Matt Haig

Meet the RadleysPeter, Helen and their teenage children, Clara and Rowan, live in a typical suburban English town. They are an everyday family, averagely dysfunctional, averagely content. But, as their children have yet to find out, the Radleys have a devastating secretIn this moving, thrilling and extraordinary portrait of one unusual family, The Radleys asks what we grow into when we grow up, and explores what we gain - and lose - when we deny our appetites.

The Radleys

Mia Caven

Out of the four novels of Haig’s I’d rate this third. It was good, and as usual I love his concepts. Similarly to the last family in England, there is less of a happy twist throughout the book. However this one does end happy unlike the last family in England. Matt haig’s writing as usual is a delight to read and experience

Just about everyone knows a family like the Radleys. Many of us grew up next door to one. They are a modern family, averagely content, averagely dysfunctional, living in a staid and quiet suburban English town. Peter is an overworked doctor whose wife, Helen, has become increasingly remote and uncommunicative. Rowan, their teenage son, is being bullied at school, and their anemic daughter, Clara, has recently become a vegan. They are typical, that is, save for one devastating exception: Peter and Helen are vampires and have—for seventeen years—been abstaining by choice from a life of chasing blood in the hope that their children could live normal lives. One night, Clara finds herself driven to commit a shocking—and disturbingly satisfying—act of violence, and her parents are forced to explain their history of shadows and lies. A police investigation is launched that uncovers a richness of vampire history heretofore unknown to the general public. And when the malevolent and alluring Uncle Will, a practicing vampire, arrives to throw the police off Clara’s trail, he winds up throwing the whole house into temptation and turmoil and unleashing a host of dark secrets that threaten the Radleys’ marriage. The Radleys is a moving, thrilling, and radiant domestic novel that explores with daring the lengths a parent will go to protect a child, what it costs you to deny your identity, the undeniable appeal of sin, and the everlasting, iridescent bonds of family love. Read it and ask what we grow into when we grow up, and what we gain—and lose—when we deny our appetites.

A Novel

Caroline Oestergaard

This was... not what I expected? I didn’t know this would be about vampires and had I know I most probably would not have read it. That being said, it’s a decent book. I love Matt Haig’s writing style and his way of creating narratives and characters. Didn’t love the plot of this book though.

This man has clearly done absolutely zero research before writing this book. Despite the vampires and the flying, the most unbelievable part was how much thirsk was mentioned. It is at least 50 minutes away from Bishopthorpe, about 30 miles. I refuse to believe that not a single person who proof read this or published it didn’t think to look at a map of York even once. It just added to how rushed and sloppy the book was. It read like a first draft that Haig just wanted out the door as a quickly as possible. The short chapters always felt unfinished, and read like quick notes he had left himself to remind him of what the content was going to be. Nothing felt polished including the one dimensional characters. I have never been a big fan of  fantasy books and this just further solidified it

Maria Davis 

The last few chapters are the best of the book. 

Daniela O'Malley

Struggling with overwork and parenting angst, English village doctor Peter Radley endeavors to hide his family's vampire nature until their daughter's oddly satisfying act of violence reveals the truth, an event that is complicated by the arrival of a practicing vampire family member.

Cerys

Trusty, trusty Matt Haig. I will say this is the only Matt Haig I have given less than 5 stars to but it doesn't mean that it wasn't good. This follows a family of vampires and the children coming to terms with who their family are. As always Matt Haig writes very wittily and is very easy to read. He never dissapoints.

Elizabeth Nolan

Ana Hein

Jeff James

Anna Troughton 

Stephanie Highfield 

FAMILIES. SOMETIMES THEY'RE A BLOODY NIGHTMARE . . . Life with the Radleys: Radio 4, dinner parties with the Bishopthorpe neighbours and self-denial. Loads of self-denial. But all hell is about to break loose. When teenage daughter Clara gets attacked on the way home from a party, she and her brother Rowan finally discover why they can't sleep, can't eat a Thai salad without fear of asphyxiation and can't go outside unless they're smothered in Factor 50.With a visit from their lethally louche Uncle Will and an increasingly suspicious police force, life in Bishopthorpe is about to change. Drastically.

Radleys

T.J. Sneddon

Beatriz

Sam 🌙

Life with the Radleys: Radio 4, dinner parties with the Bishopthorpe neighbours and self-denial. Loads of self-denial. But all hell is about to break loose. When teenage daughter Clara gets attacked on the way home from a party, she and her brother Rowan finally discover why they can't sleep, can't eat a Thai salad without fear of asphyxiation and can't go outside unless they're smothered in Factor 50.With a visit from their lethally louche uncle Will and an increasingly suspicious police force, life in Bishopthorpe is about to change. Drastically.

Flavia Louise

Carina Almeida

Carol

Ramona Crumlish

Liam Byrne 

Chelsea Hudson

The Radleys are an everyday family who juggle dysfunctional lives. Except, as Peter and Helen Radley know, but their children have yet to find out, the Radleys happen to be a family of abstaining vampires. When one night Clara finds herself driven to commit a bloodthirsty act, her parents decide to explain a few things.

María Belén

Trish 

Life with the Radleys: Radio 4, dinner parties with the Bishopthorpe neighbours and self-denial. Loads of self-denial. But all hell is about to break loose. When teenage daughter Clara gets attacked on the way home from a party, she and her brother Rowan finally discover why they can't sleep, can't eat a Thai salad without fear of asphyxiation and can't go outside unless they're smothered in Factor 50.With a visit from their lethally louche Uncle Will and an increasingly suspicious police force, life in Bishopthorpe is about to change. Drastically.

The Radleys

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