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was surprised to find myself really enjoying this book, As others have said, this book is for readers who enjoy the Eleanor Oliphant genre so it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it is certainly mine.


I love Sybil as a character she is unique, different to everyone around her, she interprets the world on a different wavelength to most of the people she meets which resonates deeply with me.
Yet she is unapologetically herself and she does not change herself just to 'fit in', no matter how many weird looks she gets when she makes a social faux pas.


After her breakup with her boyfriend, Simon, Sybil struggles to move on with her life, Simon was stolen from her by her longterm enemy and newlydubbed 'nemesis', Helen Hanson, This woman tutored her at university and tried to fail her for petty reasons, but these reasons got under Sybil's skin and Sybil never thought her dissertation was worth the grade another professor ended up giving it.
Helen has been rooting for Sybil to fail from the start, and so when Helen spots the chance to steal Sybil's boyfriend, and thus her happiness, she takes it.


Helen happens to be working at the same institute Sybil got a job at a few months before, so the two end up running into each other much more frequently than Sybil would have liked.
After the breakup, rather than focus on selfimprovement or selfreflection or any of the other bullshit people tell you to do after a breakup, Sybil decides she needs to get revenge on Helen.
This woman has ruined her life multiple times, and seems to be able to do everything better than Sybil but Sybil realises something noone else is able to see: Helen is a fraud.
The problem is, Sybil doesn't know how to prove it, or how she can go about taking her revenge,

Though she doesn't believe in all that selfimprovement stuff, Sybil does end up paying for poetry classes on a whim, It's something she's never done before, and it starts to occupy a lot more of her time than she had ever thought, The story is sprinkled with little haikus and lines of poetry throughout, which give it a beautiful and poignant feel, These little snippets of poetry reveal a lot about Sybil's mood and character which she does not feel comfortable exploring within herself,

The end of the book has a twist which is incredibly satisfying, and I almost cried happy tears for this woman who has been through so much, and managed to come out better for it.


Overall, this book is about a woman whose personality goes against the grain as she navigates life and tries to find purpose through all of the hardships and curveballs life seems determined to throw at her.
It is lyricallywritten with powerful images and moving scenes scattered throughout, I loved every page, and I'm sure I will come back to reread it in the future, Hidden within the confines of The Royal Institute of Prehistorical Studies, Sybil is happy enough with her work and her love life, Then to her dismay, her old adversary, assertive and glamorous Helen Hansen, is appointed Head of Trustees, To add insult, Helen promptly seduces Sybil's boyfriend, Betrayed and brokenhearted, Sybil becomes obsessed with exposing Helen as a fraud, no matter the cost, If you enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, I'd definitely recommend keeping an eye out for The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line! Having read the blurb, you would have thought Sybil and indeed the contents of the novel to be quite nasty, as Sybil thought up ways to exact her revenge, I can report that actually it wasnt.
Instead The Snow and The Works On The Northern Line was a quiet contemplative novel, the story of a young women who didnt quite know how to deal with what life had dealt her.


Sybil herself, seemed older than what she actually was, no night clubs or crazy friends, a quieter life with her then boyfriend Simon and a job steeped in academia at the Royal Institute of Prehistoric Studies.
A chance meeting with a past university tutor, Helen, lit the flame for change, a break up and the prospect of Helens shadow hovering over her every move at work.
I loved how Thomas made us instantly dislike Helen, not merely for stealing Sybils boyfriend but her complete lack of empathy, her selfish pursuit of academic fame.
Thomas gave us that overriding feeling that her prominent discovery concerning the Beaker People wasnt quite right, a feeling we shared with Sybil, I liked the quiet way Sybil thought of ways to discredit Helen, never knowing quite what to do, confusion reigning in her mind, perhaps reflective of her mental state.
It was a mental state that lived in the doldrums, that saw no joy in the world around her, Thomas made her more and more insular, as she internalised her feelings, her thoughts, withdrew from friends and in some respects her colleagues,

As time progressed small events gradually snowballed within Sybils mind, her ability to process and reason, to see clearly slowly overtook before one last tumultuous interaction with Helen.
It was an ending that you perhaps didnt expect but made sense, answered questions and gave Sybil some much needed clarity,

It was the understated, calm manner of the narrative that so impressed, Thomass ability to engage and hold your interest, to have no need for sharp, shouty interactions but to let the actions of the characters speak for themselves.


It was a brilliant examination of a young womans mental state, of a need to make sense and discover the direction her life needed to take, a novel I enjoyed immensely.
I would like to extend my thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me this advanced readers copy in return for a fair, frank, and honest review.


I was attracted to reading this book by the title alone as it was unusual, however, I was unable to finish this book, I appreciate what the author was trying to do but I just could not get into it at all, I did feel some relatable parts of the book, i, e. , loneliness and betrayal, however, there was no depth to the characters and because they had not been described as such, it left me wanting more, It could have been so much more than it was because in life, there will always be Sybils and Helens, I did notice there were some parts of Sybil that I also found whilst reading Eleanor Oliphant, but just not the substance, The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line by Ruth Thomas tells the story of Sybil, a woman working in The Royal Institute of Prehistorical Studies and happily dating her boyfriend Simon.
When her nemesis and former tutor, the glamorous Helen Hansen is not only appointed Head of Trustees for the museum but also steals Simon, Sybil sees her comfortable life slipping away from her and becomes increasingly involved in exposing Helen as a fraud ,no matter the personal or professional consequences.

For a short book this took me quite a while to get through, mainly because I just wasn't interested, The characters lacked depth and were not engaging, so I had little interest in the outcome of the story, The plot felt flimsy and never really hooked my interest,
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own, This is my third Ruth Thomas this year and, I think, her best, Her central characters are usually women who feel isolated and who are acute observers of people whilst being awkward and self conscious in social situations, They are often being affected by a condition or situation which is making life difficult for them, but which they fail to fully acknowledge or just don't realise is there.
In this one, Sybil has a cosy life with her chef boyfriend, Simon and a pleasant enough job at the The Royal Institute of Prehistorical Studies, until her old nemesis and PhD tutor, the glamorous Helen Hansen pops back into her life to patronise her and take off with Simon, intending to make him the face of her beaker ware promotion.
Helen is intent on geeing up the fusty Institute of Prehistorical Studies with marketing and promotions, as well as muscling in on the research of Raglan Beveridge, one of the Institute's foremost academics.
Sybil then has to plod through life with her heart breaking feeling quietly furious with Helen Hansen who proceeds to pop up everywhere,
Although there is little in the way of drama, there are beautifully wry descriptions of hellish work events and awkward encounters with bores, eccentrics, wouldbe poets and library workers.
The ending is satisfying without being cloying,
The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line Ruth Thomas

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review thanks to Sandstone Press and Netgalley

Hidden within the confines of The Royal Institute of Prehistorical Studies, Sybil is happy enough with her work and her love life.
Then to her dismay, her old adversary, assertive and glamorous Helen Hansen, is appointed Head of Trustees, To add insult, Helen promptly seduces Sybil's boyfriend, Betrayed and brokenhearted, Sybil becomes obsessed with exposing Helen as a fraud, no matter the cost,

This is a short book that should have only taken me a few hours to read, but it took me days to complete, This is partly because I struggled to connect with the characters and the storyline just never grabbed me, I found the characters to be lacking depth and

the storyline was just missing action,

Rating/
Sybil Wiseman goes skating with boyfriend Simon when she hits her head, Also at the skating rink, quite by chance, is Sybils old tutor Helen Hansen the successful, confident and attractive academic, While Sybil finds herself being patched up, Simon goes home with Helen which, to be honest, made me feel he wasnt much worth all the anguish that seems to be caused later when it appears that Helen has discovered her new soul mate.


This is a gentle and humorous story, I liked Sybil and her colleagues at the Royal Institute of Prehistorical Studies, I think many of us would sympathise with Sybil, as Helen, an old nemesis, suddenly reappears to cause chaos in her personal, and work, life, Author Ruth Thomas sets the scene well, with Sybil recalling how she first met her old tutor, “Call me, Helen,” who was more popular with the male students than the female.
Of how she tried to dampen her academic results and is always unpleasant with a smile

Although a little out of my comfort zone, this is an enjoyable story.
I sympathised with Sybil and thought the work setting worked well, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review, Overall, I would give this,stars.
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