Book Description:
A young woman escapes abandonment, poverty, and crime—but making it in the music world can’t protect her from her past, in this intoxicating thriller.
It’s 1984 and sixteen-year-old Catherine Day’s mother has deserted her in their Glasgow home. Alone and desperate for money, Catherine is soon ensnared by local criminals. But that’s not the life she wants for herself. So she joins a band.
Catherine battles hard to succeed—and is aided by a mysterious guardian angel: a man who has connections to her mother and knows things about her family that could change her life forever. But as her star gradually begins to rise and her world feels more secure, a horrifying event reveals she can’t escape her origins that easily, and what matters most is survival.
My Thoughts:
This is my first novel by this author and certainly won’t be my last!
Being a woman of a certain age, I found this story in part, quite nostalgic. Even though I am slightly younger than Catherine, the protagonist, the mention of certain things were like a blast from the past. John Menzies was one. A must place for me to shop with any birthday and Christmas money I would get. Seeing it named brought back a whole lot of good memories.
For Catherine, her young adult life especially is one that is a lot harder than most of us would ever have had to experience. I couldn’t understand how any mother could abandon their own daughter, thrusting them into instant adulthood and the worries and stresses of how to pay the bills and get money for food to eat. I had so much empathy for Catherine and my mothering instinct kicked in as I worried about the choices she has to make and I was on edge throughout, praying in my head she would make the right ones.
There is a certain amount of mystery throughout the story in the why and where of Catherine’s mother. I had a whole heap of different reasons as to the why’s and could never have for seen the cards the author holds close to his chest before he chooses to reveal them to his readers. I also loved the aspect of the guardian angel of which made it at times quite endearing.
Any Day Now was a great introduction for me to this author’s work. I could easily see there being a sequel to this book and I hope there will be as I would love to see what happens next for Catherine with how this book ends. Catherine’s story will have readers hooked and eagerly turning the pages to see if she can indeed overcome life’s hurdles as well as coming to terms with her mother’s disappearance. A coming of age story that packs a punch!
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