The Woman who Went to Bed for a Year Book

Having only known the work of Sue Townsend, one of Britain's most lauded and popular writers of the past few decades, through her series of books surrounding the exploits of the beloved Adrian Mole, I was both excited and cautious when coming to her latest novel, The Woman Who Went To Bed For a Year, released this month.

Adrian Mole had been such a staple part of my childhood reading lists. I found myself asking, 'Will Townsend have the same appeal for me in a world without him?' And upon reading her latest and truly brilliant novel, the answer is most certainly and assuredly a wholehearted, 'Yes!'

The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year lures you in with its long but intriguing title. Immediately, before we even pick up the novel, we wonder what we would do with a year of our lives spent in bed. I tried to imagine what would drive a character to do such a thing, and Townsend details it perfectly for us, with the applaudable way she has of bringing out the comedy in all of life's moments.

On the surface, the novel does precisely what it says on the tin - our central character, Eva, decides to stay in bed when her children fly the nest. But of course, the wonder lies in discovering why it is that she chooses to do it, and how exactly one spends time in bed for a year.

For years and years, Eva has wanted a moment to herself, a moment of peace and quiet - and who among us can't say the same? - and as her twin children leave home for university, her chance has finally come.

One of things I was slightly anxious about before reading Townsend's latest novel was the stasis that is in some ways implied by the title - if this woman goes to bed for a year, surely there won't be much of a story to tell. But how wrong I was, and how glad I am that I trusted my instincts to pick up the novel.

Though Eva remains in the comfort of her own bed, away from her unappreciative husband Brian, we are nonetheless introduced to the slightly intruding outside world beyond her bedroom. A friendly window-cleaner and local handyman, Eva's adoring fans, and her entirely disapproving mother. And it is despite, and through, these intrusions that Eva finally gets those moments of rest she has so longed for.

Townsend presents us with a fantastic and fascinating deconstruction of the world in which we live today, a world in which Eva cannot be the person she truly wants to be, and thus decides to remove herself from the equation entirely. She is a character you'll readily fall in love with and vehemently defend against the other characters when they try to question her about what she is doing. 'She is having some time to herself,' you'll imagine yourself telling them, 'and I think after all these years, she has more than earned it.'

The day her gifted twins leave home for university, Eva climbs into bed and stays there. For seventeen years she's wanted to yell at the world, 'Stop! I want to get off'. Her husband, an astronomer who divides his time between gazing at the...