CELEBRATING THE 15^TH ANNIVERSARY OF QUICK READS:

SHORT BOOKS AND GREAT STORIES TACKLING THE ADULT LITERACY CRISIS

OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE: The Baby is Mine (Atlantic)

LOUISE CANDLISH: The Skylight (Simon & Schuster)

KATIE FFORDE: Saving the Day (Arrow)

PETER JAMES: Wish You Were Dead (Macmillan)

CAITLIN MORAN: How to Be a Woman, abridged (Ebury)

KHURRUM RAHMAN: The Motive (HQ)

27 May 2021 | £1 | #QuickReads @readingagency

www.readingagency.org.uk 

“Buy one, gift one: Buy a Quick Read this summer and we’ll gift a copy to help someone discover the joy of reading.”

One in six adults in the UK – approximately 9 million people – find reading difficult, and one in three people do not regularly read for pleasure. Quick Reads, which celebrates its 15^th anniversary this year, plays a vital role in addressing these shocking statistics by inspiring emergent readers, as well as those with little time or who have fallen out of the reading habit, with entertaining and accessible writing from the very best contemporary authors.

They can’t see her, but she can see them…

Simone has a secret. She likes to stand at her bathroom window and spy on the couple downstairs through their kitchen skylight. She knows what they eat for breakfast and who they’ve got over for dinner. She knows what mood they’re in before they even step out the door. There’s nothing wrong with looking, is there?

Until one day Simone sees something through the skylight she is not expecting. Something that upsets her so much she begins to plot a terrible crime…

From the author of Our House, the British Book Awards Crime & Thriller of the Year

Short, Sharp & Succinct!

A fine addition to the Quick Reads library!

Simone knows more about the couple downstairs than they realise; from her bathroom window she can see straight into their kitchen through the skylight. Spying on her neighbours becomes something of a habit she can’t break but, like people who listen at doors, watchers can find out things they’re certainly not expecting . . .

I was delighted to be asked to review this as part of the Quick Reads 2021 launch; I wish I could have read more than one of the terrific books on offer but, as always, time constraints dictated that I could only manage The Skylight but I hope to catch up with the others in future. This is a wonderful idea which I’m happy to support.

Don’t for one moment think that this is any less of a read than others by this author; Louise Candlish delivers a short, sharp and succinct story with a surprising finish. I was very quickly drawn into Simone’s life – apparently, there are a lot of houses with skylights in their kitchens these days and they never give a thought to being overlooked by their neighbours – although I suspect they may very well do just that once they read this story! A gripping read all the way through; while perhaps not strictly correct, it was easy to sympathise with Simone and, up to a point, to justify her actions. Smartly plotted and beautifully written, this is an absolutely cracking read and one which may well play on my mind for some time to come. Absolutely, definitely, a five star read and worthy of my highest recommendation.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy and to Hannah Bright of Midas PR for inviting me to take part in promoting this launch; this is – as always – my honest, original and unbiased review.

Tags: crime thriller, short

• Format: ebook, paperback, audiobook
• Size: 102 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication Date: 27 May 2021
• Book Links:
• https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55468194
• https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Louise_Candlish_The_Skylight?id=if7sDwAAQBAJ
• https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/fiction-poetry/the-skylight-quick-reads-2021,louise-candlish-9781471198410
• https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-skylight
• https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-skylight/louise-candlish/9781471198410
• https://wordery.com/the-skylight-louise-candlish-9781471198410
• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Skylight-Quick-Reads-2021-ebook/dp/B08BTHW8LF

Author Details

Sunday Times bestselling author ​Louise Candlish was born in Northumberland and grew up in the Midlands town of Northampton. She studied English at University College London and has lived in the capital ever since. She is the author of 14 novels, including the thriller Our House, winner of the British Book Awards 2019 Crime & Thriller Book of the Year and shortlisted for several other awards. A #1 bestseller in paperback, ebook and audiobook, it is soon to be a four-part ITV drama, produced by Red Planet Pictures. Her new release The Other Passenger, a Hitchcockian tale of adultery and double crossing set among the Thames river commuters, is also in development for the screen. Louise’s first Richard & Judy Book Club pick, it has been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2021.  

Louise lives in Herne Hill in South London with her husband, teenage daughter and fox-red Labrador, Bertie. Besides books, the things she likes best are: coffee; TV; salted caramel; tennis; lasagne; old heavy metal; ‘The Archers’ (but not the lockdown monologues); white wine; Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (or, failing that, a Starbar). Her favourite book is Madame Bovary. 

• Website: http://www.louisecandlish.com/
• Twitter: @louise_candlish
• Facebook: @louisecandlishauthor
• Instagram: @louisecandlish