What July Knew by Emily Koch
What July Knew is the third novel by Emily Koch. I read her first novel, If I Die Before I Wake, a few years back and it was very good. But somehow I knew What July Knew would be even better. There was just something about the title and the cover (yes, I absolutely do judge a book by its cover). I imagined it would be a sort of 1990s The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, which is one of my favourite books and that’s pretty much what it was.
What July Knew came out at the start of February and I was desperate to read it, but it was a hardback and wasn’t available for half price in Sainsbury’s. Luckily my eldest bought it me for Mother’s Day.
All good authors seem to have that one book which is really special – like Life After Life for Kate Atkinson and Bournville for Jonathan Coe. What July Knew is that very special book for Emily Koch. It is next level good.
Ten year old July’s mum died when she was small. Nobody talks about her – not her father, not her stepmother and not her grandmother. Over the years, July has pieced together just 18 small facts about her mum. But she wants to know more.
July lives in an unhappy home with her father, stepmother and the stepsister she believes is nicer than she pretends to be. July actually doesn’t realise how unhappy her home is, but the reader knows.
Set over the course of just a few days in 1995, What July Knew is the story of July and her mum starting to unfold and unravel. Against the backdrop of a 1990s heatwave, everything July thought she knew about her family changes.
I can’t give too much away, because it’s just too good and I don’t want to spoil it. July is a likeable character and the year 1995 means children had much more freedom than they have now – so July and her stepsister are left home alone while their parents go to work, for example.
The story is mainly told in the third person from July’s point of view, interspersed with some letters from various characters.
The book just gets better and better as it goes along and you will definitely need tissues. The last letter in the book absolutely broke me, as well as filling in some final gaps in the story.
If you’re looking for a brilliant and moving read, I can’t recommend What July Knew highly enough. (Although **trigger warning** it contains domestic violence, if you need to avoid that.)
