… The outcome of which I did not see coming. Perfect!

I highly recommend This is Nowhere to readers of all ages, you won’t be disappointed.” fluffytroos via Amazon.co.uk

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