#BookReview Thea and Denise by Caroline Bond

About the Book

Two women. An open road. The trip of a lifetime.

Thea is confident, sorted, determined to have fun, but there are sorrows beneath the surface of her life. Denise is struggling under the weight of her many commitments and in desperate need of some excitement.

When these polar opposites meet, and unexpectedly become friends, they realise they’re both looking to escape. So begins a road trip that leads them far from home and yet closer to their true selves.

But they can’t outrun their pasts forever and when things start to get complicated, both women have an important decision to make. Do they give up or keep going? Turn around or drive on?

Format: Hardback (368 pages)    Publisher: Corvus
Publication date: 2nd June 2022 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

As might be guessed from the title, Thea and Denise is inspired by the author’s favourite film, Thelma and Louise. In the Acknowledgements, Caroline describes her book as ‘a very English take’ on that film. It’s a film I haven’t seen myself but I’m guessing it doesn’t include a lot of swimming in the cold North Sea or wearing one of your mother’s old nighties.

Denise and Thea’s friendship develops following a series of coincidences, one of which is a meeting that takes place in the ladies’ toilet in the Grosvenor Hotel. They seem unlikely friends with Thea initially taking the upper hand and Denise following her lead, prompted as much as anything by an incident involving an exploding freezer drawer.  However, the dynamic subtly changes as their road trip progresses. Suddenly it’s Denise who is taking charge as a result of a new-found confidence and who encourages Thea to open up about her true reasons for making the trip.   As Lillian, Denise’s mother, later observes, ‘They were chalk and cheese but somehow the combination worked’.

I found Thea’s motivation for embarking on the road trip easier to understand. She’s running away from things she can’t – or doesn’t want to – face, trying to persuade herself that what she’s doing is for the good of others and not just a reaction to her own fears. It’s an act of desperation whereas with Denise it felt more like an act borne out of a general discontent.

The road trip includes some fun scenes. My favourite was their trip to a Rage Room, the existence of such a thing being completely new to me.

The three women in the book – Denise, Thea and Lillian – are all interesting, well-developed characters. I particularly liked the portrayal of Lillian as an older woman living an independent lifestyle. The men in the book – Thea’s ex-husband, Marc, and Denise’s husband, Simon, play minor roles and neither are particularly attractive characters. Simon, in particular, seems to want a wife who will fulfil the role of housekeeper and administrator rather than that of life companion or lover.

Although I wasn’t completely convinced the epilogue was necessary, I enjoyed the way the book deftly explored the nature of female friendship and tapped into that feeling we’ve probably all had at some point – wouldn’t it be great to just run away?

I received a review copy via Readers First.

In three words: Engaging, insightful, heart-warming

Try something similar: Three Women and a Boat by Anne Youngson

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About the Author

Caroline Bond was born in Scarborough and studied English at Oxford University before working as a market researcher for 25 years. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Leeds Trinity University. She lives in Leeds with her husband. Caroline has three adult children. Thea and Denise is her fifth novel. (Photo: Twitter profile)

Connect with Caroline
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