“The Last Sane Woman” by London-based author Hannah Regel is a solid, insightful novel about searching for meaning and relevance—and success in the art world—in today’s society. Though this is Regel’s first novel, she writes well and with a sense of confidence. She also has two previously published books of poetry, and her poetry talent shows in the lyrical writing in this novel.

Told in three alternating points of view, the novel’s main two characters include a potter, Nicola Long, who doesn’t even own a kiln and is stuck in a job in London and equally stuck in a less than fulfilling relationship. Another main character is Donna Dreeman, also a potter who never found success. Donna speaks to Nicola and readers through a body of her letters that were left to a feminist-oriented archive by her friend Susan Baddeley, who also has a voice in the story. The letters date between the mid-seventies to the late eighties. As Nicola reads Donna’s letters, she is struck by the similarities between them, and she begins to make life-changing decisions fueled by Donna’s voice. Naturally Susan and Nicola eventually meet and discover each has a different view of Donna and her letters.

This is a book filled with introspection and Nicola’s kind of aching adjustment to life. It is not an action novel by any means but that’s not to say it isn’t entertaining. Readers will no doubt quickly come to care for Nicola, who carries the greater weight in the novel. There is a lot of frustration in this novel, thwarted dreams, and disappointment, yet it is not a dull or sad book by any means.

It’s a good read and I am glad the publisher made this available to me to read for free on Netgalley. These are my honest observations and opinions. I recommend this book, though I suspect it will appeal more to women than to men.

I am not a huge fan of epistolary novels so I should’ve known the format would not be my favorite. I always enjoy stories centered around women though so that aspect was intriguing. This still fell flat for me in some ways, wish that the characters were a bit more fleshed out.

Unfortunately, The Last Sane Woman just wasn't for me. The writing was kind of meandering and boring; I just couldn't get into it.

Fans of psychological fiction and literary shoe-gaze will enjoy Hannah Regel's, "The Last Sane Woman". A psychologist, begins to erode as she unravels her past memories. Set in Texas, the short novel jumps between present and past in dreamlike fragments.

I wanted to give this book 3 start because while I enjoyed the themes of -- strength of women, memory and identity --the novel is slow in pace as it is a more introspective novel. I think it is a great book for reader's who enjoy introspective novels.

Thank you Hannah Regel, Verso Fiction, and NetGalley for bringing this title to us reader's!

A compelling exploration of the struggles faced by women artists, both past and present. The story captures the essence of artistic ambition and the challenges that often accompany it. Beautifully written and thought provoking.
Many thanks to Verso Books and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion

This one wasn't for me. It has the ingredients of a book that I'd love, but unfortunately it didn't come together well. The book is very character based and meandering, which I normally enjoy, but I felt that the characters felt a bit 2-dimensional and disappointing. It took me a long time to read and lost my attention a lot - a little boring, even. Sorry for the negative review, but it seems that others have enjoyed it, so I'm sure it will find its audience.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to the ebook.

I was hoping this was going to be a woman slowly unraveling but it never got that dark. Was a little boring and was hoping it would go somewhere.

Nicola is a few years out of a fine arts degree and drifting through jobs in London, triying to relocate her artistic drive. Her friends all seem to be achieving something, even if on a small scale, but she has stalled.  She arrives at the Feminist Assembly, an archive dedicated to women’s art, looking for answers.

Marcella, the curator, presents Nicola with letters sent to a friend by an unnamed ceramicist during the 70s and 80s. The letters chronicle the artist’s struggle with her life and art. The letters were donated after the artist took her own life.

That artistic frustration could lead to such finality exerts a horrible fascination for Nicola.

As she picks her way through the one-sided conversation, the lives of the women – Donna the artist, Susan the recipient - are illuminated for the reader by glimpses of their lives at the times the letters are written and received.

Nicola is struck by the echoes of her own life in the letters, co-incidences of place, and feeling, and circumstance. As the three women climb through each other’s lives she becomes untethered from her own reality, blurring her lines and colours.

It’s no surprise to learn that Hannah Regel is a poet. Her prose is gorgeously evocative.

We come to realise that for these women a life in art is an infinite process, indeterminate and unrelenting, where the questions you ask say more about you than what you do with the answers, if any, you receive.  These questions must also sustain you.  There are lives which can deal with this, lives which can’t, and lives which step away from it.  They orbit each other and exert a pull which causes their tides to ebb and flow together.   

The book itself is a sculpted piece, ambiguous and obscure in places, with no neat label to pin it down. I enjoyed the reading of it and the later reflections on the questions with which it left me. 

Where does one life end and another begin, if they walk the same roads and carry the same loads? And what is the experience of being lost inside the lives of others?

Something very close to dread, Susan.

i struggled so badly to get into this book but once i was about 1/3 rd in i really ended up enjoying what i was reading

This was an interesting if slightly disjointed book about the common lives led between two women artists where their only connection is that one discovers a box of letters sent many years ago from the other one that’s now stored in the archives of a small feminist collective. While the narrative is perhaps a little tentative about where the plot is going, I thought that the discussions of the apathy and difficulty in creating once you feel as thought you’ve fallen out of the creative world is an interesting angle and compellingly written, There was lots to like here it just could have been slightly more narratively driven,

i love this title and concept, but the execution fell apart for me. i felt confused and disengaged from much of this book — maybe because of the similarity between the two voices or the lack of events.

I thoroughly enjoyed this split-timeline novel about a struggling young potter who becomes obsessed with the author of a series of letters she finds in a local archive. The novel deftly deals with themes of womanhood, failure and the art world, painting a nuanced portrayal of three women each trying to find the ‘right’ way to live. A welcome and subtle addition to the currently- trending, and long-overdue, discussion about nepotism in the art world.

This was... alright. Unmemorable, but a fine read- it sounds harsh, and I'm sad to give it such a review since the synopsis is brilliant, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would. The jumps in narrative can be quite confusing and at times, jarring. Others who enjoy such a non linear style will enjoy it more than I did.

Thank you to NG and the publisher for the arc.

The Last Sane Woman follows Nicola Long who is searching for a purpose when she comes across letters that have been written by a mildly successful potter to her friend.

And yes it is as boring as it sounds. Maybe that’s a little harsh… but it simply wasn’t for me. There was a lot of meandering and the narrative jumped around and you couldn’t work out who you were actually reading about until a name was dropped that helped you place the story. Too much hard work for me and absolutely zero pay off. Struggling to think of anything positive to note - I guess the writing was beautiful at points?? That’s all I got. 2 stars.

This book really surprised me. I found it difficult to read - and that's a compliment! I think I would prefer a paper copy of this title, having the desire to flip back to check where I was in the narrative. (I find this irritating to do on an e-reader) That being said I did feel immersed in the worlds of these characters. There is a particular feminine depth that I picked up in this book, a quality in the writing that is hard for me to put my finger on. I am always interested in a woman's struggle to make art and survive in the world - adding the ghostly multi-generational aspect and ceramics as the output and I'm sold.

This dual timeline book centered around two women in art trying to figure shit out, was just what I needed. It was easy to feel bonded with the two women’s timelines that were both tumultuous and emotional. I enjoyed how voyeuristic it felt to be reading about a character through letters to her best friend. The book grew eerie through the similarities the two women were having as the story progress. When Nicola, the present day narrator, gets so intertwined/obsessive with the artist from the past I began to fly through the novel to see what she was going to do when the letters ended. I am leaving the book anxious but hopeful on how Nicola will cope with all she has ingested from these letters.

The last Sane Woman was a very interesting read. I loved the exploration of mental health and treatment for those. Well written.

Thank you to Verso Fiction, Net Galley and Hannah Regal for the opportunity to read this eARC.

I initially requested this book as the idea of two women, spanning between two different times, both with similar passions and experiences in the artistic world, letters of truth, life and heartache, was enticing!
The writing was beautiful, and knowing that the author is a poet, this is immediately obvious, the way she crafts her sentences, her descriptions and her control with the written word is obvious. The storylines are woven, delicate, intimate and intricate.

I found the dual POV a hard one to find rhythm in, especially in the beginning where there was a difficulty in ascertain who I was reading about with so many similarities between two of our three main women (Nicola + Donna). This may have every part to do with how it can be read via the Net Galley app, which is simplistic at best and makes it very hard to have a fluid read when there is no way to resize text, or easily transition between pages when you are having to zoom in on a phone. This wouldn’t transfer to my Kobo, and in the end, I had to borrow an iPad to find it easier to complete the read.

I feel like I have left the book with more questions than I would normally hope for, as someone who does love an open ended read, or to analyse an art work to take my own understanding from it, this left me wanting and I feel like I may need to read it again in the future with a different set of eyes to see what I have missed or to see what answers I can find for myself.
I sometimes get frustrated with the ‘genres’ of books and where authors (or publishers) place them, but this is with every ounce a ‘literary fiction’ and the author will have more to give us in the future, I am sure.

This was just okay for me and not as memorable as I wanted it to be. I can see its appeal and am sure others will enjoy it. I do love the cover though.

I really wanted to enjoy this book since it's right up my alley and I love nonlinear storylines. But it just didn’t work for me this time. The transitions felt too convoluted, which made the narrative harder to follow. I’m holding off on rating it for now on social sites, as I plan to re-read it later to give it a fair evaluation.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Verso for providing the ARC.