Booksellers’ Association Book of the Month

A LoveReading Debut of the Month and Book Club Recommendation

If you were offered a chance to cure your child’s disease, would you take it?

The Willows have been through a lot. Louise has devoted her life to caring for her disabled youngest daughter. Pete works abroad, almost never seeing his loved ones. And their eldest, Eliza, is burdened by all the secrets she’s trying to keep from her overloaded family.

Meanwhile, Patience observes the world while trapped in her own body. She laughs, she cries, she has opinions and knows what she wants. But those who love her most – and make every decision about her life – will never know.

Or will they? When the Willows are offered the opportunity for Patience to take part in a new gene therapy trial to cure her Rett syndrome, they face an impossible dilemma.

Are the very real risks worth the chance of the reward, no matter how small?

An Enlightening Read!

A real eye-opener about the life of a family with a disabled adult child to care for.

Patience has Rett’s syndrome which has prevented her from living life to the full; her family have loved and cared for her, entirely unaware of how much she takes in of the world around her. Elder sister Eliza tries her best to live life for both of them, for their parents’ sake. Mum Louise copes on her own most of the time as Pete, their dad, works abroad for the extra cash it brings in, necessary to cover expenses. Now there is the chance of getting Patience on to a trial which may – or may not – improve her quality of life and this begins to tear at the very foundation of this family. What will they decide and how will it affect them all?

This is very different from my usual type of read, but it is really well-written with a good story as well as raising awareness of this dreadful condition. I sympathised with each member of the family and how Rett’s syndrome affected them, but over and above that it is a tale about family dynamics. A shining example of how alert a person can be even if they don’t look it! Each harbouring their own secrets, it is impossible to tell how it will end. An enlightening read and one I enjoyed. I’m very happy to give this one four stars.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is – as always – my honest, original and unbiased review.

Tags: women’s fiction

• Format: ebook, paperback, hardcover, audiobook
• Size: 432 pages
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Publication Date: 05 August 2021
• Book Links:
• https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57489247
• https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Victoria_Scott_Patience?id=wpYEEAAAQBAJ
• https://uk.bookshop.org/books/patience-9781800240889/9781800240889
• https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/fiction-poetry/patience,victoria-scott-9781800240889
• https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/patience-42
• https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/patience/victoria-scott/hardback/9781800240889.html
• https://www.waterstones.com/book/patience/victoria-scott/9781800240889
• https://wordery.com/patience-victoria-scott-9781800240889
• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Patience-Victoria-Scott/dp/1800240899

Author Details

Victoria Scott has been a journalist for almost two decades, working for a wide variety of outlets including the BBC, Al Jazeera, Time Out, Doha News and the Telegraph. Alongside her love of telling real-life stories, she has also always written fiction, penning plays, stories and poems ever since she first worked out how to use her parents’ electric typewriter.

Victoria is a Faber Academy graduate. She has a degree in English from King’s College, London and a Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism from City University, London. She lives near London with her husband and two children, and works as a freelance journalist, media trainer and journalism tutor.