Square Peg, by Vivienne Tuffnel

According to Kindle on my PC I have 188 books in my Kindle collection. You can deduct half a dozen for the freebies, but then you’ve got to boost that number for novels in collections – Dickens, Austen, Trollope and heaven knows who.

I’ve scarcely reviewed a handful of those books, yet here I am, reviewing a second book, ‘Square Peg’, from the same author, Vivienne Tuffnel, whose ‘The Bet’ was my most recent review.

This tells you something of how struck I was by ‘The Bet’. I read it and immediately reacted ‘gotta read more’ and ‘Square Peg’ was the result.

The ‘square peg’ in question is an individualistic young woman who is married to a trainee clergyman, living adjacent to a training college for clergy among a community of such trainees and their families. For an atheist like myself, the setting itself was likely to prove challenging, but I was ready to ‘give it a go’ and I’m glad that I did.

As in ‘The Bet’, ‘Square Peg’ is an acute study of human psychology, of relationships, loss, grief, humanity and inhumanity, and just like the first book I was riveted from the first word.

Despite a minor smattering of typos, particularly toward the end, this was yet another great book, thoroughly enjoyed, mentally logged for re-reading somewhere in the future just so that I can enjoy this skillful work again. Very much recommended.