Beautiful Day

by Kate Anthony

[Leah]

When I received a proof copy of Kate Anthony’s debut novel Beautiful Day, it came as a bit of a surprise. I knew nothing at all about the book, it’s not one I’ve seen on Amazon, it was a total non-event. But I quite liked the look of the book. It has a lovely cover, a pale yellow with a massive tree dominating the space and the title Beautiful Day inserted into the tree. It’s something I could imagine hanging on my bedroom wall, actually, the tree is that magnificent, with blues, oranges, greens and pinks making up the leaves. I thought the book sounded interesting, and I took a look at the blurb before taking a peek at the first chapter, and I was pleasantly surprised and rather interested to read more…

I found Beautiful Day to be a very beautiful book. I wasn’t sure at all what I was going to get when I started reading, but I liked Rachel’s voice immediately. She’s a recently separated single mother, juggling three kids, a surly au pair, an ex who has a new girlfriend and is happily setting up a home and a life together, and to top it all off, she’s having to go back to work. She’s found a job at Clifton Avenue Care Home as a helper, and her very first job is to be the go-to person for new resident, Philip. Philip’s mother has just died, and he’s spent the first 30+ years of his life, living in his mother’s house, eating white bread, and not doing very much else. He has no skills to speak of, can barely speak, and can’t accomplish the most simple of tasks such as brushing his teeth, but Rachel is determined to help him learn the skills he will need if he’s to ever live independently. But teaching Philip the skills he needs is much harder than Rachel ever imagined, and with people trying to block her in every direction, she’s going to have to call upon stregth she didn’t even know she had if she’s to not only get Philip to trust her, but if she’s going to be able to keep her home life running smoothly, too.

Generally when I read books about parents, I’m quite skittish. I’m not a parent, I have no idea what that entails, and it’s just not something I ever see myself becoming. So books about parents very rarely hold my interest, but I actually found myself surprisingly ensconced in Beautiful Day. Rachel is like no other parent I’ve ever read about previously. She doesn’t whinge about her tough life – the fact she’s a single mother and her ex has moved on, she doesn’t really bad-mouth her ex, and she isn’t the perfect mother. She shouts at her kids, and loses her temper on a regular basis, but I knew she had unconditional love for her kids. She was real. If I’m reading about a parent, I want them to be real parents, not perfect parents (there’s no such thing) and I absolutely loved getting to know Rachel and her kids. Her kids were super. You always expect kids who are products of their parents splitting to be awful, but I loved Alec, Jess and Luke. They have ups and downs, but they were great kids. I didn’t feel the novel was overly motherly, if that makes sense, and I sort of appreciated the fact that Rachel wasn’t overly obsessive as a mother. When something crops up with Alec, she doesn’t lose her marbles, she’s sane, rational, and I liked that.

The best bit of Beautiful Day, though, was learning about Rachel’s work at Clifton. Her relationship with Philip is fantastic, and I loved how patient she was with him, even though most people would probably have just given up and allowed someone else to take care of him, but not Rachel. It was a rather beautiful relationship, and I liked that Philip came to appreciate Rachel because she really did go above and beyond for him, as you would hope and expect any carer/helper to. Not that that was always the case at Clifton, sadly, but I enjoyed getting to know most of the helpers, especially Rob! Kate Anthony is such a fantastic writer, I really, really enjoyed getting to know everybody, especially Rachel and Philip. He may have been a man of few words, but the thing with the pink, singing toothbrush will stay with me long after reading. There were all types of moments like that that just got me, and that I really loved were there. I also thought it was great that romance wasn’t the main driving force. There is something there for us romantics, but Anthony manages to tell an amazing, fantastic story without it being the be-all-and-end-all and that was great. I really enjoyed Beautiful Day, it was a very beautiful, touching read.