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I received a copy from Netgalley.

It’s been a long time since I’ve started a book and finished it in the same day. I’ve only rated three books five stars this year and this was one of them. I love rich people stories and even more ones about regular people who are thrown into that over the top glamorous world.

In this book teenager Avery, a studios, smart girl is just looking to finish high school and earn a college scholarship. She lives with her older sister Libby and Libby’s questionable asshole boyfriend Drake. While she adores her sister she hates the boyfriend who’s cruel and manipulative in that making you think everything wrong is your fault when it’s not way.

Then everything changes when Grayson Hawthorne shows up with a request for Avery and Libby to attend his grandfather’s will reading. His multi billionaire grandfather. Avery is dumbfounded. She’s never heard of the man. And yet finds out she’s been left his fortune. From sleeping in her car she’s suddenly the richest teenager in the world.

Much to the chagrin on the Hawthorne family, the four grandsons, their mother and her sister. Naturally they’re furious. Avery has to now figure out how this all happened, and no one in the Hawthorne family is happy she’s there. There’s a complex mystery to solve, clues are left for Avery and the boys.

This is one of those compulsive you have to know what’s going on mysteries. I can’t say much for character development, everything felt a little generic and seen a million times before in the family dynamic. I didn’t get much of a sense of personality from Avery other than resourceful, smart and determined. Though her reactions to the situations she found herself thrown into were very believable.

What drove this novel forward for me was the mystery. It’s impossible to recap without being spoilery, the plot is so twisty turny. It has a brilliant narrative that makes the reader keep guessing. While the characters aren’t very fleshed out, there was some delightful banter throughout, the relationships grew more complex throughout the characters. I didn’t guess who the baddie was and it’s one of those…why didn’t I see this coming from a mile away?!?!? reveals. The tension builds wonderfully throughout to the final climax…which was almost in a weird way a bit anticlimactic. It does however, leave on a cliffhanger. I need more.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Children’s UK.

I write this review as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team (authors, if you are looking for reviews, check here), and I freely chose to review an ARC copy of this novel.

JJ Marsh is an author I’ve read great reviews about and has been on my list for a while, so I took the chance when I saw an ARC for her next book had become available. I can’t compare it to the rest of her works, but based on this novel, which is a new genre for her, I wouldn’t hesitate recommending her books, and I look forward to catching up on some of her previous novels.

I think the description above provides plenty of hints as to the plot, and this is one of those novels where the way the story is told and the fine details are fundamental, so I’ll try to avoid over explaining things or giving too many hints (I want to avoid spoilers at all cost). This is a story built around six friends (three women and three men) who meet at university, while they are studying to become international translators, and grow to be quite close. They come from different countries (mostly Europe, although one comes from the US, and one is from Indian origin), have very different personalities and backgrounds, and it’s likely that their friendship would have fizzled and died if not for a tragic event that takes place while they are away celebrating New Year (and the new millennium) in December 1999. After that, they meet every two years, and the event that binds them together weighs heavily on them all, having a very different impact in each one of them. Things come to a head on the 20^th anniversary of that fateful New Year’s celebration and readers are privileged witnesses of another night to remember. This novel reminded me of a book I read and reviewed recently, The Hunting Party, but also of films like The Celebration (Festen), where there is a build-up of tension, strained relationships, plenty of secrets and lies, and a surprise or two. Although I think many readers will smell a rat from early on in the novel, even if they get it right (and let’s say things are left open to interpretation), the beauty of this novel is in the way it is built, the variety of points of view, and the psychological insights it offers into a catalogue of characters that are not miles away from people most of us know. Considering this is the author’s first incursion into the psychological drama genre, I take my hat off to her.

There are a variety of themes that come up in the novel, some more important to the action than others, for instance the nature of friendship, the way different people experience grief, the guilt of the survivor, how we change and evolve over time and how our relationships change with us, love, death, careers, priorities, family, charity missions, and, of course, lies.

As for the characters, I won’t go into too much detail about them, because the author does a great job of building them up through the novel, and readers should discover them as they read. Marsh chooses one of the female characters, Gael, as the main narrator, and she starts the story ‘now’ (in 2020). The whole novel is written in the first person, but not all from the same point of view. Although I’ve said that Gael is the main narrator, and she has more chapters than the rest, we also get to hear the voices of the other characters, who take us back into some of the reunions the friends have had over the years, and that allows readers to compare and contrast Gael’s version of the rest of her friends with their own words and insights. Readers can compose a mental picture and fit in the pieces of the puzzle, making their own minds up and deciding if they agree or not with Gael’s perceptions. It also makes for a more rounded reading experience, as we get to know each character more intimately, and perhaps to empathise, if not sympathise, with all of them. I liked Gael from the start: she is articulate, a journalist, and a bit of a free spirit, but she always tries to understand and accommodate others as well, and she is more of the observer and the outsider in the story, for reasons that will become evident to the readers from early on. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the friends are like an ersatz family, with individual roles they always fall back on when they are together (the nurturing mother, the responsible and dependable father, the youngest and spoilt sister, the rushed and sporty brother, the sister whom everybody confides in [Gael]), and this reminded me of Eric Berne’s Games People Play. All the characters are articulate and savvy enough to be aware of this and play it for keeps as well.

The book flows well, and the language used is appropriate to each one of the individual characters, fitting with their personalities and quirks without calling too much attention to itself. It helps move the story along, and manages to build up the tension, even when there isn’t a lot of action in the usual sense. There are mysterious events taking place (some that will have readers wondering if the characters are imagining them or not), clues that sometimes don’t seem to amount to much, hints, and some memorable scenes. But all those elements are woven subtly into the narrative creating a spider web that traps the readers and the more they read, the more they become entangled in the strands of the story and the characters, until it becomes almost impossible to put the book down.

There is a closure of sorts, although the ending is ambiguous and most of the surprises and big reveals have come before then. I liked the fact that there is much left to the imagination of each reader, but I know such things are down to personal taste.

This is a great psychological drama, with engaging characters (some more likeable than others), fascinating relationship dynamics, and a mystery at its heart. It’s a gripping read, perfect to keep our minds engaged and to have us pondering the ins and outs of friendships, relationships, and which actions would push us beyond the limits of forgiveness. A gem.

The last 7% of the e-book contains the first-chapter of the author’s work-in-progress, in case you wonder about its length.  

What is “inclusive leadership”, why is it important and can people be trained to integrate the principles of being an inclusive leader? These are the questions that are being addressed by the most progressive organisations. Symmetra, through its program of Inclusive Leadership Training, has achieved remarkable success in moving forward the needle of inclusive leadership in organisations which have engaged it.

Today it is increasingly realised and widely accepted that diverse teams and diverse organisations outperform homogeneous ones. Diverse teams may be composed of men and women, people from a variety of ethnicities, of different age groups, different sexual orientation or simply people whose style of thinking is unusual or unconventional.

However, just establishing a diverse group of people in a team or more broadly in an organisation, will not necessarily produce outstanding results. Each member of the team needs to feel included and acknowledged for their contribution. Put simply, the goal is that everyone must feel that they belong and are included because their difference and individuality are valued. A special type of leadership is generally required to leverage the potential which exists in a diverse group. This added element which can transform a loose group of diverse individuals into a potent cohesive force is commonly described as “inclusive leadership“.

Thus “diversity “has come to be inextricably linked with its counterpart “inclusion”. Amongst those who are familiar with modern workplace terminology, diversity and inclusion are interlocking parts of a single organisational strategy.  Together they constitute cultural yardstick to strive for which will then drive the organisation to be high-performing. Organisations which are truly diverse and inclusive are better positioned to optimise the performance of their employees. These organisations are also likely to be more innovative and productive than their competitors.

To be described as an inclusive organisation means that Inclusion Is an embedded part of the culture. As with other desirable behaviours, inclusiveness will be reproduced down the management and employee chain if it is displayed by the leaders of the organisation. The Leader's words and actions must consistently show that inclusion is not just a vague idea but is a function of the way the business is run.

For this reason, it becomes vitally important to determine whether a leader can be described as an “ïnclusive leader “. The modern paradigm of being an inclusive leader which has been developed by Symmetra after conducting programs with many hundreds of top global leaders goes beyond just valuing and being respectful of difference.

 An inclusive leader will embed psychological safety so that people who have ideas that are different or unconventional will feel safe to express them. An inclusive leader will span geographical, divisional and functional boundaries so that diversity of thought can be accessed wherever it is. And Inclusive leaders are flexible, agile and responsive and cognisant of the ever-accelerating pace of change.

Symmetra’s inclusive leadership training program is designed to test, assess and enhance the inclusivity skills of leaders. Commencing with the application of Symmetra’s dedicated 360 degree online assessment tool and followed by personalised and highly -professional coaching sessions it provides clarity about the features of inclusive leadership; sets out a targeted and individualised learning journey for leaders and teams; measures and recognises people for their inclusive behaviours; promotes psychological safety training and embedding a culture which  reflects the prevalence of psychological safety at all levels of the organisation, and enables leaders to benchmark progress by retesting.