Nine weeks in Germany (a good, layered title) is quite an ambitious adventure of the imagination.

The Author uses an approach that embraces, amongh other elements, a good sense of place, in this case Germany, Edinburgh and eventually Oxford, partially conveyed through the time honoured and tested fictional device of the letter.The novel initially has some of the elements of literary ( to use a dreadful phrase; after all, in other language, it was a criticism aimed at Jane Austenm) "chick lit". But the full text is suitable for woman readers as well a male readers. It is a literary novel because it is calmly paced, and is an excercise in the creation of believable characters, in this case mainly, Cecilia and John her long term boyfriend This is a people book. It also addresses, perceptively, the occasional inevitable clashes between Cecilia and John and their environment, as they develop as adults, and how these are or are not resolved. Then it switches attention to the after effects on John short term and long term.

It tells the reader something new about human relationships and the brain hormone dopamine plays a crucial role for both Cecilia and John. The novel has a positive and well managed structure. Cecilia and John's story places the novel in the erea of imaginative writing, or biographical fiction that relates strongly to reality.The novel has good, human, understandable motivation.

Like many writers the Author uses the power of creative imagination coupled with a commnand of language to metaphor the human predicament. The writing is easy and fluid; the language is clear. This novel is driven by charachter and situation, rather than by events. It is written in a hand that is both sure and light. The writing style is very good; right from the outset, the reader is immediaterly engaged and made a part of the world of the writer. This is a book that gives itself space to develop its theme fully. It is surely drafted and nowhere loses its way. It sustains itself and does not flag.

This concept is original and works.This is a warm but sad human story, told with feeling and involvement.

One gets the imprression that the author had as much excitement writing this as the reader may receive, The author also conveys some of his own pain to the reader when the story reveals  some of  the suffering of John and Cecilia. It is written with drive, sensitivity and enthusiasm, anger nnd compassion. This all works well to create in the reader the willing suspension of reality the most important element of storytelling. Initially in the opening chapters the novel is not written in real time, with chapters devoted to Cecilia and John separately, diary extracts from both Cecilia and John written in first party (the novel as a whole is written in the third party), and chapters devoted to Cecilia's letters to John during her nine weeks in Germay, but it returns to a more conventional novel in its latter chapters. This device works well since the reflect the life of young people which is often chaotic, while eventually they settle to more  a more organised life style.

The novel above all demonstrates how relatively insignificant events in themselves in teenagers and young adults can change theitr whole life and even affect their health as ultimately the novel begins turn its focus onto John more than Cecilia.

To be published: