In Which We Discuss One Hit Wonder

Lisa Jewell's third novel, One Hit Wonder ties for favourite, in my opinion, with her fourth, A Friend of the Family. One Hit Wonder was published in 2001, while A Friend of the Family was published in 2004. Before and after those novels, Jewell released one novel a year.

One Hit Wonder focuses on the sister of one hit wonder, Bee Bearhorn, after her suicide. Bee's sister, Ana, never really knew Bee as an adult, due to a large age-gap and a complicated family.

Ana had an idea of Bee's life as being like Bee - loud, vibrant, and generally quite sparkly. The line that I feel really sums up Ana's mindset in the novel is as follows;

My sister, the one person who made being alive look any fun, killed herself.

Following Bee's death, Ana is sent to London to pack up her belongings. Once there, she meets Bee's friends, and start to find out more about her sister's life.