The Consequences of Love

Description

A beautiful, fearless and hopeful account of grief, memory, loss and the love between two sisters When Gavanndra Hodge was seven years old her world was a precarious place. Her father was a hairdresser and drug dealer to Chelsea's most decadent inhabitants; her mother an alcoholic ex-model. So, it was up to Gavanndra to keep her sister safe. But when Candy dies suddenly on holiday aged nine, Gavanndra's family, already so fragile and damaged, implodes. With only memories of Candy's awful final moments, Gavanndra embarks on a journey to write her way back to the little girl whose death tore her family apart. The Consequences of Love is a story of loss and recovery, trauma and memory. It is a joyous and compelling account of the strength of the love between sisters and how nothing is ever truly lost if we are brave enough to return to where we began.

Gavanndra Hodge has worked in newspapers and magazines for over twenty years, at the Daily Mail, Independent, ES Magazine and Tatler, where she was deputy editor and acting editor. In 2018 she left Tatler and became a freelance writer, contributing to publications including the Sunday Times, The Times, Telegraph and ES Magazine. She writes a column for The Times LUXX Magazine about how to talk to children about difficult subjects, such as privilege, grief and fairness, and has interviewed many high profile people, most recently Michael Caine, Margot Robbie and Carey Mulligan.

Unflinchingly honestly. A beautiful book . . . everyone should read it * The Sunday Times * There are scenes that will reduce you to tears, but there's also humour, forgiveness and uplifting optimism [...] by the end of this dazzling debut you just want to give her a huge cheer for coming through * Evening Standard * Wise and moving . . . this memoir is an acknowledgment that love demands a price * Guardian * By turns painful and joyful, this beautiful book has plenty of poignant lessons to teach us about grief and love * Cosmopolitan * Gavanndra writes beautifully, her words are unsentimental but very lyrical [...] I loved this book and my tears fell into the bath as I read it -- Clover Stroud * author of The Sunday Times Bestselling memoir My Wild and Sleepless Nights * A devastating, heart-breaking and magnificent meditation on the function of memory. It will stay with me forever, so beautifully written * Daisy Buchanan, author of The Sisterhood * A completely unforgettable and unique family memoir. A total cliche but I honestly couldn't put it down * Hadley Freeman * A real tear-jerker * i * 'Beautifully-written, calm-but-utterly-compelling life-story of trauma and healing... the author seems lovely and I want to be her pal!' * Marian Keyes * At a time when so many families are losing loved ones, and are denied even the scant comfort funerals provide, there is no more poignant moment for this book to appear -- Emily Hill * The Spectator * This is one of the best books I've read about grief - and the catastrophic consequences of addiction. Exquisitely written. Profoundly moving -- Robert Peston Gavanndra Hodge's moving memoir recounts the consequences of an early life framed by beauty, glamour and tragedy * The Observer * A heartbreaking and compelling memoir * Red * Looks at the power of love and loss in shaping one's life. Moving and beautifully written * Grazia * The must-read of the summer * The Times * So brilliantly written . . . ultimately joyful and uplifting * Daily Mirror * Brave and beautifully written * Elle * There are books - and then there are books that you'll never forget reading. A quite extraordinary memoir -- Becky Barrow * News Editor of The Sunday Times * I read it in one sitting without pause. It is an astonishing book. I haven't stopped thinking about it -- Charlotte Edwardes * columnist for Sunday Times Style Magazine * A wonderful and transformative memoir about the impact of loss and the power of love; and one that illustrates how it is never too late to tackle suppressed grief -- Julia Samuel * author of the Sunday Times Bestseller This Too Shall Pass * I read this in one sitting, tears splashing onto its pages. A beautiful book about grief, losing a sibling, trauma, drugs, parenting & memory in the most exquisite way. Please everyone read it -- Emma Gannon * podcaster, author of Olive and founder of The Hyphen Book Club * This book is genuinely extraordinary -- Eleanor Wood Life affirming [...] an enrapturing journey through darkness, destructive behaviour and an urgency for light and happiness now * Magic Radio Book Club, May's Book of the Month * A powerful memoir -- Laura Whitmore * BBC Radio 5 * Timely and highly original * Evening Standard * Brilliant and moving * The Times * The Consequences of Love is undoubtedly one of this year's most hotly-anticipated books, and with good reason * The Sunday Salon podcast with Alice-Azania Jarvis * Brilliantly written and heartbreaking but also joyful and uplifting * Psychologies * Extraordinary . . . profoundly moving * Sunday Mirror * A brave, lyrical, painful tale of bereavement, addiction, and the building of a new life -- Joanna Briscoe * Evening Standard * Superbly written. Beautifully written and utterly heartbreaking. Courageous, inspired, bleakly comic, extreme candour * Guardian * Searing * Daily Mail * Hodge's beautiful memoir is both a devastating, grief-fuelled account of her sister's death and a redemptive tale of an emotional reckoning * i * It's a vivid and oddly entertaining memoir, a hand plunged into the dark hole of grief . . . uncovers surprising treasures - most importantly, strength, resilience and love * Mail on Sunday * Searing. A masterful writer with a gift for storytelling. Her prose is rich with detail, combining a sharp sense of place with escalating drama. A triumph * i * The most moving, most exquisitely written book about addiction, grief, loss and coming to terms with trauma even decades on. One that you will be thinking about, and remember long after finishing * Quintessentially * One of the most beautiful memoirs I've ever read. This story will say with you long after you put the book down * Emma Gannon * I just turned the last page (reluctantly!). A bold, often brutal exploration of memory, grief and love. Full of hope and heart. I can't recommend it enough * Terri White, author of Coming Undone * A brave, brilliant book that is both beautiful and important. Read it then buy it for all your friends * Hello! * Gavanndra's memoir The Consequences of Love is absolutely beautiful. It's compelling, heartbreaking, sweet, honest, fascination. I recommend it HIGHLY. I absolutely LOVED it. * Marian Keyes * This stunning exploration of grief is so well written and profoundly moving * Good Housekeeping * An elegant study of grief and memory * Guardian * Hodge pours heartbreak and love into the pages of a book that never pretends to know the answers, and is all the better for it * Sunday Times * An elegant study of grief and memory * Guardian Weekly * An eye-opening snapshot of the fashion world in '90s London * Vogue UK *