The (D)Evolution of us by Morwenna Blackwood

Val Penny ♦ August 17, 2020 ♦ Leave a comment

I just finished the new book by Morwenna Blackwood. It is an intriguing title and I was interested to read the novel.

The Blurb

… the water was red and translucent, like when you rinse a paint brush in a jam jar. The deeper into the water, the darker the red got. No, the thicker it got. It wasn’t water, it was human. It was Cath.

Cath is dead, but how and why isn’t clear-cut to her best friend, Kayleigh.

As Kayleigh searches for answers, she is drawn deeper into Cath’s hidden world.

The (D)Evolution of Us questions where a story really begins, and whether the world in our heads is more real than reality.

The Review

The book is published by darkstroke and is very short and is written from three points of view: Catherine (mostly through her unfinished novel), Richard and Kayleigh. Because of this, a great deal of the story is echoed and reprised through the excerpts from Catherine’s unfinished novel.

The different points of view take the story forward gradually until the clever twist at the end reveals all to the reader. This unusual story made for an interesting read.

The Author

When Morwenna Blackwood was six years old, she got told off for filling a school exercise book with an endless story when she should have been listening to the teacher/eating her tea/colouring with her friends. The story was about a frog. It never did end; and Morwenna never looked back.

Born and raised in Devon, Morwenna suffered from severe OCD and depression, and spent her childhood and teens in libraries. She travelled about for a decade before returning to Devon. She now has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Exeter, and lives with her husband, son and three cats in a cottage that Bilbo Baggins would be proud of. When she is not writing, she works for an animal rescue charity, or can be found down by the sea.

She often thinks about that frog.

Val Penny