The List of Suspicious Things set in Yorkshire – Jenny Godfrey

Submitted: 12th January 2024

The List of Suspicious Things – Yorkshire

Yorkshire 1979. This was a terrifying time in England on all accounts, The Yorkshire Ripper was in the headlines and Maggie Thatcher was prime minister. Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South because of all the murders and the other bad things happening. So, she sets off to make a list of everything she thinks seems suspicious.

Welcome to Yorkshire

Locations in The List of Suspicious Things

The List of Suspicious Things set in Yorkshire - Jenny Godfrey

Boarding Pass Information

Destination : Yorkshire

Author guide: Jenny Godfrey

Genre: historical but timely

Food and drink to accompany: basic food – it’s the 1970s

#Bookreview

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A novel to transport you to Yorkshire

Locations in The List of Suspicious Things

This was a joy from start to finish. A girl lives with her family in Yorkshire at the time when the Yorkshire Ripper was hunting women. Margaret Thatcher is PM and so the scene is set from the off.

The novel is a coming of age tale as Miv, who lives with her dad and mum (who’s ill) and Auntie Jean. These characters are vivid and real, raw and complex. Miv visits the corner shop and sees a boy she goes to school with – stories of racism and sadness here were heart breaking. But then there’s snippets which made me laugh such as the shopkeeper offering them all sherbet dibdabs!

Miv is on a mission to find out who the Yorkshire Ripper is. Her parents, like everyone else, worries about him and discuss moving away. Miv thinks if she writes a list of all suspicious things, she will eventually find out who the killer might be. The innocence and inner pain this child feels felt very real and raw. How children see things, how I saw things at that age. There’s lots of memories which come to the surface here which was moving.

The setting of Yorkshire is wonderful – Knaresborough being ‘ posh Yorkshire’ made me chuckle. Mother Shipton’s cave – well mum took me there so that was a nice thing to read about. This book was like a postcard of memories to be honest and that felt very nice indeed.

The writing is fresh, innocent but very poignant and real. This is a debut!!?? This deserves to do very well and I am more than sure that it will.

There’s a bit of Miv in all of us.