Paperback: 336pp
Published: Lightning Books (May 2023)
ISBN: 9781785633102
Tiny Pieces of Enid
Tim Ewins
£9.99
‘Hypnotic and very moving’
Beth Morrey
Enid isn’t clear about much these days. But she does feel a strong affinity with Olivia, a regular visitor to her dementia home in a small coastal town. If only she could put her finger on why.
Their silent partnership intensifies when Enid, hoping to reconnect with her husband Roy, escapes from the home. With help from an imaginary macaw, she uncovers some uncomfortable truths about Olivia’s marriage and delves into her own forgotten past.
A deeply touching story of love, age and companionship, evoking the unnoticed everyday moments that can mean the world to the people living them, Tim Ewins’ second novel will delight fans of his acclaimed debut, We Are Animals.
Extracts
Enid lay motionless on the hospital bed with her eyes closed. She wasn’t sure if she could move; she hadn’t tried, and she didn’t want to.
‘Your mother hasn’t responded for over twenty-four hours.’ The voice was short but not unfriendly, not addressing her. Male and important. Enid couldn’t guess the voice’s age though. In fact, she found that she couldn’t recall any numbers at all. ‘We’ll keep her where she is. We can monitor her through the night, and then do a few more tests in the morning.’
Extracts
Enid lay motionless on the hospital bed with her eyes closed. She wasn’t sure if she could move; she hadn’t tried, and she didn’t want to.
‘Your mother hasn’t responded for over twenty-four hours.’ The voice was short but not unfriendly, not addressing her. Male and important. Enid couldn’t guess the voice’s age though. In fact, she found that she couldn’t recall any numbers at all. ‘We’ll keep her where she is. We can monitor her through the night, and then do a few more tests in the morning.’
Enid hadn’t understood any of the words that the voice had said, but she had the distinct feeling that they had been about her, rather than to her. She wanted to know where she was, but her eyelids didn’t even flicker when she attempted to open them. Some parts of her body felt numb, and the other parts ached. She felt sure that she was positioned flat on her back with her arms by her sides, arranged like a corpse. It was not comfortable.
‘Alright, thank you. I’ll come back tomorrow. What time’s best?’
Enid knew that voice. It was her daughter’s. Always busy. She had such a fast-paced life. Enid didn’t recognise any of her daughter’s words though. It was like she was talking a foreign language. Enid wanted to say her daughter’s name, to ask for comfort, to ask for her husband, Roy, but her mouth didn’t move. What was her daughter’s name? She began to doubt that it could be her daughter at all. Or even that she had a daughter.
‘Visiting hours are 5.30 to 6.30.’
‘Ugh,’ Enid’s daughter exhaled, short and busy. The abruptness frightened Enid. Where was she? Where was Roy? She seemed to be paralysed, but her mind was restless. Other noises came into focus; a squeaking wheel, a repetitive beep, stifled, distant chatter. Then, her daughter again.
‘I can move some things around.’
Enid felt someone lift her hand, squeeze her palm softly, and then lower her fingers back to the bed, but it wasn’t Roy.
‘Alright Mum, I’ll be back tomorrow. I love you.’
quotes
‘A powerful and poignant story about love and loss, frailty and courage. Beautifully imagined and peopled with strong, endearing characters, this book both gripped me and touched my heart’
Hazel Prior
‘A poignant, poetically fractured tale of two women trapped by circumstance, the bittersweet circle of life and love. I found it strangely hypnotic and very moving’
Beth Morrey
‘One of the most beautiful portrayals of love I’ve ever read. I will always remember Enid and Roy’
A.J. West
‘A wonderful, poignant and powerful read. I absolutely loved it. There’s such tenderness there, and great clarity too’
Matson Taylor
‘Incredibly moving. The pages are filled with characters you can’t help but fall in love with. A heartfelt tale focused on the realities of life with dementia’
Louise Hare
‘Beautiful. Quietly devastating and utterly believable. I loved every second of it’
Ericka Waller
‘He’s done it again. Tiny Pieces of Enid is warm and moving and full of heart. If it doesn’t make you cry more than once, I don’t know what’s wrong with you’
Frances Quinn
‘Compelling and sad and hopeful, but never sentimental. A warm hug of a book, as comforting as chicken soup and just as nourishing’
Polly Crosby
‘A beautiful, sensitive, lyrical portrait of the reality of living with dementia, and the twists and turns our lives take, up until the very end’
Victoria Scott
‘A moving and thoughtful examination of memory and ageing, with a central character you can’t help but root for. A wonderful story about love and friendship and the ‘tiny pieces’ that make us who we are’
Rebecca Ley
‘This lovely book reminds us that character and love both outlast our lifetimes and these are the things we remember in the end’
Jacqueline Sutherland
‘I was deeply moved by this delicate, beautiful book. A sensitive and poignant story’
Victoria Dowd
‘A poignant, warm, and thought-provoking story’
Susan A. King
‘A powerful and moving story about dementia and love that lasts a lifetime. Unflinching and heartbreaking. I loved it’
Nicola Gill
‘Moving and timely. Brilliantly evokes the drama of the everyday that may go unnoticed by others, but for those involved takes on titanic proportions. Superb’
Tom Benjamin
‘A beautiful book, its pages suffused with warmth and humanity. It truly moved me and will stay with me a long, long time’
Louise Fein
‘Tim Ewins brings his own brand of quirky to something very different. Tiny Pieces of Enid is a tender, poignant, and elegiac portrayal of love and loss and the indomitable nature of the human spirit. If you don’t love Enid like a member of your own family after reading this book then you have no soul!’
Cat Walker
‘Enid is a delight. Her story tells of a love that defies everything, while the rendition of her mental decline is drawn with sensitivity and compassion. I couldn’t put this down’
Paula Greenlees
‘Like a bird layering twigs to build a nest, Ewins has woven together past and present, memory and reality to create a startlingly beautiful novel with complex characters walking the fine line between fragility and strength. An absolute delight’
Laura Besley
reviews
‘An affectionate portrait of a fragmenting personality’
‘A-maz-ing! Beautiful, unforgettable characters and story. It will finish in my Top Five this year for sure’
‘Tim Ewins has written a really special book, with such heart and compassion. This is an incredible read’
‘Exquisite. Not merely a good book. A truly magnificent one that’s imbued with love and compassion and touches the reader, heart and soul. I absolutely adored it’
‘Unbelievably beautiful in its storytelling, packed full of emotion and a lot of serious life topics covered. I could not put this book down and read it in one single evening. I wholeheartedly recommend’
‘One of those books that will stick in your mind and never leave your heart. It’s poignant, bittersweet but at the same time also wholesome. It made me cry, tears of sorrow but also of hope and joy’
‘I simply fell head over heels for Tiny Pieces of Enid. It’s so carefully and sensitively written. An absolute must-read’
Sandra Loves and Lifestyle *****
‘A beautiful story and a reminder to hold your loved ones close’
‘I highly recommend this book, especially if, like me, you’re a fan of a cathartic, book-induced weep, and I’m excited to see what this talented writer produces next’
‘I laughed, I cried, I felt angry and I felt scared but most of all I felt hopeful’
extras
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