The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Book of the week 8/10
There are some things many of us take for granted and our eyesight is one of them. Yet what happens when you’ve been blind all your life and suddenly you can see?
Is it the miracle you’ve yearned for or is there a sense of loss for everything that’s gone before? This is one of the central issues addressed in The Rules Of Seeing, the debut novel by Joe Heap.
Nova is born without sight but, following new pioneering surgery that restores her vision, she soon finds herself struggling to navigate this new world.
When she meets Kate, a woman troubled by her own issues, she realises she’s not the only person struggling to make sense of the world she thought she once knew.
Together they help each other to open their eyes to the lives they could be living if only they are willing to take their chances.
From the opening pages of The Rules Of Seeing, it’s obvious the author possesses that mysterious talent shared among only the best writers of being able to instantly engage the reader and, more importantly, continue to sustain that level of engagement throughout the book.
A work of flair, with sympathetic and believable characters and a strong storyline, Heap’s compelling first offering hints at a promising career for this new writer.
So much so that Heap, who studied for a BA in English literature at Stirling University and a masters in creative writing at the Glasgow University, had the rights to this book, and his next, snapped up for a six-figure sum by HarperCollins’ HarperFiction.
That doesn’t happen often.
It’s an exceptional book. A heart-rending and perceptive drama, The Rules of Seeing is a story about rediscovery and taking chances.
Kate and Nova’s story is touching and told with such ease that the reader can empathise with the obstacles each character faces, even if they cannot personally relate to them that much.
The first half of the story is slightly stronger in terms of the pace of plot but that doesn’t diminish how enjoyable this novel is.
A vibrant book, The Rules of Seeing is a novel that will certainly give its readers a new perspective.
Review by Emma Reekie.