The Street Party

By: Claire Seeber

Narrated by: Anna Cordell, Nano Nagle

The party was supposed to be the highlight of the summer. If only I’d known that night would destroy our lives....

All the neighbours were laughing, drinking out of plastic glasses and getting along. I almost felt happy. Almost forgot about the terrible argument earlier and the sinister messages I’d been receiving from a strange address all week, threatening to expose the lies behind my perfect life.

As we finished with the red and gold fireworks and welcomed everyone back to our house, I believed that everything would be okay.

But I didn’t know who I was inviting in.

I never could have imagined what would happen here, in our home, after I’d gone up to bed.

Everyone saw something different.

It’s my daughter’s word against the story the boy from down the road is telling. But how can I find out what really happened that night without everyone finding out the truth about me?

An absolutely gripping story of the secrets you would do anything to keep hidden, with a twist you just won’t see coming. Perfect for fans of Gone Girl, Big Little Lies and The Girl on the Train.

©2021 Claire Seeber (P)2021 W F Howes

thought provoking subjects

I enjoyed the story, it flowed well. good character development, interesting twists. the only negative critique I would have is that in the middle of the story the narrator completely changed the accent of the woman with the blog. she had a normal English accent in the beginning, but when it was mentioned that she was originally from South africa, she suddenly switched to some odd approximation of, I don't know, I guess what she believed could be an African accent? it was pretty distracting and sort of racist, because English is widely spoken there.
overall good story I would recommend it

Awful in every way!

Firstly, Ruby's (one of the narrators) voice is high pitched and very hard to listen to for 11.15 hours! Worse were the accents for the various characters. On top of that is a weak storyline with a pathetic main character (Ruby) who spends most of the time either lamenting about her dead husband, or adoring her son. It was a real struggle to listen to the end but I really thought it would get better - it didn't. I will be returning this book.