Beach read with a view

Sometimes a book asks you a question in the title that you feel compelled to answer. Take the new Sophie Hannah novel for a start with the title Did you See Melody?….Where is Melody? Who is Melody? There are times when you can spend a whole day reading and a whole day looking for answers a book poses. Reading on the beach was no hardship but did Melody appear?

Here’s how to find Melody…

(I realise the proof copy is more useful for this experiment than the hardback but you can fashion your own Melody search tool with a piece of cardboard and a pair of scissors)

You can booktrail the search for Melody here

Open book proof like this and you will see three thrifty port holes ideal for searching for something incognito.

It’s a beach read with a view:

Looking for Melody on the sand (c) TheBookTrail

Or, you can also leave it on the sand and let it blow open on its own, thus making it look as if you’ve not made any attempt to spy on anyone..(You have to lie down on the sand but that’s no hardship is it?)

Looking for Melody on the hoizon (c) TheBookTrail

The guide is of course not fool proof as I don’t think Melody looks like a middle aged man. Maybe he is also looking for Melody though? He is looking out over the beach and out to see so he is in prime position to spot her. Keep an eye on people like this! They could beat you to it.

Maybe he knows where Melody is? (c) TheBookTrail

When a bunch of females are spotted, care should be taken to work out if any of them could be Melody. Useful large porthole in the book can help with this. But when you focus on the sea, it gives you that strange feeling of actually being at sea as the waves lap up at the port hole window and could result in you feeling seasick and therefore moving the book and losing track of Melody. Who said beach reading wasn’t fraught with problems (and not just sand between the pages?)

Melody and her friends? (c) TheBookTrail

And…this is the result you want…..When you have found Melody, keep the target in sight and send your friend over to check it is in fact her. You might go to the wrong girl (like Cara goes to the wrong hotel room) and wait till you see where that got her! But you will make new friends by chatting to so many people on the beach so all is not lost

But…let’s get down to serious business – Melody is still in the book somewhere and it’s up to you now to sit back on the sanddunes, ice-cream in hand, and read like you’ve never read before. It’s up to YOU to find her. And it’s no walk on the beach either in locating her…and that’s if you find her at all….

Did You See Melody is out this week

Buy it and start searching…