Help! What was this book I wish I'd bought...?!

[Dibilnik]

I read a sample on Amazon, got distracted, didn't buy it, and now wish I had but can't remember what it was! Plus this happened a while ago, so even what I can remember here might be unreliable 🤦🏻‍♀️

It was very vivid writing, very physical. The book starts with a girl lying in bed and I think there's a fire, maybe sirens/flashing lights, and I vaguely recall there being a foreboding of more danger than that.

I know this is ridiculous, but any guesses would be most welcome!

Little Fires Everywhere?

Thank you so much for your suggestion!

I've just checked that out on an Amazon sample and can see why you suggested it... but it's not the book I have in mind.

Mine, as I recall, is written from the perspective of the girl lying in bed. It's very intense.

Girl in bed 3?

Amazon usually send emails about books you've looked at so you might find it in your inbox!

And you can check your browsing history if you were logged in

Still not it, I'm afraid, but thank you for the suggestion!

And I can't check my browsing history as this was months ago, and I clear the history regularly...

No Amazon alerts.

Comparing it with Girl in Bed 3, I think what I'm looking for is an American book, not British. Not recent. And I think the author might have been minimalist, someone like Amy Hempel.

The girl with all the gifts?

I don't think this is the book you're looking for, but it's also very vivid, physical, set in America. It opens with a woman lying bleeding on her driveway, shot by police. This one's called 'The Atlas of Reds and Blues' by Devi Laskar.

I'm so grateful for your suggestions, thank you!

Still no luck, but my reading list is growing... 😊

So the book I'm looking for, the opening is written from the perspective of a young girl and she's lying in bed and something bad is happening around her. I wish I could remember what!!!!!!!!! I think it's a fire and I think her sibling is in the room with her, but I can't be sure.

I read it and thought, Wow, that's amazing writing. Why the hell I didn't buy it, I've no idea. I probably got sidetracked by something, and/or was being a cheapskate.

Eleanor Oliphant is Totally Fine?

Seconding Elinor Oliphant!

Oh gosh no no no no no! (sorry, grateful for any suggestions!)

I hated Eleanor Oliphant.

I'm pretty sure this is an American book and the scrap I read managed to convey a lot of drama in a very understated way. It was physically uncomfortable.

The Truth about Melody Brown by Lisa Jewell?

No... (but thank you!).

It's not a blockbuster novel and it's not British.

(I say this, my memory is so hazy it could turn out to be Jilly Cooper!)

If I ever manage to locate this book, solemn promise to come back and tell you what it is!

Oh thank goodness someone else hated Eleanor Oliphant - I was starting to feel like the only one!

Another Celeste Ng book- Everything I never told you? Not a fire but similar doom feeling and sister in room...

American dirt ?

not a girl laying in bed - but a boy and his mother hiding whilst something bad is happening around them.

It's neither of those... sorry!

How I wish I'd just bought the bloody book!

And it's not in your kindle sample downloads history? How annoying!!!

No, because I read the first few pages probably a couple of years ago, when you did it just through "Look Inside" on Amazon rather than sampling it on Kindle.

Grrrrrrrr!!!!!! I have literally just been Googling it yet again. I wish I could remember more about it, except that it was so vividly written.

The Girl Who Survived?

Thank you for the suggestion but no, it's not that.

It's not a blockbuster novel and it's not recent, I don't think.

I think I found it recommended in a book about writing, as an example of vivid in-the-body descriptions, but I'm going through all the "art of writing" books I've read and still no luck 🤦‍♀️

As far as I can trust my memory:
American writer?
Starts off with girl in bed while something is happening (fire?)
Described from her point of view, not in the 3rd person

It's not much to Google, hardly surprising we've all drawn a blank so far!