A simple but beguiling story. 4.5 stars.

In The Trick to Time, author Kit de Waal takes us back to Birmingham in the 70s, during the time of the IRA pub bombings. While the events of the time are pivotal to the story of the tragedy that unfolds in this book, they occur off to the side, with de Waal, instead, bringing her focus to the personal misfortunes of two characters: 20-something Irish immigrants Mona and William. At first, this is a story of love at first sight, but it soon develops into a beautifully tender story of marriage and grief, suffering and long-term devotion.

The story is told through Mona in concurrent past and present narratives. In the present day, Mona is turning 60 and living in a seaside town in England. Childless and living alone, she runs a specialised doll-making business, the premise of which is both intriguing and heartrendingly sweet. Without giving too much away, this business helps people who are suffering from loss and eventually hints at the compelling truth of Mona's sad tale. As soon as I read about Mona's endeavors and the manner in which she creates these dolls, I was mesmerised by this book. Lovers of de Waal's debut novel may say Leon is a difficult book to follow but, for me, the impact of this sophomore effort is even greater.

When we venture into the past with Mona, we learn about her mother's early death from cancer and the love she had for her father, which held onto her even when she yearned to flee her stifling Wexford hometown. We witness her eventual move to Birmingham and the overwhelming guilt she feels when a shock phone call brings her home again. We see her meet William and delight in her happiness when their relationship develops into something meaningful. But, sadly for Mona, loss is never too far away.

The emotional connection I experienced with these characters was intense. De Waal has a major talent in the effortless way she makes you care about the fictional community she creates. Every character in this story has a unique voice and we want to listen to them all: the caring, grieving father, raising his young daughter alone; the busybody relation in Wexford who eventually reveals her truth; the teenage assistant who works in Mona's shop; and, of course, Mona's husband, William, who breaks our heart. The care we have for these characters translates to a genuine fear for their well-being and, subsequently, a gentle suspense, which for me is far more effective than a story reliant on cliff hangers. I needed to know what happened Mona and William, and I needed to know that Mona would be okay, which made it impossible for me to put this book down.

The Trick to Time is a simple but utterly beautiful tale that really pulls on your heartstrings. It is about love and loss, and the burden of dealing with other people's tragedies. The dialogue is authentic and snappy, the pacing is perfect. There is nothing complex about the structure and the story flows perfectly. The story is emotional but not sentimental, with enough flourishes of humour to keep it from becoming too heavy. It is a truly special story and one that will certainly stay with me. Highly recommended.

4★
“‘. . . one day, you will want these hours back, my girl. You will wonder how you lost them and you will want to get them back. There’s a trick to time.’
. . .
‘You can make it expand or you can make it contract. Make it shorter or make it longer,’ he says.”

Mona is a little girl who wants to play on the beach instead of spend time with her sick mother. Perfectly natural for a child.

The story follows Desdemona, Mona, a young Irish girl, only child, and young William, a young Irish lad she meets when she leaves her widowed father at home to try her luck in England. They are a happy pair, absolutely penniless, but so content in each other’s company. They are like a pair of puppies, rumbling and tumbling and cuddling and walking hand-in-hand without a brass razoo between them, as the saying goes in Australia.

We have met Mona as a little girl and as a young woman, but the main character is the adult Mona, turning 60. Her good pal tells her:

“’We’re still young, Mona, for God’s sake.’
‘Are we?’
‘Sixty’s the new forty they say, even if it feels like fifty-nine.’”

How can you not have a chuckle? But tragedy struck her in her youth (why does it always ‘strike’, I wonder?), and the adult Mona is alone. For readers who don’t live in the UK or Ireland, it’s easy to forget how violent things were for the Irish in England. We can be dreadful to each other for all sorts of reasons, can’t we?

She now makes dolls of a quite specific nature. They seem to be made according to some baby’s birthweight, and the clients are sent by a counsellor of some sort. Mona simply chats to them a bit, draws them out, and finally asks for a weight. We have to figure this part out ourselves.

There is a carpenter not far away who is pretty taciturn but meticulous with his selection of the right colours and weights of timber for each doll, depending on how light or heavy, how pale or dark Mona wants. He won’t take “payment” as such, but she manages to reimburse him somehow. It’s an odd relationship, but it works, and Mona spends a lot of time painting the dolls and making intricate clothes.

[Disclaimer: I have a friend who makes dolls which look like real children – I mean eerily like real children, and people clamour to get them and take them home. People will push them around in prams, the smaller dolls. They are gorgeous, and a little scary. But I digress.]

Meanwhile, Mona often wakes early, goes to her window, high above the street with her coffee, and one day notices an older gentleman in a nearby building doing likewise. He nods, they salute cups, and they gradually develop a relationship. He is a dapper German, while she tends to be more casual.

“He has a cashmere coat over his shoulders, impossibly elegant, and Mona wonders if she has dresses enough to keep up.”

He calls by unannounced one day, and she’s in old clothes with paint-spattered arms from working on a doll. He sits on the sofa and she joins him.

“The cushions feel hard and unused and she realizes it is many years since she sat on the sofa, maybe only when she bought it and when was that? She looks at her chair and sees that differently too. It looks like a pathetic throne, taking up too much space with the delicate nest of tables at an angle, with the lamp and the TV remote control just at hand, as if an invalid sits there alone night after night, watching quiz shows and shopping channels. She is ashamed again and wonders if he sees her like that.”

I think anyone who’s lived alone (or doesn’t have visitors to speak of) will identify with this. I, too, have a comfy armchair with everything, including all digital devices, at hand, and it’s been referred to as my “nest”, which it very much is! But yes, it is a bit of an embarrassing mess sometimes.

The narrative weaves back and forth between Mona’s childhood, her young womanhood with William, and her adult life now, entertaining the thought of getting to know a new man. As an older woman once said to her:

“‘I had the chance of him, my darling. I had the chance of him. And let me tell you this. The chance of something is a good meal when you’re starving.’”

As an adult, Mona still loves the beach and the sea, although the kind of weather there doesn’t appeal to me.

“Mona never covers her hair. Cold. She pulls her scarf round her neck, too tight, and has to ease it off a little. Wet. Sea-sodden air and giant curls of water pushing in, over and over, black-and-white slaps of sea as loud as a train, as a thousand trains. She loves the sting of wet sand on her skin and the sharp lick of salt on her tongue.”

There was a place in the early part where I thought this might end up some kind of cloying romance, but I very much enjoyed the author’s earlier My Name is Leon, and I know her background in Social Services, so I trusted there would be more to it. And there was.

I do hope the finished version has clearer breaks between chapters or sections, as the preview copy didn’t. It wasn’t all that hard to tell which part of her life we were in, but it helps me to have a demarcation.

I very much enjoyed this and am looking forward to her next one, as I’m sure others will, too. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books/Viking for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.

Kit de Waal writes so well about overlooked people, bringing to the forefront characters who would be marginalised in another story. Mona, The Trick to Time's central character, touches the reader's heart as her journey takes us from her childhood in Ireland, to 1970s Birmingham (at the time of the IRA pub bombings), and then to a seaside town in the present. There are real surprises in this warm, poignant novel.

Ah beautiful book, a little gem and a lovely read tho sad in parts for obvious reasons....loved Mona and her story and was devastated when the book was over! A seriously gorgeous book and a great read I loved it a lot...

The Trick to Time is a slow burn of a novel. A 60 year old Irish doll maker living in a sleepy seaside town reflects on her girlhood and early marriage to William. A story of loss and redemption, it will tug at the reader's heartstrings.

A fantastic read. Thoroughly enjoyed this and it is not something I would usually pick up. Will look for more from this author in future.

Thought this was a bit slow at the beginning, but I'm glad I persevered and found it a touching and charming story. It is told from the viewpoint of Mona, an Irishwoman who has a shop and online business selling her handcrafted dolls. The doll bodies are made by a local carpenter, with whom Mona seems to have a strange link. There are many flashbacks to Mona's earlier life, and her marriage to William and their subsequent loss of a child. I found the ending very surprising and touching, unexpected despite all that had preceded it. A charming book.
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy.

Found this book a very confusing story line but the characters were well thought out. I would not recommend it, although it might be useful for discussion at a Book Club

This is a lovely story that if you give it chance sweeps you in to a tale that deals with a subject people don’t talk about, the devastating grief that comes with the loss of a baby and the ongoing suffering of a still birth.
The main character is Mona, a 60 year old Irish doll maker who lives in the English seaside, she has a close, yet distant, relationship with the local carpenter who assists her in her passion to help grieving mothers navigate the loss of their stillborn children.
The book takes us back to Mona’s childhood in Ireland, through her young adult years as an Irish immigrant in Birmingham during the IRA bombings of 1972, falling for a boy named William, and the ensuing devastation of that time and a pregnancy that sees their lives fall apart. As each layer of the story is lovingly unfurled, we learn more about Mona, her journey and the people who help shape her. We learn about the power of memory which can be both frightening and intentionally shut off to protect us and painful, insightful and necessary in recovery.
A tale of longing, hope and regret from a strong and inspiring woman who shows us how resourceful and resilient we can be. I loved the ending !!…….






NetGalley. Feed Your Readers.

I love to find books set in my hometown of Birmingham. This was such an emotionally charged book that will have a lasting effect on me. It deals with love and grief over many years. It slips in time for different eras of Mona's life.
The dolls she makes have many secrets to tell. They are wonderful wooden dolls They are from parts of her life. Each doll takes her back to a certain time.

I enjoyed the first novel by this author and The Trick To Time was another good read.
Mona is an Irish woman living by the sea in England where she runs a toyshop specialising in wooden toys and dolls. She also makes special baby dolls with the help of a man who has a carpentry workshop. These dolls are made for women who have had stillborn babies and are made to the same weight as the dead babies. Mona also councils the women.
During the story we learn of Mona's life during the 1970's.
I loved the way that the storyline flips from the past to the present seamlessly.the chapters are short and leave you craving the next part.
I had to read the last few lines a couple of times as it ends a bit abruptly but it doesn't distract from the satisfaction that I got from reading the book.

The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal
This is an unusual story, exploring themes of Love and Loss. It begins in the present with Mona a 60ish woman living alone, who spends her time reflecting on the past and helping women come to terms with the loss of their babies. She does this in a very unusual way, which is explored in a loving and sensitive way.
It is a story that builds very slowly, you need to absorb the melancholia Mona is experiencing to understand why she is so alone. This is explained via flashbacks to her former life and I very much enjoyed the flashbacks to her happy beginnings when she was young and first married. There are many levels to this book, and it is quite a complicated read, but is well worth the effort. Her relationship with Karl, rings really true, how we all need someone in our lives and perhaps might settle for just someone, Mona begins to realise what she really wants from her life. A fine absorbing read.

DNF at 25%.

I loved the setting of this book. How could I not? It’s where I’m from. I loved the familiarity with the area and it really felt like the author knew the area and understood the socio-cultural style of the area. I also loved the Irish aspect of the character. It brought another dimension to the character.

But the book itself was just pretty meh. It was slow, it was a bit boring and I couldn’t see where it was going at all. I wasn’t compelled to finish this book at all.

Beautifully written book. I loved the fact that Mona is a vibrant woman in her sixties whose character has been shaped by the experiences of her life but not wholly defined by them. I found this book profoundly moving and would highly recommend it.

A beautifully written book however I found the story to be slow moving in parts. It's a book that I'm sure I'll think about long into the future, especially the main character. an enjoyable story.

I read the first 70 pages. There’s nothing wrong with the book per se; I just wasn’t compelled to read more. Mona is a lonely 60-year-old who runs a toy shop in a seaside town and devotes herself to making custom-designed dolls. There are some major losses in her past, at first just hints and then whole stories. Her father once told her there’s a trick to time: “You can make it expand or you can make it contract.” In memory Mona can relive the limited moments she had with her loved ones. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to fans of Rachel Joyce – the story line is particularly reminiscent of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Snow Garden – but I wonder if de Waal’s previous book would feel more original.

The storyline of this book was very sad so was quite full on, however you have to concentrate quite hard because it jumps backwards and forwards so I didn't fine it an easy read.

I found this book gentle to read and quite poignant. The reader is meant to like the character of Mona, to empathize with her and to feel that there is a vulnerability surrounding her: The author succeeded in making me feel this way. The author reveals Mona’s past to us using flashbacks intertwined with present day. This keeps the reader intrigued as to what Mona’s life has been about and what her secrets might be. Some of the characters we meet throughout the history of Mona’s life are beautifully crafted. Both the past and the present day storylines are sad and moving, dealing with the emotive topic of stillbirth. The author does so in a sensitive way but gives us enough detail to eventually figure out for ourselves what Mona’s dolls are for. The plot twist is perhaps a little predictable for those readers who thrive on figuring out plot twists before they are revealed! Overall, I enjoyed the book very much and thought it was well-written. I would recommend it.

I really enjoyed parts of this book, and others seemed to jump around, not sure if this was a formatting issue in the copy I was reading.

Although it was a sad story, I found it hard to warm to any of the characters

A fabulous love story flipping between the present and the future. It was really touching and beautifully written.