What July Knew

LoveReading Says

With a brilliant evocation of its ten-year-old protagonist’s voice and psychology, Emily Koch’s What July Knew tackles domestic abuse, family tragedy, terrible cover-ups and community dynamics with tremendous empathy and storytelling vim. It’s compelling, heart-breaking, honest stuff, written as a page-turning mystery, with brutal truths about domestic violence and a kind-hearted, loving girl at its core.

Its 1995 and ten-year-old July lives with her abusive father, stepmother and stepsister. At this point, she has a list of eighteen things she knows about the mother she believes was killed in a car accident several years ago. When her teacher asks the class to work on a project about a relation they know little about, July sets about researching her mother.

But July’s violent father won’t talk about her. Constantly teaching July a “Lesson”, he’s left her feeling “unworthy of his love”.

Nonetheless, July risks her father’s wrath by investigating things for herself in the wake of receiving a note that claims her mother wasn’t killed in a car accident. At the same time, her stepmother starts to “do a deliberately crack-handed job of the make-up over July’s bruises”, hoping someone will notice, hoping someone will do something. After visiting the street her parents used to live on and encountering a former neighbour, July unearths shocking secrets leading to an urgent, powerful showdown that’ll have readers holding their breath, desperate for July — and her stepfamily — to have a true chance at life.

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen’s lifelong love of reading and writing began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, and very much wished that witches (and Mrs Pepperpot) were real.
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