I read the 120-page novella The Blue of You by Amanda Huggins in an afternoon, drawn into the story by her exploration of relationships old and new, the imprints of the former on a fresh start. 
In 2010, a tragedy in her northern hometown sends Janey south to London. A lost friend, a parting from her first love. When she returns alone to Langwick Bay years later, she’s still lost and searching for something. Janey is at sea emotionally and geographically, but her hometown is her anchor. It is the death of her friend Alice when they were teenagers that magnetically brings Janey home. The loss is painful still and, after spending the intervening years stabbing her guilt with the sharp tip of a knife, she seeks resolution. Alice died at Christmas and Janey’s annual celebrations ever since have been loaded with grief and regret. The Blue of You takes place in the lead up to Christmas 2022.
Not sure if she will resettle permanently in Langwick Bay, Janey begins to heal when she meets Tom Inglewood, a coble fisherman who is part of a group of local men trying to preserve the traditional way of fishing. ‘Tom has never told me how he feels in the everyday language I know, has never used the word love, but has shown me his love every day – there is love in mending nets, in advising and helping the lads in the village, there is love in the way he watches and reads the sky and the sea. He knows love better than I do.’ Tom’s solid presence, his undemanding acceptance of Janey and his unspoken but visible love for her, help her to think clearly of Alice and, for the first time as a adult, to explore what really happened.
The Blue of You is firmly anchored in its location. Huggins is a northern writer and her love of the place shines out on every page. Janey has always missed home, longs to return, but now she is back she’s not sure what, or who, she’s looking for. Only that she wants to make peace with her past, and move on. But the locals don’t recognise her, assuming her to be yet another incomer who doesn’t appreciate or have interest in the local way of life. When she does meet an old acquaintance, it doesn’t go as expected.
Finally she beings to talk about Alice. ‘Every detail is clear as day in my head, but the words stick to my tongue like glue the moment I start to speak.’ She talks to Stella, Alice’s mother; to Rory, her first love; and to Tom, who encourages her to remember with fondness not regret.
This is a story of sadness and hope told with delicacy and sensitivity, a coming to terms with difficult memories. Of recognising the impossibility of moving on until the truth is faced.
Read my reviews of other work by Amanda Huggins:-
Novellas
ALL OUR SQUANDERED BEAUTY
CROSSING THE LINES
Short stories
AN UNFAMILIAR LANDSCAPE
BRIGHTLY COLOURED HORSES
EACH OF US A PETAL
SCRATCHED ENAMEL HEART
SEPARATED FROM THE SEA
Poetry
THE COLLECTIVE NOUNS FOR BIRDS
If you like this, try:-
‘Did You Ever Have a Family’ by Bill Clegg
‘Smash all the Windows’ by Jane Davis
‘When All is Said’ by Anne Griffin
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:-
#BookReview THE BLUE OF YOU by Amanda Huggins @troutiemcfish https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8wa via @SandraDanby
COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- 
Maggie explains, “Workhouse Orphan, inspired by a brave young man way back in my family history and dedicated to him, tells the story of a boy forced at a very tender age to leave his siblings behind in their grim London workhouse and work down a Yorkshire coal mine. Despite the hardships he encounters, he never loses sight of his wish to reunite the family. While not originally intended to be a book for children – it’s actually suitable for anyone with an interest in social history – I’ve been told by parents that it’s made a good bedtime read and given their own offspring cause to realise how lucky they are!”
What is a ‘Porridge & Cream’ book? It’s the book you turn to when you need a familiar read, when you are tired, ill, or out-of-sorts, where you know the story and love it. Where reading it is like slipping on your oldest, scruffiest slippers after walking for miles. Where does the name ‘Porridge & Cream’ come from? Cat Deerborn is a character in Susan Hill’s ‘Simon Serrailler’ detective series. Cat is a hard-worked GP, a widow with two children and she struggles from day-to-day. One night, after a particularly difficult day, she needs something familiar to read. From her bookshelf she selects 
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