The year that changed everything (by Cathy Kelly)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve enjoyed the books I’ve read by Cathy Kelly, so I added some to my wishlist and was given ‘The year that changed everything’ for Christmas… over a year ago. The book has been on my to-be-read shelf all that time but I finally picked it up to read a few days ago. It claims to be ‘warm, witty and wise’ according to the front cover, and the cover itself, dark blue with flowers, is quite appealing.

The novel features three different women in Ireland: they’re known as Callie, Sam and Ginger. They haven’t met each other at the start of the book, and in fact don’t meet until almost the end; I found that slightly odd as their stories were running alongside each other, as if in three different books, until very late in the book. I had hoped there would be a bit more interaction earlier on, although in fact it works pretty well.

We first meet the three women on their birthday, a date which they share: Callie is 50, Sam ie 40 and Ginger is 30. Callie is the wife of a rich and somewhat controlling man called Jason. She didn’t want a big celebration for her half-century, but Jason insisted. He called in caterers, and invited guests, many of whom she doesn’t even know. She’s escaped to the kitchen for a few minutes when there’s an unexpected ring on the doorbell… and her life is changed forever.

Sam, meanwhile, is giving birth to her first baby. She and her husband Ted appeared to be unable to have children, and fertility treatments some years ago did not work. Then, at 39, she found herself pregnant. They are both thrilled, but she’s also quite anxious about being a mother. Her own mother was always rather distant, and Sam feels that she doesn’t know how to be maternal.

Then there’s Ginger, who works for a newspaper and is single. She’s never had a real relationship and is overweight, usually hiding beneath baggy dark coloured clothes. We meet her when she is the chief bridesmaid at her best friend Liza’s wedding. Liza and the other bridesmaid are thin and glamorous, but Ginger is wearing a dress that does not suit her, and which is much more revealing than she is comfortable with. Liza’s cousin is making up to her, and Ginger is considering going to bed with him… then she overhears a conversation which makes her feel betrayed and deeply upset.

After the first chapters introducing the three, the plot goes back a month; this fills us in on the different backgrounds of each of them, and introduces some of their family members. Callie and Jason have a 14-year-old daughter Poppy, whom Callie feels is becoming spoilt. She has lost touch with her mother and brother. 

Sam is very close to her younger sister Joanne, who has three children already, and she’s very fond of her dad. But she doesn’t feel as if she has any real relationship with her mother. As for Ginger, she has two brothers and a father, as well as a somewhat wacky great aunt, but her mother died when she was small.

The book switches viewpoint throughout, following each of these women in turn; the chapters are headed with the relevant name. I was tempted to read all Callie’s story first, then Sam’s, then Ginger’s, but as I had assumed they would meet or connect in some way by at least half way through I thought it best not to do that.

The writing is good, and it’s an easy read once I had established in my mind who was whom. I muddled some of the minor characters a few times but they were mostly realistic and easy to distinguish. I found myself sympathising with Callie, to some extent; there’s quite an emotional scene once she has decided what she’s going to do. Poppy matures in unexpected ways, and I rather liked her. I liked Ginger, too; she and Callie have both been victims in their different ways, and have to move beyond it, though their circumstances are entirely different. Ginger has terrible self-esteem and I liked the way that she gradually learned to take control of her life.

I found Sam’s situation less realistic, however. She spends a lot of her time worrying about whether she will be a good mother, and while I know that’s a problem many new mothers face, she becomes quite introspective about it, not sharing her worries with anyone. She also seems to get very little help in the hospital when she’s struggling to feed her baby. I found it shocking how little support she had. Nor was there any mention of a nurse visiting her at home, or relevant support groups.

And while Sam gradually realises that she’s not her mother, she seems quite un-maternal, to the extent of leaving the baby with her mother-in-law when she takes on a work assignment just six months later, rather than taking the baby with her. Then at the end, when (inevitably) the three women who eventually met decide to have a shared birthday celebration, there’s no mention at all of the fact that it’s Sam and Ted’s baby’s first birthday too.

Still, it’s a sign of a realistic character when they get under the skin, even if the main feeling is irritation, wanting to reach out and help or advise. More concerning is that it could be rather discouraging to a women in a similar situation. On the other hand, issues such as weight shaming and drug usage were, I thought, well covered with sensitivity.

All in all, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who likes light-weight women’s fiction set in Ireland.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews