My only criticism is that there were patches were I became a little bogged down and the narrative seemed to drag. This book by Joanne Glen tells story of twin girls, Julia and Augusta, born minutes apart but in separate months. From the moment they are born the girls are very different from each other and as they grow older their ambitions and dreams move wider and wider apart. The Other Half of Augusta Hopeis the stunning debut novel from Joanna Glen. Julia and Augusta Hope are twins; Julia born in the final hours of 31 July and Augusta in the early hours of August 1st. Their different birthdays are just the beginning of their differences, Julia is blonde, Augusta is dark, Julia is the perfect daughter who does as she is told, Augusta questions everything in life, Julia is a homebird and happy to stay in her home town, Augusta wants to move away, discover the world, as home doesn’t feel like home for her, and she feels second best. After a tragedy, Augusta finally flees her parents home and goes looking for another home, a place where she can be herself. The Other Half of Augusta Hope is a beautifully written, clever novel and I feel like a better person for reading it. I was sorry when it was finished, even though the ending was perfect, and I will definitely be looking out for more books by Joanna Glen in the future.

And now that she’s an adult, Augusta has no interest in the goings-on of the small town where she lives with her parents and her beloved twin sister, Julia.Parfait leaves war-ravaged Burundi in the midst of civil war, and so their stories start to intertwine in the most unexpected ways.

The story is eventually woven to its conclusions and the revelations are painful but ultimately beautiful.

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The dragonfly symbolises transformation. Can move direction very suddenly. Is capable of flying across oceans' ____ Joanna Glen Parfait Nduwimana was one of nine children. He was born in Burundi and lived through the horrors of civil war. He decides that he cannot go on living in the country, especially after his sisters have been brutalised by the soldiers who frequently come to his village to plunder. He sets off across Africa with his youngest brother, Zion, determined to get to Spain. We also hear from Parfait, a young boy living in Burundi who at first seems quite random, how will he fit into the story? Of course, it soon becomes clear.

Thanks so much to Harper Collins, Joanna Glen and NetGalley for the opportunity to read THE OTHER HALF OF AUGUSTA HOPE. They navigate their way through adolescence to adulthood and then comes a significant event on holiday that is alluded to by Augusta before we learn of it. This is a turning point for the whole family and points everything in a new direction. This story is about home, the feeling of home, where home is not a place but a person...it is both as simple and as complicated as that and the storytelling beautifully encapsulates the simplicity and the complexity of this search for home. As you can gather, it is a very character driven story and all characters, even those who only play a small part, are extremely well drawn, and the ones that linger a while develop nicely as the story progresses. It's also a very emotional book which pretty much tugged on my heartstrings throughout as well as delivering some really wonderful lighter, tender, moments. She and Julia are very close; their different natures bring out the best in each of them. Life changes and their relationship changes after a two week holiday in Spain.

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It's a book that will move you and mess with your emotions. One minute it will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, like being wrapped up in a warm blanket, and the next, it will break your heart into a million pieces. I found it both a mesmerisingly beautiful portrait of a young woman discovering what home means to her, and a poignant depiction of how our actions can touch other people's lives in ways we could never have anticipated. Augusta and Parfait are wonderful characters; I was willing them on to find the happiness and peace they both deserved' Sarah Haywood, author of The Cactus A truly awesome book. I loved the wordiness, the descriptions, the quirkiness that Joanna Glen has used to tell this epic tale. When an unspeakable tragedy upends everything in Augusta's life, she's propelled headfirst into the unknown. She's determined to find where she belongs - but what if her true home, and heart, are half a world away? We follow the story of Augusta Hope, one half of a set of twins: Julia and Augusta - two girls born on either side of midnight July 31st, meaning on was born in July and the other in August.

Joanna Glen weaves a uniquely heartening and hopeful story. A story about pain, the solace of words and our search to belong, to a place, to a person. Welcome to the world of the wonderful Augusta Hope' Jess Kidd, author Himselfand Things in Jars I enjoyed the book. The lead character-Augusta-was convincing and engaging and I found I was drawn into her story and that of Parfait.This book is a split perspective novel, telling the stories of Augusta, a British woman who wants to travel the world to escape her home life and Parfait, a man from Burundi who decides to make a break for it to avoid the ongoing civil war.