So so book. Nina has led a posh life and then has to leave that life behind when her husband dies. She then has to learn to survive in her old hometown. Not my fave book.

Nina is happily married with two sons living a wonderful life. After receiving the devastating news that her husband has been killed in a car crash, her life unravels as she discovers her husband's business is bankrupt and their home is repossessed.

This is a well written story with a riches to rags theme. Nina not only get over the loss of her husband and the life she thought she had but must forge a new life for herself and her two boys, returning reluctantly to her roots and finding work despite never previously working..

This sometimes sad tale of losses and recovery for both Nina and the two boys who have also had their lives changed dramatically is definitely recommended

Nina McCarrick's life turns upside down when her husband dies in a tragic accident quickly followed by debt bailiffs knocking on the door as her husband's secret bankruptcy comes to light. Forced to move out of her dream home with her two shell-shocked teenage sons, she seeks solace in the past she has tried her hardest to escape. Nina rediscovers her spark and how to stand on her own feet separate from her domineering husband and affluent and comfortable if restricted former life.

So... I think this book is very difficult to review, because quite early on I realised this was not really for me. I had immediately requested a copy after seeing that part of the novel was set in Portswood, Southampton, which is where I lived for two years as a student. This is the first book I have come across set there so I was immediately enticed to see how it is represented in print. Prowse does a great job here sketching out the setting; I really did recognise Portswood and was completely delighted to read familiar mentions of Portswood staples such as Sprinkles, Jesters and the multitude of charity shops that litter the high street. I did love the setting yet overall I did find the storyline and characterisations not to my taste.

Firstly, I did grow to really like Nina. She was a character that I felt increasingly frustrated by at the beginning, even when simultaneously feeling a great deal of sympathy for her. Whilst her development felt a bit stilted for me at times, I loved reading about her journey as she finds her feet after hiding for so long. I especially enjoyed reading about her relationship with her sons as the family begin to pick up the pieces in the wake of their father's unexpected demise. Connor and Declan are a delight and their father multi-faceted. I do not think I have read many novels with this precise focus and perspective of a woman and her two teenage sons and it was a welcome change for me. I was right there with Nina as her relationship with Finn comes under the spotlight, after she comes to term with the chasm between the Finn she thought she knew and the man behind the mask of a confident and successful businessman, as seen through the eyes of a loving wife. I am very interested in writing that examines the differences between reality and perception so this was a definite plus for me.

Unfortunately, this was not enough to feel satisfied by the close of reading The Art of Hiding. I felt the plot lacked a bit of necessary grit to make the characters feel fully real to me and the novel overall felt a bit too straightforward and on the nose. It was a bit too romanticised for my liking, and it is definitely the type of smaltzy, cliched Hallmark storytelling that I rarely get along with.

Moreover, there seemed to be a lack of self-awareness about the way Nina was written at times. At times it seemed a bit outdated for my liberal-leaning, feminist ways and often seemed to award or entrench a status quo of certain gender dynamics in a non-critical fashion that I found a bit uncomfortable to read. Homemaking should be written in an empowering and respectful manner; it is obviously a completely valid and admirable path. I have no problem with Nina's circumstances and perspective in theory, but in practice this was often at odds with the way Nina came across in print and this griped. Nina is often depicted as a naturally submissive character and, at others, it felt as if this was a role put upon her, even if unconsciously done by herself. This seems to be examined to some degree by the author but I sometimes got the uncomfortable feeling that the narrative lacked nuance or awareness here.

Further, her relationship with Finn is quite disturbing, and whilst Prowse does explore this to her credit, the tone was ultimately too forgiving. The breaking point for me was when Nina discovers that Finn had been to their sons' school to ask for some more time to pay their overdue tuition fees the previous term. I have so many thoughts on their relationship, and I just feel I would have enjoyed this more if it had been a more nuanced take on the relationship dynamics. This was really my biggest problem with the novel, especially when there appeared to be, at some parts, a fair amount of unconscious doubling-down (and dumbing down for good measure!) of passive sexist conventions and characterisations, instead of creating an empowering narrative for a homemaker-turned-breadwinner.

With all that being said, this is one of the rare types of mixed reading experiences where I would still feel confident recommending to others. Ultimately, my review has to be summed up as just ok but I know of a few friends who I am sure would get more from it. I thought there was a lot to chew on and discuss and it would be a good book club read, especially in a discussion about the multi-faceted depiction of the central relationship. I am glad I persevered with this one as I did really enjoy getting a happy ending for the McCarricks. It just was simply not written for this kind of reader.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Amanda Prowse for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those books that sends you through so many emotions! Well written, although I found it to drag in some places. It's one of those books that really makes you think! A touching, moving story.

Amanda Prowse has a talent to write stories that will touch your heart and this is one of the reasons I enjoy her books.

In the Art of hiding we are introduced to Nina McCarrick a stay at home mom who loses her husband, her home, and money all at the same time. She discovers lies that will lead her to questioning her husband’s death and reevaluating her life. How will Nina and her kids be able to manage with everything? Who can help them? A story that shows us the strength and courage it takes to move on, start over and overcome something we don’t think we are capable of.

An easy to read and well written book. you really care for the characters and you realise the importance of families and Friends.

This is so well written--the depth of characters--that it was difficult for me to read. Going through something similar ithe truth of emotion is so real.

I love this author, and this book does not disappoint. It would be any woman's nightmare to realize that her husband has been keeping a large part of his life a secret. Having been shielded from the truth means that Nina has no idea how precarious her financial situation is when her husband dies unexpectedly. Her beautiful life comes crashing down in very quick order, and she is forced to find a new life along with her 2 sons in the not so nice neighbourhood of her youth. There is a glaring difference between the new and the old, but Nina finds that perhaps her shiny former life wasn't very authentic either.

It seems a long while since I got stuck into an Amanda Prowse novel, so when The Art of Hiding dropped through my letterbox, I was excited to get started right away!

What I love about Amanda's books is her ability to take what appears to be a normal family and turn their world upside down, resulting in the heroine of the book becoming a strong and confident woman... and as a read Amanda manages to break your heart before fixing it again by giving an uplifting ending which in my opinion makes great reading material.

Nina's story is no different.
She has a wonderful life, a gorgeous husband, two handsome son's and a marvellously grand home which includes a cinema room and swimming pool!

Nina wants for nothing as her husband, Finn, owns a successful construction company. Her boys, Connor and Declan, go to a top of the range private school and she even has fresh flowers delivered fortnightly to her home!

Life is good for Nina and her family, that is until Finn fails to arrive at one of Connor's rugby matches. Willing him to hurry up and arrive, Nina answers her mobile which is the point her life as she knows it, is to be no more.
Finn has been involved in an accident and sadly not made it, the story quickly travels through scenes where Nina has to tell the boys their Dad has died, the funeral and immediate aftermath, all of which Amanda writes with warmth and empathy which is guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye.

Once the funeral is over, Nina discovers from Finn's accountant that they are bankrupt - the business has been financially failing, the boys' school fees are behind and their home, with all their precious memories of family times with Finn, is about to be repossessed with the bailiffs expected to arrive any day.

It's hard to comprehend how you would feel in this situation but Amanda being her, writes expertly as Nina goes through grief, shock, upset and anger.
With no choice, Nina and the boys pack up what little is left and head to Southampton to stay in a run down flat owned by a distant relative.

It's not ideal but with pennies to her name, Nina sets about making the best of a bad situation - enrolling the boys in a local school and looking for a job to bring in some income, all whilst trying to hold it together for the boys and trying to build some bridges with her sister that had broken over the years.

I love the way Amanda took Nina as a character, pretty much ruined her life and then re-built her into that strong, confident, independent woman she does so well.

The Art of Hiding is an emotional roller-coaster of a read, by the end you will have tears forming in your eyes again but of the happier ones as you see how far Nina and the boys have come in a few months and this is due to Amanda's ability to write about characters you instantly connect with.

I also love that the title, The Art of Hiding, has more than one meaning - Finn hides away their money troubles, Nina and the woman she was hiding away in their mansion and Connor hiding away his feelings.

The Art of Hiding is a fabulous, warm and uplifting (despite the original heartache!) book about new beginnings, moving on and finding that inner strength.

I truly enjoyed The Art of Hiding. It was a tad predictable as far as subject matter, however, the characters were wonderfully written. I found myself empathising with all of them through out the book. My favorite chapter was the awards dinner, I found myself needing the tissue box.

I’ve read this book before, but I read it again thanks to a free book from Netgalley for an honest review. Whilst reading I recalled bits of the book I remembered but I had to re-read it all again thoroughly as the book is quite detailed and really impactful. A story of a real nightmare for a family that had everything…and then nothing.
Nina came from poverty, she married well and now lives the perfect life of luxury, until her husband, Finn, is killed in a car accident and her and her children’s lives as they know it fall apart.

Alone, bereft and faced with an impossible mountain of debt, Nina questions everything. Evicted from her mansion, Nina returns back home to the rundown Southampton council estate she grew up in. Nina has to dust herself off, swallow her pride and make some tough decisions for the sake of her boys. I loved witnessing her return to the woman she was before her marriage and reconnect with her past self and rekindle the stained relationship with her sister.

This book although shocking and unlikely to happen to most of us; was true to life in that it dealt with the reality of what you have to do to get by, to roll your sleeves up and work to survive; that family and friendships are more important than wealth. This story is all about hope, survival and finding the inner strength and confidence to deal with life and its setbacks. Another fantastic read by Amanda Prowse.

I feel I may have read this book at the wrong time during a dry spout of my passion for reading. However as I love the author I thought this would be the book to return my furious love of reading. I could read his book for a day and then leave it and pick it up again, it just did not grip me. The story was well written though and although the first few chapters were fairly predictable the rest of the story was a tale of love lost and lives found as Nina and her children learn to live with the death of their father. I was warned I would need tissues but they weren't required until the last chapter. Excellent writing and a real insight into how money can't buy you happiness.

As usual I forgot to read the blurb before starting this story so everything that happened was a complete surprise which I really enjoyed. It provided a few more twists which I would have known about before starting otherwise! This was really well written and emotional for all of the characters. I thought that Nina did a fantastic job of holding things together and I could empathise with her completely. I also loved her kids - the youngest was really sweet and although the oldest one seemed quite bratty it must be difficult for him to go from a life with everything he wanted (including his father) to suddenly not. I loved this story and struggled to put it down!

Nina is devastated when her husband Finn dies, he has been everything to her and her two boys for years and she doesn't know which way to turn. Things very definitely take a turn for the worse though when she finds out that her life has been built on a pack of cards - the business that she thought was doing so well is bankrupt and even the beautiful house that she lives in is repossessed

Once the bailiffs have been in she has nothing left, the boys have had to leave the private school that they have always attended and she has to move back to her home town of Southampton to live in a squalid flat in a very rundown area with no means of income

When you have never worked finding a job is not easy and she begins to regret the way her husband controlled her life - she had wanted to train as a nurse but he wanted her at home looking after him - so now she has no skills, but finally the woman she should always have been starts to come out as she has no choice but to provide for her family

Another great book by Amanda Prowse I loved the way Nina grew in strength, with the help of a few hometruths from her sister, and learned to look after herself and how the boys eventually coped with all of the changes in their young lives and became better people - definitely recommended

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

Amanda Prose would work well as this author's name too, since this was well-written and flowed so nicely! It told an engaging story and told it well. I am not a fan of novels which carry too much unleavened negativity, but this one avoided that, despite the painful topic it dealt with.

Nina McCarrick is living 'high on the hog' as they say in the USA, in an almost palatial home with her self-employed husband, Finn, and her two fine sons: Connor and Declan, who attend an exclusive private school. She's made her profession that of a full-time housewife and homemaker.

When Finn dies in a car accident, Nina is left alone with the boys, and as if this isn't bad enough, soon her whole world begins to crumble around her as she learns that her husband has run-up eight million pounds in debt on a bad investment in a construction job that his business was trying to negotiate, but which fell through.

Nina had no idea they were stretched so thin, since she was kept entirely in the dark about his business. He always assured her things were fine. Worse than this, as if it could get any worse, their house was tied-up in the company's finances, having been mortgaged to raise funds, and they are going to have to leave. Everywhere she looks, things seem blacker. Their savings are gone, and men show up one day to strip her home of anything saleable. Connor only manages to retain his laptop because it's for his education.

Nina and her kids must leave their home and she cannot think of anywhere she can go. Her family is unable to help and her snotty neighbors do not want to know her any more. Her sister steps up and manages to find her a place that's owned by an uncle, but she still has to pay rent. She figures she has enough to get them though two months, but she desperately needs to find a job - one for which she has zero qualifications or training because she has not worked since she married. Her endless, fruitless job search is heartbreaking to read. It's sad to think that the civilized world end up this way if the Business President™ continues his current insanely reckless course!

The rental place is minuscule compared with what Nina's used to, and it's cold during this winter of Nina's profound discontent, but it's a home of a sort, and Nina is now back in her home town of Southampton, close by where her sister lives - and surprisingly simply compared with what Nina's old life provided.

This is a sister with whom she has barely been in touch over the years. Nina could not shed her background fast enough once she met Finn all those years ago, and she has not looked back since, but now she finds she is having her face rubbed in her failings every time she turns around.

This story follows Nina as she tries to hold not only herself together, but her family and her life. She has to weather some dark times, and deal with her older son's anger and despair at having his comfortable life taken from him so speedily and abruptly. She bounces unpredictably between anger at her husband's betrayal and secrecy, and her pain at losing him, between fear for their future and hope that things will turn around.

I really appreciated that this author is smart enough to make this story about Nina and her strength,golden goose and rescue her from the dragon of disaster that seems constantly looming over her. I really liked this story, it was a fast comfortable read, and had interesting and engaging characters. It was realistic and enjoyable, and I recommend it. I shall look for other novels by this author.

Another great story from this very popular writer. In this one a mother finds the strength to take control of her life and make a stable caring home for her sons after her previous rather privileged family life is unexpectedly torn to shreds. I thoroughly enjoyed both the story and the cast of supporting characters, staying up ridiculously late to finish it. I was a great fan right up until the final part of the book where I felt I was being preached at a little – I like a story with a moral but I prefer to find it myself.

This story really resonated with me. Nina could be anyone and that was relatable. I do wish the author went more into detail about the financial troubles and Finn's view of same (a diary or longer letter perhaps?) The main take-away I felt was not to be so trusting, it's the family's money, everyone should know what's going on with it.

I always enjoy Amanda’s books. She weaves stories around moral dilemmas or issues that might concern all of us at some point in our lives and she tells them in an emotive, affecting way that is rarely overly sentimental. The Art of Hiding was no different: The concept is set up well, the heroine is likeable and her development from reticent & disempowered to strong & self-reliant is entirely believable. My only (small) quibble is that it felt shorter than usual – but that just means I’d have liked to read more, so it isn’t really a complaint!

Would definitely recommend to readers of Jody Picoult and Kristin Hannah.

“The Art of Hiding” is a lovely little story about love, loss and resilience that was a pleasure to read and made me want to look for more from the author.
Nina McCarrick is married with two boys when her husband, Finn, dies in a car accident. The reader is given enough of a “day in the life” snapshot of Nina’s life as a homemaker and private school mom before the accident to develop an impression of her: from a humble background, reveling in her wealth, still feeling out of place among the other parents born into a privileged life, and a little secluded because of these feelings.
After Finn’s death, Nina’s accidental isolation means there are few people she can turn to when she learns Finn has been lying about their finances for months and she has no safety net for her or the boys, one a surly teen and the other a sweet optimist. Forced to tighten their belts and move back into Nina’s old neighborhood, her grieving little family has to grapple with grief, anger and doubt as they have to adjust rapidly to their changed circumstances.
This book was a true tear-jerker for me, which I do not say lightly. Amanda Prowse gives Nina’s struggle a realism without melodrama that made it an emotional read. Nina reconnects with her sister, who she had drifted away from and who has apparently been holding back some judgments about Nina’s decision to marry wealthy and young. The sister, Tiggy, is fleshed out enough to be a complex side character who snaps at her sister when she’s being privileged and dramatic and knocks some sense into her when needed. Seeing their relationship repair and grow was wonderful.
My complaints are few, but one is that you lose your sense of time as you get further into the book, with months passing in which I would assume big changes are happening in the family’s life but they breeze by and suddenly you think, “wait, it’s spring? when did Finn die again? how long as it been?” Some of Nina’s mental shifts also appear to occur in these gaps and we return to her processing her grief differently and reacting to Finn’s memory with nostalgia rather than resentment and it’s jarring when your sense of time is thrown off.
Overall, “The Art of Hiding” is a well-written drama with relatable characters and a plot you can pull out for a good cry as needed.