Kaitlyn Hatch | Rosie Amber

Friends We Haven’t Met is a contemporary novel set in London around the residents of a block six flats. The book opens with pieces from them all as un-named characters, then as the book evolves we are told their names and more about each of their lives and how they interact as neighbours.

Chelle works in the local supermarket, her partner Darren drinks heavily and has hit her. Namisha lives alone with her baby after her husband walked out, she is depressed and lonely. Hester is an older woman with a son who worries about her. Darcy is from Calgary, Canada and shares her flat with two students. Tim is devastated and heart-broken after a recent relationship break-up and Gian Verdi is forced to downsize and doesn’t want to be in his flat.

I found the opening chapter quite confusing, not knowing which faceless character was talking, but once the author gave us names and small details to attach to those characters the book became easier to read. I enjoyed the little additional bits of information each chapter that dropped into the story line and the ending gave hope for most of them.

Book Description

This is a tale of six strangers living in a London apartment building, their lives & struggles unnoticed between them until they begin to intertwine.

A young man grieves, a new mother finds herself abandoned by her husband, a middle-aged menman lives in fear, an elderly woman longs to tell her son the truth, a student from Canada carries around guilt that she tried to run from by moving to London and an aging Italian immigrant feels abandoned after the death of his wife. Depression, fear, anxiety, loneliness, guilt and grief – all human experiences that can either divide or unite us.

Each chapter is broken into six narratives of the occupants of a single floor of an apartment building in London. In the first chapter we don’t know the names of any of the characters, just as they don’t know the names of one another, we are only introduced to their personal worlds.

As each narrative continues, the details of the personal trials of each character come to light and the characters begin to reach out to each other in various ways. Ultimately, even the most cold and distant character is met with compassion.

This book explores how we are interconnected through the characterization of six strangers who, on the surface, think they have an apartment block in common and nothing else.

Find the book here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Meet The Author

Kaitlyn Hatch has been writing since before she could spell. She’s a contributing writer to publication on Medium.com, as well as having kept her own blog since 2008.

In addition to writing books, Kait keeps a blog, runs a podcast, does graphic design and makes art, which is why she calls herself a creative polymath.

Originally from Calgary, AB, she lived in the UK for six years where she gained citizenship and a strange amalgamated Canadian-English accent. She can’t say where in the world she’s living now, but ‘home’ is with her wife, Gretchen, and fur-child, Delirium.

http://www.kaitlynschatch.com

Twitter @faunawolf