The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart @BooksSphere @keefstuart #TheFrequencyOfUs #libraryloan

 

The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart

Published by Sphere

Publication Date: 25th March 2021

Book Description:

In Second World War Bath, young, naïve wireless engineer Will meets Austrian refugee Elsa Klein: she is sophisticated, witty and worldly, and at last his life seems to make sense . . . until, soon after, the newly married couple's home is bombed, and Will awakes from the wreckage to find himself alone.

No one has heard of Elsa Klein. They say he was never married.

Seventy years later, social worker Laura is battling her way out of depression and off medication. Her new case is a strange, isolated old man whose house hasn't changed since the war. A man who insists his wife vanished many, many years before. Everyone thinks he's suffering dementia. But Laura begins to suspect otherwise . . .

My Thoughts:

This was a complete impulse pick at my local library recently, and probably my most successful random choice this year. I was wanting to read something different from the usual psychological thrillers I tend to gravitate towards, and this hit the spot perfectly. Completely different from anything I've read before, The Frequency of Us introduces us to a wonderful, if rather eccentric octogenarian, Will. Despite his frostiness with people, I quickly warmed to his character and loved how he tolerated young carer Laura who had been sent in by the agency to assess his ability to continue living alone in his once quite grand home, which like Will was showing considerable signs of age.

There's a dual timeline to this book which shows Will in his prime, as he meets Elsa Klein - the love of his life and the only one for him. The descriptions of Bath during the second World War are so moving and I felt quite emotional at times as the effects on the local population as German bombing raids ripped through the community and decimated whole families.

But was Will imagining his great love affair with Elsa? There are no records to prove her existence and nobody seems to have ever seen him with anyone, or even any photographs or anything to show she'd ever been there. Yet the more Laura visits him, the more she gets a feeling that there is some truth to what Will says. There's a vibe in the air, compelling her to look into what he's saying. But Laura isn't exactly the most reliable narrator and gets to the point where she doesn't know what to believe any more.

The conclusion to this book is beautiful. I'm a person who keeps an open mind when it comes to ghosts and supernatural type subjects (as you can tell, as I struggle to describe the ending but without spoiling the whole book) but I felt totally satisfied with how the story ended and even had a bit of a teary moment there for a moment. Thank you, Keith Stuart for a lovely story. It was just the right book at the right time for me - pretty ironic really! I certainly recommend this one if you have an open mind, fancy something a little sentimental and a step away from the norm.

About the Author:

Keith Stuart is a veteran journalist who has been covering video games and digital culture for over 20 years. In 2015 he wrote his first novel, A Boy Made of Blocks, which was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club. It has sold over 200,000 copies and is translated into 24 languages. His second novel, Days of Wonder, is available in paperback, audio and ebook, and his third, The Frequency of Us, was selected for BBC2's Between the Covers series and is available in hardback, ebook and audio.