Having been totally blown away by Robert’s 5th book, The Toymakers i put him into Bookbub as one of my saved writers and when this, Robert’s 4th book, popped up, i didn’t need asking twice to read more of Robert’s words.
And i wasn’t disappointed.
As with The Toymakers, there’s the PTSD element in one of the main characters and how that affects their lives and the people in it. Or, as Robert described it in his interview at the end of this book:
… those wild, desperate places that people learn to bury inside themselves so that, after having endured terrible things, they can find a way to live on.
And Robert does this masterfully, and he does so in a prose that is accessible, flowing, easy to read, and with that perfect level of descriptiveness that the story needs.
Within the story that is Gingerbread, there are tales being told from a grandfather to his grandson. Tales at first that seem just something from folklore and myth, but as we go through the main story the little tales that grandfather tells reveal something far more.
At times this book is harrowing, it moves you, and deeply, or at least if you have any compassion it will.
When Robert published this book he wrote an article for Waterstones about it: “The Truth In The Tales”.
At the end of any book, the question the reader has to ask themselves is, “Do i want to read more from this writer?” After The Toymakers, the answer was a definite absolutely, and after Gingerbread i’m definitely more absolute about it. Yes, i’m absolutely certain i’m going to be reading Robert’s 3rd book, Little Exiles, in the not too distant future as it’s in “The Pile”, and i’m also very much looking forward to many more incredible books from Robert in the years ahead, i’m hooked.
Sadly, Robert’s first and second book aren’t yet in Kindle format — we live in hope.
