please see reviewer opinions
Thank you for the opportunity to review

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading The Lauras. I had heard really good things about Sara Taylor's first novel, The Shore, so I hoped I was in for a good read.

Alex is a teenager struggling with puberty, self-discovery and self image. This is all heightened by the fact that we never find out Alex's gender. For a while this bothered me, only slight remarks were made about people wondering whether Alex was a boy or a girl and I found myself wanting to know as well. However, when this becomes a major focus of the novel I quickly realise that I, nor any other reader, is supposed to know, and I was OK with that. It really highlighted the emphasis that is placed on gender and, well.. it really doesn't matter, just be who you want to be.

Alex's mother is as complex as Alex, her chequered past leads them to different situations that Alex should probably not be confronted with, but each of them focus on a different aspect of life that, at one point or another, we all must deal with. The relationship between the two is electric, the perfect representation of a mother/teenager bond.

I absolutely loved this novel. It really moved me. Taylor's way with words is perfect and I genuinely connected with the characters in the story.

This book!!!! Just read it! Fantastic!!! I fell in love with the characters early on. Each moment I had to read this book, I escaped into it!

The Lauras is the story of a mother and child who embark on a multi-year road trip across America, following a mysterious route with stops along the way to tie up loose ends from Alex's mother's past.

I wanted to love this book. I really did. I was a fan of Taylor's debut novel, The Shores, and found it quite ia page turner. In the shadow of The Shores, I didn't think The Lauras lived up to my self-admitted high expectations. I truly did enjoy it in the end, but I had an unusually hard time getting through it. The first 50 or so pages really grabbed me with the language and quick pace. While I thought the rest of the book had good movement and development, I never could find myself emotionally attached or invested in either Alex or his mother. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad book, but I find myself enjoying books much more when one or more of the characters is relatable.

I did think that Alex's character development was excellent and watching him/her come of age on the road was fascinating and moving. I realize that the mystery of Alex's gender was intentional and that it doesn't really make much of a difference whether Alex was male or female, but this was a question that I really hoped to find the answer to by the end. Parts of the book were a bit slow, but once I reached the ending, I felt that it wrapped up nicely, despite the fact that I had several questions left unanswered.

I did find this book difficult to read, I think because I am over 60, and although not a prude, some of the descriptions in this novel made me quite nauseous. The protagonist is a young girl, who is not sure whether she is male or female, wanting to remain completely asexual. However, when her mother decides to leave her father, and go travelling, to settle old scores, she is taken, very unwillingly, with her mother.
The constant anxiety about school, relationships, a growing sexuality that she is not really mature enough to deal with,and where the next meal or bed for the night is.
It is well-written, but sometimes a little too graphic for me!
Thank you for Net Galley and the publishers for allowing to read this book.

This book was different.
The idea for it was a good one, but I really didn't enjoy it. The narrator is a surly teen and the whole feel of it is deliberatley seedy.It could have been an outsider'sview of the difference in states in the US,but insteqad of
capitalising on an ability to describe things well, we get really OTT similies. Itcan't just rain or the sun set it has to bleed or weep etc.
The mother's story is quite an interesting one but I think it could have been presented in a much better way

For me a book should have a strong story, leaving me guessing and wanting to know what happens next. in The Lauras there's no whodunnit, no great love story, it's just ----- a story. And one I wanted to read. I was frustrated by the mystery of Alex' gender identity, but on reflection, there was no need to know, which opened up a different thought process. At first I thought we were entering a murder chase, as Alex and "Ma" left so abruptly in the middle of the night during a fight with dad. At various points I continued to wonder about this. But this is a road trip story, it takes us through many parts of America, leaving me wanting to explore these parts myself. It's a journey of self discovery for Alex as the journey through adolescence gets underway. And a strange and difficult one it is too. I did feel the mother was selfish dragging her child across the country, but Alex has never fitted in, and by the end seems to have found a place. The story of "the Lauras" is fascinating giving an insight into a very disturbed childhood, A strange book, haunting and one that will stay with you. I'm not sure I fully worked out fully why the journey began as it did, and I certainly had no idea how contacts had been made along the way that led to the final destination, but I felt I was making the journey with them.

This book is a journey, in the most literal sense as we follow Alex and Ma across America. They leave one night - Alex doesn't know where they're headed, and to begin with we're unsure whether Ma does either, but as we journey through her past and across the states, it becomes apparent that she's got a destination in mind.

Alex, too, is on a journey of...I guess you'd call it discovery. Having decided from a young age not to be defined by either gender, it's interesting to see other people react to this choice, which Alex and Ma just consider to be a fact.

The more of Ma's past we find out about, the more it seems that perhaps she is still a searching for something, too. What is "home"? Foster homes, past loves and places she's known all piece together like a patchwork quilt of her past, which helps Alex to understand more about the person she is today.


I didn’t realise my mother was a person until I was thirteen years old and she pulled me out of bed, put me in the back of her car, and we left home and my dad with no explanations. I thought that Ma was all that she was and all that she had ever wanted to be. I was wrong...

This is a very well written account of a road trip across the States made by Alex and her mother after a sudden decision to leave the family home. I read the book with the expectation that great revelations would be made, but by the end I have to say I felt let down. It gives an insight into transgender issues, as Alex does not identify with either male or female. We see Alex growing up and experiencing puberty during their nomadic existence, and the difficulties this causes are sensitively handled. But although the final scenes, where Ma finally reaches her destination, which is the home of the love of her life, are touching, but I couldn't understand why it had to take two years for them to get there. The premise, that they were visiting places of importance to Ma during her earlier life, is intriguing but it felt rather contrived, as though they were only there to extend the trip and pad out what would have worked better, for me, as a shorter, more intense, work.

The story is a coming of age tale – in this case for both mother and child, whereby the roadtrip prompted by the Alex’s mother becomes a journey of discovery and rediscovery. This book has various themes woven throughout – gender, prejudice, mother/child relationships, broken relationships, courage and authenticity.
The story is told from Alex’s perspective, and so it begins when Alex is 13 years old, when he/she assumes their mother is finished at growing. The journey takes them through old secrets and promises, care homes, lost friends, bolt-holes. Sara Taylor has created a dramatic tale with descriptive imagery that evokes emotions and compassion.

Enjoyed this hugely. Much more than a roadtrip novel, it's about relationships and identity. And beautifully written. Thanks, NetGalley!

This was a completely absorbing book, and I found it almost impossible to put down. I was completely immersed in the story, and the fact that you never find out whether the narrator is male or female definitely adds to the slightly eerie and strange atmosphere that the author creates. The writing is truly exquisite and transporting. This is a real gem of a book.

great read and easy to follow story line. look forward to reading more from this author.

A very intriguing book as both of the main characters were slowly revealed as the plot unfolded. An interesting perspective as the voice of a teenager of unknown sex and how they really only git to know their mother's story when they ran away from the family home and embarked on a road trip to uncover the troubled young life of the mother.

I really liked this booked and read it in one sitting. The story is all at once something and nothing; there is no big crime or action sequence and on face value you do wonder what is pulling you. This is the story of mother and child bonding and sharing experiences as the mother relives earlier episodes of her life as they road trip across America. The Lauras denote encounters in these life stories. Both mother and child are wonderfully complex characters and Taylor brings them alive beautifully and make you resonate with their feelings and flaws. Taylor's writing is wonderful and this book was hugely nourishing.

Alex is 13 when Ma pulls them out of bed, into the car, and they embark on a road trip across America, sometimes settling in one place for months at a time, at others staying briefly before moving on. The Lauras is so named for the girls and women from Ma's chequered past, about whom Alex is regaled with tales through which, during their years on the road, Alex learns to view Ma as more than just a mother, but a person too.

The novel has an episodic feel and despite the potential narrative repetition of moving from gritty motel to dusty road to gritty motel, each stop along their way is beautifully drawn in immersive and lyrical prose. Neither Alex nor Ma have uncomplicated lives, and it's not a book that ties everything up in a neat bow at the end, but there was a sense of hope nonetheless. By far the best coming of age novel I've read in years.

Like a lot of readers of this book I am torn about this novel. In some parts I was captivate, in others I was almost bored.

On the one hand this is a really interesting character study of a mother and their child as they carry out a rather unusual road trip through America. Taylor deals with a lot of issues in a really sensitive yet realistic way - the struggles of puberty, sexual identity, gender identity and rape.

And yet, it feels like not much really happens and the characters do not really evolve, Lovely writing, but it left me a little cold.

The Lauras is a novel about a mother and her teenage child who leave the woman's husband and embark on a road trip across the USA. Along the way, the mother tells the child the story of her younger life and the amazing women she met, who she calls the Lauras. The narrator, Alex, never tells the reader what sex the character belongs to but this does not matter. Alex, like the mother, is an intelligent, adventurous free spirit. It is a novel that lingers long after the last page is turned.

I enjoyed this book so much to start with. Strong writing style and the premise of a mysterious road trip made a really good beginning..
Unfortunately I found myself losing interest in and sympathy with the central character. The references to we sexual awakening and encounters (or lack thereof) felt clumsy and for the most part irrelevant, and in the end the trip and the book itself seemed to be going on and on ad nauseum with not much happening.
I am disappointed to say I was glad to finish and would not recommend.