Portobello Book Blog

The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood is a book which will be quite difficult to review without giving away crucial parts of the storyline but I will do my best. It is the story of Cornelia, of course, and is told mainly in the present but with some chapters set in the not too distant past. From the beginning, it is clear that something has gone badly wrong in Cornelia’s life. She is in almost constant pain from an accident, she appears to have few friends, yet it seems that many people know who she is and dislike her. From the chapters set in the past, we learn that Cornelia, known as Leah, and her husband Adrian are soulmates who have been through unimaginable tragedies yet always been there for each other. In the present, Leah has to cope with yet more tragedy as well as discovering something about her husband which rocks her world.

This is a book which is such a captivating, touching read. Leah has had so much to cope with and it is not surprising that she makes some terrible decisions, affected as she is by grief and despair. The author paints such a vivid picture of what is going on in Leah’s mind and her belief in what she thinks is happening is utterly convincing. I read with a sense of foreboding as the author led me to begin to imagine what must have happened in the past and a sense of dread at what Leah was likely to do in the present.

The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood took me on an emotional journey and left me feeling drained after reading the final heart-stopping pages. Susan Elliot Wright has written sympathetically and with insight about a difficult and thankfully rare condition. A powerful story of love, obsession and grief, this is quite simply a stunning novel.

My thanks to Dawn Burnett at Simon & Schuster for my copy of this book which I won in a giveaway for The Words Podcast. The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood is available now in hardback, audiobook and ebook format. The papeback will follow later this year. It will be available to buy or order from your usual book retailer or you can order a Kindle copy online here: The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood

From the back of the book

What has happened to Cornelia Blackwood?
She has a loving marriage. But she has no friends.
Everyone knows her name. But no one will speak to her now.
Cornelia Blackwood has unravelled once before. Can she stop it from happening again?

From a supremely talented storyteller, The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood is a powerful novel of motherhood, loss and loneliness and how we can make damaging choices when pushed to our emotional edge. 

About the author

Susan Elliot Wright grew up in Lewisham in south-east London. Before becoming a full-time writer, she did a number of different jobs, including civil servant, cleaner, dishwasher, journalist, and chef.  She has an MA in writing from Sheffield Hallam University, where she is now an associate lecturer, and she lives in Sheffield with her husband. She is the author of The Things We Never Said and the Secrets We Left Behind. To find out more, visit her website: http:/www.susanelliotwright.co or follow her on Twitter @sewelliot.