Maybe It’s About Time by Neil Boss
Two people trapped in their different worlds. One by wealth and one by poverty. Twenty years working for The Firm has given Marcus Barlow everything he wants but has taken his soul in return. Finding a way to leave has become an obsession.
Claire Halford’s life hits rock bottom when she is caught stealing food from Tesco Express. Left alone by her husband with two small children and an STI, her suicide music is starting to play louder in her head.
A chance meeting brings them together. As a mystery virus from China starts to run riot across the country, their worlds collide and they find they have more in common than they knew.
Set in the early months of 2020, Maybe It’s About Time is a story about the difficulty of changing lives for the better. Starting as a funny and satirical view of the egocentric world of professional services, it gives way to a heart-warming story of an unlikely friendship that rejuvenates Marcus and Claire, giving them both hope for a better future.
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Review
This has become a hugely personal book to me and I am even crying right now as I write this review. I knew from the get-go that I would find this a hard topic as my dad died of suspected COVID due to existing medical conditions but I didn't realise that I would relate so much to the characters. I grew up in a single-parent household with no money to spare so I could relate so much to Claire and her struggles of daily life. I knew my mum was frustrated with her life and how it turned out, quite like Claire in a way but she didn't let it phase her and loved me fiercely, exactly like Claire. However, now my life has changed, I am in a much more comfortable existence and I can relate to Marcus and his life. I fell into a career after university that I didn't like and that frustrated me so during COVID and after my dad’s death, I decided life was worth living my way and not for a bland corporate bank. Therefore, I could relate exactly to Marcus and how he was feeling.
This book manages to evoke all the fear, anxiety and terror that came at the beginning of the pandemic. I think a lot of us have taken those memories and put them in a ‘mind box’ locked them away and tried to forget. But life still went on and that's what we see here. Marcus is still preoccupied with hating his job, Claire is trying to sort her life out. But this incredible writing does take you straight back there to those early days.
It's also a book about unlikely friendships. Marcus is a wealthy businessman who is best friends with a social worker. Marcus also strikes up the most unlikely friendship of all, with Claire a single mother who lives on a council estate. It's this weaving of relationships that is the core of this book. It shows that we are really all the same deep down, just people trying to make their way through our lives.
Please be warned that this isn't a book in which everything works out. We know the history of the pandemic. If it's raw still for you, you will be affected by reading this book. By the way that's actually a huge compliment to the writer as he doesn't hold anything back. It made me emotional. But I also am very grateful in a way to the pandemic as it gave me time with my dad in a way I hadn't for decades. Because he shielded I lived with him and I had a solid two months of quality time with him that I would never have had otherwise.
I can't wait to read this upcoming sequel! Let me know if you pick this one up!
