The Heart Ladder by Sibby Spencer is a complex but intriguing debut

The Heart Ladder is the debut novel by author Sibby Spencer. Sibby is an author, poet, podcaster and regular book reviewer for BBC Radio Derby. She enjoys playing around with the themes of reality and possibility and creating characters who are very human in their flaws yet capable of revelation and redemption. 

As the war in Vietnam stutters to a close, a heavily pregnant Faith flees America for a new life in England. Leaving behind everything she knew, including the mystery of what happened to the father of her unborn child after he went missing behind enemy lines. Three decades on and her son, thirty-something slacker Dan, knows he’s wasting his life in pubs, nightclubs, and his dead-end job. That all changes, though, when a man with storied eyes and an old army jacket introduces himself as the father Dan never had a chance to know.

But is Jacob, a battered and broken war veteran, really who he claims to be? As Jacob’s true purpose in seeking him out becomes clear, Dan comes to understand that his life is very far from meaningless – and that the choices he makes might have deadly and irredeemable consequences.

As debuts go The Heart Ladder is very promising. It’s a little slow to get going but it works because you really get to know all the characters vital to the plot, and some are pretty unique and eccentric.

It’s a complex but interesting and exciting read which shows Sibby Spencer is an author to watch.

You can get a copy of The Heart Ladder, here!

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