Mum and Dad (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve enjoyed almost all the novels I’ve read by Joanna Trollope over the past couple of decades. So when I learned that she had a new book published last year, I put it on my wishlist as soon as it was available in paperback, and was given it for Christmas. It’s sat on my to-be-read shelf for nearly nine months, but I finally picked it up to read a few days ago.

Trollope’s novels are usually character-based, many of them revolving around families, dysfunctional or otherwise. This is no exception. The ‘Mum and Dad’ of the title are Gus and Monica, who are in their seventies and have lived in Spain for the last thirty years or so. Gus has run a very successful vineyard, but he’s cranky and rude, and Monica isn’t even sure she likes him very much any more. They no longer share a bedroom, and she has never really adjusted to life in Spain, although she does love early morning tea on her terrace.

They are surrounded by willing household employees who cook, and clean, and generally look after them. Monica has been nominally in charge of a small shop but that, too, has been staffed and mostly run by others. She has three adult children - Sebastian, Katie and Jake - who all live with their families in the UK, and she misses them. She visits fairly regularly, but they rarely come to see her.

Then a health crisis happens to Gus, and suddenly the family starts to rally round. Gus would like Sebastian to take over running his vineyard, alongside him; but Sebastian’s life is busy, running a cleaning company where his wife Anna does the accounts. They have two very likeable teenage sons, and are very settled. Besides, Anna has never been to Spain, and doesn’t much like Monica.

Katie is a high-powered lawyer who works too hard; she also doesn’t get along very well with Monica, possibly dating back to her childhood. She lives with Nic, who is a teacher and a very likeable, kind person. They have three daughters: Daisy who always wears black and stays out too late, thirteen-year-old Marta who is quiet and secretive, and Florence, who is the youngest and most outspoken.

And then there’s Jake, who is an eternal optimist, in a way that rather irritates his siblings. He insists that he can easily move from London to Spain and take over the running of the vineyard. His wife Bella is not at all sure she wants to, but they are both very committed to their toddler daughter, known as Mouse, so Bella agrees to give it a trial…

I’ve just written all that from memory; all their personalities and issues were realistic enough, and the people sufficiently three-dimensional that I felt as if I were part of the family, observing from a distance but involved enough to care about them all. Except, perhaps, the bad-tempered Gus - but even he starts to show a more human side later in the book.

The plot, as such, is about how the younger generation decide to move forward taking responsibility for their parents and their future inheritance. But the story is really about the interactions between the different family members, and I enjoyed it very much. The writing is excellent - even if it was amusing to spot Joanna Trollope’s signature mark of a beat dropping between significant sentences a few times - and some of the issues raised, about teenage problems and communication between the generations, are quite significant.

Definitely recommended if you like character-driven women’s fiction.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews

An unsuitable match (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve been reading novels by Joanna Trollope for over twenty-five years now. Mostly they are character-based rather than having a significant plot, and as I get older that increasingly suits me. Although the author is in her seventies now, she’s still publishing novels, so I put them on my wishlist as soon as they’re out in paperback. I was given ‘An unsuitable match’ for my birthday in April, and have just finished reading it.

The main character is a woman in her sixties called Rose. She’s been divorced for seven years, after learning that her husband had been involved in a long-term affair, but although deeply hurt at the time she has moved on. She lives in a very nice house in London, and is close to her three adult children and two grandchildren. Then Tyler, an old acquaintance from her teenage years, reappears in her life. The novel opens just after Tyler has told Rose not just that he adores her, but that he wants to marry her…

There’s some back-tracking as we learn about Tyler’s past. He was married to an American called Cindy, who had a very wealthy and rather pushy father who funded their entire marriage. Cindy died some time before the novel begins, and Tyler’s at a bit of a loss to know what to do. He isn’t particularly close to either of his adult children. Seth is passionate about baking - he runs a very successful restaurant - and Mallory is busy working in the world of theatre. But when Mallory let him know that she had a small role in a theatre in London, he decided to travel with her - and that’s when he met Rose.

Seth and Mallory don’t really mind what their father does, although Mallory feels, deep down, that nobody has ever really cared much about her. But Rose’s children are very protective. Laura, who’s married with two children and works as a GP, is fairly accepting of Tyler, hoping her mother will be happy. But her twin siblings, Nat and Emma, are very stressed at the thought of their mother remarrying. Nat is concerned that Tyler is after his mother’s money, and Emma’s feelings are more complex, partly bound up in her close connection to her twin, and partly to her never having had a serious romantic relationship herself.

The novel takes place over a relatively short period, switching between different characters as each one tries to come to terms with what’s going on. Emotions come to the surface, past hurts are brought to light, and each person learns a bit about themselves. I felt at first that the twins were both quite selfish, unwilling to allow their mother any happiness, but gradually realised that they do care about her, albeit with mixed motives. Perhaps they’ve both been a bit spoiled and protected - their father, now living in Australia, has funded them both quite significantly. But they both have good jobs, and live reasonably responsible lives.

So the novel follows Rose and Tyler’s relationship as they get to know each other better - and the gradual tensions that arise when she realises he really cares nothing for money at all, almost to the point of irresponsibility. There are interactions between Rose’s children and Mallory, and extra stresses when Nat falls in love with a friend of Mallory’s, which suddenly changes his relationship with his twin - and neither quite knows how to cope.

Joanna Trollope seems to have excellent insight into human nature, into motivations, and interactions, and has a believable style in the many conversations. I felt that all the main characters were three-dimensional; Seth the baker felt rather caricatured, with a bit of a light-hearted touch, but he only plays a minor role in the story. I very much appreciated the contrast between the very close relationship Rose has with her children (her son-in-law reckons she’s the best possible mother-in-law) and the rather distant relationship Tyler has with his - even though he’s the one who seems more emotional, and keen to build family ties.

I wasn’t sure how the story would unfold, and I thought things happened a tad too rapidly towards the end, but the conclusion, if a bit bittersweet, works well. It paves the way for future reconciliations - possibly - but with Rose more sure of herself and her motivations.

I enjoyed this book very much, and found it quite thought-provoking in places. The people got right under my skin, and I was sorry to have to leave them when I finished the book. Definitely recommended if you like women’s fiction that’s almost entirely character-based.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews

City of Friends (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve liked most of Joanna Trollope’s books over the years, and thought I’d acquired and read all of them. But browsing Amazon a year or so ago, I realised I was lacking ‘City of Friends’. I was going to put it on my wishlist, but oddly enough it wasn’t in print, despite being quite a recent publication. However, I was going to the UK for a couple of weeks, so ordered an inexpensive copy, along with a couple of other books, from the Marketplace.

It’s taken me a while to pick the book up, but I’ve finally read it over the past few days. The story is about four women who have been close friends since university days. The novel switches viewpoint each chapter, focussing on them in turn, over the course of a few months. They all have problems, some of which are resolved during the book.

We first meet Stacey, as she is being made redundant from the prestigious company she has worked for over many years. She had hoped to work more flexible hours, as she and her husband are about to have her elderly mother, a victim of dementia, to live with them. She is devastated and also bewildered, and refuses to get in touch with her friends for some time.

Melissa is a single mother with a sixteen-year-old son, Tom. They’re quite close, and she works in an advisory role to big companies. Then Tom admits that he’s been in touch with his father - who is married to someone else - and wants to meet his half-brothers.

Gaby is small but determined, and is a managing director of a large company. Her husband runs some successful shops, and they have three children: two teenage daughters and a son of about ten. They’re going through the normal stresses of having teenage hormones in the house, and Gaby has a secret which means that she has to be very careful who she employs.

Beth is the most academic of the four; she has written books and gives lectures. She’s gay, and lives with a younger woman called Claire. They’ve bought and done up a lovely house, but when we meet them, they’re quite tense with each other, and clearly have different priorities.

It took me a little while to remember who was whom; I never quite kept track of their parents, who were mostly shadowy figures, other than Stacey’s mother. Some of the business language went over my head, too, and I didn’t particularly enjoy the rather obviously feminist agenda, and the insistence - by more than one character - that work is more important than family, that work keeps people going, that it’s more important to have a paid job than almost anything.

However, I liked most of the people; Joanna Trollope created interesting and three-dimensional characters in these four women, and I very much liked the teenage Tom, too, although I wasn’t entirely sure I believed in him. I thought it interesting that Stacey’s husband Steve is one of the nicest people in the book and Quin, too, is an excellent husband and also a good father. In trying to push women’s rights, the author doesn’t make the mistake of turning men into unpleasant characters.

The story is a bit complex in places, and I found that if I read just a chapter or two at night and then put it down for 24 hours, I would lose some of the threads and have to backtrack. But when I read it in larger chunks, it was an interesting insight into people’s lives, on the whole. I’m not sure I’d want to read it again, but if you like this author’s books, it’s worth acquiring and reading at least once.

Review by copyright 2018 Sue's Book Reviews

Marrying the Mistress (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve enjoyed, in a low-key way, most of Joanna Trollope’s novels over the past fifteen years or so. So now, I’m re-reading the ones I haven’t read for a while, interspersed with other books. This is one I last read in 2004, and while I remembered the overall plot, I’d forgotten the actual characters and most of the detail.

The story revolves around Guy, a late middle-aged judge who is married to Laura and has two adult sons, Simon and Alan. As we learn right at the start of the book, he’s been having an affair with a much younger lawyer called Merrion for the past seven years. And as the story opens he’s decided to take action: to leave Laura, start proceedings for divorce, and move in with Merrion.

It’s clear from the start that, despite the thirty-year age difference, Guy and Merrion truly love each other. She’s struggled for many years with being the ‘mistress’ and is thrilled that, at last, he’s decided to bring their relationship into the open. What neither of them are prepared for are the repercussions on Guy’s family… and particularly on Simon, who feels an immense pull of loyalty between his rather manipulative mother and his long-suffering wife Carrie.

Simon and Carrie have three teenage children, and they, too, are affected by their grandfather’s decision. But they’re going through traumas of their own, as teenagers do, and suffering most from their father’s abstraction, as he tries to please everyone and finds it’s impossible to do so…

From a plot point of view, not a great deal happens. There are many nicely intertwined subplots, but they’re supplementary rather than running throughout. The story is character-driven rather than by any action, and those who prefer thrillers or complex plots would probably find it slow-moving, perhaps dull. But I like novels that explore family relationships, and found it well-written and thought-provoking; in places it was quite intense.

I’m not sure that I ever really believed in the insecure and manipulative Laura; it was no surprise that Guy had found someone more loving and accepting. But I very much liked Carrie, and thought the teenagers were nicely done, and quite believable. Guy, too, is likeable and evidently burdened with responsibilities, not just in his job but for his family; something that’s surprisingly hard for Merrion to adjust to.

The first time I read it I wasn’t really expecting the ending; this time, I knew how it would be resolved and saw the indications along the way. It was really the only ending that worked, and one that might give pause for thought to anyone in - or considering - a similar situation.

Recommended if you like women’s fiction with a deeper theme than most. Still in print in the UK, and now available in Kindle form as well as paperback.

Review copyright 2015 Sue's Book Reviews

The Best of Friends (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve liked Joanna Trollope’s writing style since I first came across one of her books nearly twenty years ago. I found several in charity shops and gradually acquired almost everything she’s written. Now I’m working through them gradually, re-reading, interspersed with novels from some of my other favourite writers.

I first read ‘The Best of Friends’ back in 2000, just over fifteen years ago, after finding it in a second-hand shop. Each of Joanna Trollope’s novels stands alone; this one is slightly unusual in that the main protagonist is not an adult but sixteen-year-old Sophy. We meet her out walking with her close friend Gus, who is a couple of years younger than she is, but has something of a crush on her.

Gus, we quickly learn, has two older brothers. Their parents Laurence and Hilary run a thriving bed and breakfast business and they all live in a comfortable but somewhat chaotic flat connected to the main building. Sophy, by contrast, is an only child. Her parents, Fergus and Gina, seem to spend most of their time arguing, and it’s become increasingly bitter. She’s reached the stage where she doesn’t want to go home, so she takes refuge with Vi, her delightfully bohemian grandmother. And when she finally does go home, her father is waiting for her, to impart some devastating news…

That much is outlined in Chapter One. The rest of the book takes place in just a couple of months, over the summer. Sophy is a likeable girl, although I never felt that I really got to know her. Joanna Trollope isn’t the greatest at characterisation; nevertheless her situations and descriptions of events managed to pull on my emotions quite strongly.

Fergus’s decision has devastating effects that reach out to everyone Sophy cares for, and for a while it felt as if disasters were being piled up, each one worse than the previous one. Family life is threatened in many ways, and the situations were so awful that I could feel empathy even though none of the characters were really alive in my mind. It didn’t help that there are a few similar names (I confused Vi’s friend Dan with the barman Don for several chapters) nor that Sophy’s mother Gina is one of the least likeable main characters I’ve come across in this kind of novel.

Still, I’d totally forgotten the story and had no idea how the plot would resolve itself and by the time I was around half way through the book I was gripped. The writing is terse and well-paced, the conversations mostly believable; places and appearances are described with just enough sensory detail to make them memorable without so much as to become boring.

While there’s a sense in which this is a coming-of-age story for Sophy, it’s also classic women’s fiction of the kind that could be enjoyed by older teenage bookworms as well as adults. There’s some ‘strong’ language, but although plenty of bedroom scenes are mentioned, there are, thankfully, no details. I don’t think it would be of interest to boys, or to anyone under the age of about fifteen.

Other than the flat characters and depressing tone of the first two-thirds of the book, my one gripe was that the author seemed unaware of some parts of UK education law. At one point it’s declared that Sophy must legally go to school in term-times. This is incorrect on two counts: firstly, she could have been withdrawn from school and educated at home at any age. More significantly she’s 16 and in the sixth form; at the time the book was published (1995) she was beyond the minimum school leaving age, and thus no longer legally required to have education of any kind.

However, it’s a minor detail. In general I’d recommend this in a low key way as holiday reading; it’s not precisely comfort reading as it’s quite gut-wrenching in places, but the ending is encouraging, albeit perhaps a tad too neat and tidy.

Still in print on both sides of the Atlantic.

Review copyright 2015 Sue's Book Reviews

Balancing act (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve enjoyed Joanna Trollope’s books since I first came across one of them about fifteen years ago. I’ve gradually collected most of them; some second-hand, some as gifts. So I was pleased to be given her most recent novel (published in 2014) for my birthday a few months ago.

‘Balancing act’ is a novel about a family of strong-minded women. Susie, the matriarch, was brought up by her grandparents after being abandoned as a baby, and started her own company when she was young. Gifted artistically and with a good eye for business, she built up her company from a small local craft centre to an internationally known factory of British designed products. We learn this in the early chapters, along with - I felt - unnecessary descriptions of the factories and offices and where they were.

Susie has three grown up daughters: Cara, who has inherited her mother’s good business acumen; Ashley, who is more into publicity, and Grace, who is another artist. They all work for the family business, as does Cara’s husband Dan. But there are tensions evident from the start of the book. Dan and Cara want to expand faster than Susie is prepared for. Ashley, who is struggling with the tension between her job (which she loves) and her home and family (two small children, whom she also loves) wants to see more catalogues and more of a say in the running of the company. And Grace isn’t entirely sure what she wants other than a great deal of time and space to herself.

Then there’s Jasper, Susie’s husband, who looked after the home and raised his daughters with lots of affection and encouragement, while keeping up the facade of being part of a band. And Leo, perhaps my favourite character in the book, who is married to Ashley and works as a teacher, until he decides that they need to fire their eminently unsuitable nanny.

Each relationship is evidently simmering under low-key tension, and it doesn’t take much of a catalyst to lead to some outspoken confrontations. The catalyst is a delightful elderly hippy who invades Grace’s space, and makes cracks in Susie’s need for control over her life and family.

There isn’t much plot. It’s a character-based novel, and flits from person to person, home to home, without too much explanation, and with plenty left up to the reader’s imagination. While I felt that far too much background was given in the early chapters, some of it was important in seeing how the family dynamics worked, and why the various tensions happened as they did.

My biggest problem with the book is that most of the characters seem rather flat, perhaps because none of them has a sole viewpoint and we rarely see inside anybody’s mind. I did like Leo; he seems to have more humanity than most of the others in the book, and I liked that this role was given to a man, with four women being the most focussed on business and earning money. But most of the men felt rather caricatured.

The other person I liked was three-year-old Maisie, Leo and Ashley’s daughter, who is going through a defiant stage but needs a great deal of love and understanding. She is perhaps the most realistic character in the book, and I enjoyed her scenes.

The writing, as always with Joanna Trollope, is very good. My only irritation was in one oft-repeated phrase. The first time somebody ‘let a beat fall’ before responding to some comment or question, I thought it a clever device. The second time I shook my head slightly, thinking that perhaps the author had forgotten that she had already used this phrase. By the eighth or ninth time, I was feeling annoyed that someone hadn’t proof-read it and removed the repeated phrase.

Still, that’s a minor quibble. On the whole I thought it a relaxing read; it’s undemanding, there’s nothing unpleasant that happens. Only one person uses bad language and he wasn’t supposed to be a nice person. There’s no real emotional depth to the novel, but nothing unpleasant about it either. The ending is encouraging.

Not recommended if you want a good plot, or indeed a story which reflects high drama. But if you enjoy light women’s reading, I think this could make good holiday reading.

Review copyright 2015 Sue's Book Reviews

The other family (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I've enjoyed Joanna Trollope's novels for many years now, so I'm always pleased to discover a new one, or at least one which I have not read. This book has been on my wishlist for a while; it was published in 2010, so I was delighted to be given it as a gift for a recent birthday.

'The other family' is about Richie Rossiter who is - or, rather, has been - a well-known singer. Right before this novel begins, he dies of a sudden heart attack. His family are absolutely devastated; we meet them as they are slowly coming to terms with the suddenness of it all, grieving in their different ways. Chrissie, the mother, is shell-shocked, and rather angry too. She worked as Richie’s manager, and has no idea what her future will hold. She’s also very upset that, despite insisting that he loved her, he would never quite take the plunge of getting married.

Tamsin, oldest of the daughters, is in her early 20s. She’s highly organised, perhaps a slightly caricatured ideal firstborn. Dilly, a couple of years younger, is fluffier, more emotional, and very untidy. And Amy, who is nearly 18 and about to take her A-levels, is an accomplished flute player, perhaps closest to her father as she shared his love of music.

But Richie had another family, too. His first love, and still legally his wife, is Margaret, who now works in Newcastle. Their son Scott is in his thirties, working as a lawyer but also quite a talented pianist. Richie hasn’t been in touch with them for a while, so it’s quite a shock when they learn that he remembered them both in his will...

This is what we learn in the first chapters of the book, and in a sense it’s also the majority of the novel - for this isn’t a book with a great deal of plot or action. It’s the exploration of the different people involved, and the way they begin to deal with the shock and grief that has been overwhelming them. There are many minor characters - boyfriends, colleagues, a friendly solicitor, and more... but the majority of the novel takes us into the minds of Richie’s two families.

It could be repetitive and tedious in the hands of a less skilled writer, but Joanna Trollope has turned this into a poignant and moving novel about relationships, and different personalities, and the possibility of hope towards the end of a dark tunnel of grief. Her conversations flow smoothly, the family tensions seem real, sometimes recognisable. We get to know quite a bit about Richie, too, through the eyes of his family members; he was a fun, generous and light-hearted man of considerable talent, but very little thought for the future.

This book touches on relevant issues for today’s society - of the problems that arise when a couple are not legally married, when one of them is no longer there. Of the difficulties of finding jobs, the lack of options for young people, the need to find one’s own path rather than staying at home forever. it’s quite empowering and encouraging despite the somewhat gloomy beginning.

It’s not for everyone: this isn’t classic chick-lit, but it certainly isn’t an action-based book; there’s no clear-cut plot as such; the only ‘conflict’ is that of grief, and tension between the two distinct and separate parts of Richie’s family. I wouldn’t even recommend this as an introduction to Joanna Trollope, unless you particularly like character-based novels of this kind.

But I liked it very much, and am pretty sure that the people - particularly Amy - will stay in my mind for some time to come.

Currently available in both Kindle and paperback form on both sites of the Atlantic.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 26th June 2013

The book boy (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I've mostly enjoyed Joanna Trollope's books very much, and thought I had all of them on my shelves. However I wasn't aware that she had also written some 'quick read' novellas. So I was pleased to spot one on a church bookstall recently.

'The book boy' is really very short - only 94 pages, with fairly large font. I read it in a couple of brief sittings. The main character is Alice, who is thirty-eight years old. Her husband Ed is rather controlling, and she has two teenagers: Craig and Becky, who are starting to treat her with contempt. Alice never criticises, never objects to anything they do, and just keeps cooking and cleaning, as well as working in her part-time job as a shop cleaner.

The reason Alice feels so inferior, unable to speak up for herself, is that she never learned to read. And she doesn't seem particularly motivated to do so. She has another secret, too: her family don't know that she has been saving a pound or two every week from her wages, which she keeps under a floorboard.

A bike-mad tattooed teenager befriends Craig, and Alice is warned that he spells trouble... but she thinks he's probably likeable under his outer appearance. He manages to guess one of Alice's secrets... which is the catalyst for her deciding to take positive action.

It's a story of hope, ultimately, with fairly realistic characters and a good pace. There's not a whole lot of plot - there wouldn't be time for it - but it felt like a little insight into the kind of family that might be living anywhere in the suburbs of a town, with a friendly corner shop.

I'm not sure that I'll read it again - at least, not regularly - but it was a pleasant, encouraging novella, even if the ending was slightly abrupter than I expected. Apparently it's no longer in print, but is the kind of book that might be found in charity shops or car boot sales.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 30th May 2012

Daughters-in-law (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I've been reading and enjoying Joanna Trollope's books for many years now. I've re-read many of them, but am always pleased when a new one is published. I received this one for Christmas, and have just read it in a couple of days.

'Daughters-in-law' opens with the wedding of Luke to the rather gorgeous Charlotte. Luke is the youngest of three sons, and Charlotte is also the youngest of her family. They each bring certain expectations to their marriage, and have to learn to adjust to each other, and grow up somewhat.

Rachel is the lynchpin of the family. She and her artist husband Anthony put everything into raising their three sons, and are pleased that they have married three very different girls. The love to welcome them all to their home, but they have an extra special relationship with Petra, the somewhat vague and totally accepting wife if their middle son Ralph, who is mother to two rather delightful little boys.

Despite Rachel and Anthony's nest being empty, Ralph and his family live nearby, and their eldest son Edward and his wife and daughter visit regularly. However, Charlotte, despite being the newest member of the group, really feel like getting drawn into the bosom of the family...

I could empathise with pretty much all points of view in this book, both from the parent and the child perspective. There were a lot of characters but it was pretty easy to remember them all; I loved the distinctive personalities of the three daughters-in-law, as well as gradually learning their secrets and seeing a glimpse into their relationships.

At one point I was worried that it would all disintegrate, so was pleased with how it ended. It could have been a bit trite and too tidy, and perhaps it was too neat for real life. But Joanna Trollope is a skilled writer, and it seemed eminently believable, so I very much enjoyed this book.

Overall it was a gentle and satisfying read, with my only slight criticism being that it was perhaps a tad slow-moving in places.

Definitely recommended.

Friday nights (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I've enjoyed the books by Joanna Trollope for many years now, some more than others. Her style is always good, and her characters interesting. So when she publishes a new novel, I usually put it on my wishlist.

I was given 'Friday nights' for my birthday, nine months ago. But I have had so many unread books on my shelves that I've only just finished it. It made good bedtime reading over the past week or so.

The story really revolves around Eleanor, a retired single woman, who decided to invite two young mothers - Paula and Lindsay - to hang out with her on Friday nights, along with their small children. Wanting something to do, they went along, sometimes joined by Lindsay's younger sister Jules. Eleanor's neighbour Blaise was invited, along with her business partner Karen.. and gradually, over a few years, strong friendships have formed.

Then Paula meets a new man, and wants to bring him to the group. Everyone is a little uncertain about this, but they welcome him for Paula's sake. Although he's a likeable guy who seems to get along with everyone, including Paula's son, this seems to be the catalyst for a lot of changes amongst the dynamics of the various group members.

There's not really a lot of plot, as such. It's a gentle character-driven book, delving into the different lives of these six diverse women and their relationships. I found it rather hard to remember who was whom, at first; Eleanor and Jules were easy enough, and Blaise (the only other woman without children) stood out, but I found the other three and their offspring rather too similar. By the end I had just about sorted them out in my mind, sufficiently so that I can remember them a day later.

There's really nothing special about this book - I didn't find it moving, or amusing, or even particularly thought-provoking. Nonetheless, scenes are recurring in my mind - so apparently it's at least somewhat memorable. Certainly, the writing is good, and it's a pleasant enough light read, if you like this kind of thing.

Not really recommended if you haven't previously read any Joanna Trollope, but if you like her style, it's not a bad book.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 23rd January 2012

Next of Kin (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I've been reading books by Joanna Trollope for about ten years. I had mixed feelings at first, but over time, they seem to have grown on me - or perhaps I've matured in my tastes.

Recently I decided to re-read some of the books I read some years ago, by Joanna Trollope among others. This week it was the turn of 'Next of Kin'.

It's the story of a farming family, opening with the funeral of Caro, wife of Robin. Their marriage has never been particularly contented - they have had separate bedrooms for many years - but their daughter Judy grieves, and those around them are affected in various ways.

Judy's new flat-mate Zoe is an uncomplicated and spontaneous kind of person who seems to have few hangups. She's a photographer, and asks to visit Judy's family. She finds herself thinking about them, and returns more than once. She gets involved in various ways, and becomes a catalyst for other change including helping people to speak out about their feelings and state what they would actually like.

The relationships are complex, and the people believable. I was particularly taken with Hughie, Robin's three-year-old nephew. I had totally forgotten the plot and characters since the first time I read 'Next of Kin' in 2000, which suggests that it didn't go deeply into my consciousness, but then that made it all the more enjoyable to re-read.

It's not a particularly special novel, and I didn't find I was moved or choked up, even at the places where I probably should have been. But it was pleasant light reading with some depth, and the conclusion was hopeful, on the whole. I shall probably read it again in another eight or nine years.

Still in print in both the UK and USA, and widely available second-hand.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 5th February 2009

Other People's Children (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I've liked Joanna Trollope's writing style since I first came across one of her books, about ten or eleven years ago. Over the years I've gradually collected all her novels, and am now re-reading some of them.

I first read 'Other People's Children' in 2000, and thought it a moving, complex story. I'd completely forgotten the plot when I picked it up recently, and found it hard to put down once I'd started.

Josie marries Matthew at the start of the book; Josie's son Rufus is a sensitive child, and rather unsure about what's going on, now the stability of his life is shattered. Matthew has three children, who are rebellious and rude, and determined to make Josie hate them. To start with they live with their hysterical and obnoxious mother Nadia, who is determined to make them all suffer.

Rufus's father Tom is a nice man, and a good father. Rufus feels happier when he's staying with his father... except when his much older step-sister Dale is there. Dale is the daughter of Tom's first wife Pauline, who died when her children were young, and Dale has become selfish and demanding of attention from her father, and also her brother Lucas.

Tom falls in love with a client called Elizabeth, who is in many ways the ideal wife; she and Rufus become very fond of each other. Unfortunately, Dale is determined to dominate her father's affections...

There are a lot of people in this story, which makes it a bit confusing at times; however they're mostly well-rounded, and some of them (such as Rufus, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's elderly father) are very likeable. The difficulties and traumas of children in 'blended' families is explored from many angles, both from the perspective of the various children themselves, and that of the adults who suddenly find themselves having to care for other people's children.

There's quite a thought-provoking section near the end when Elizabeth's father talks about archetypal step-parents, and why so many in fiction are portrayed as wicked. There's also an underlying theme showing the pain caused to children, whether young like Rufus, or in their mid-twenties like Dale, when parents separate, or die, or re-marry.

At the same time, there's a feeling that it's important to let go of the past and move on, at whatever stage one is at.

Part of the ending was bittersweet, and part was encouraging. I enjoyed it very much and will no doubt re-read again in another seven or eight years. Published in 1998, but still in print in both the UK and USA.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 4th October 2008

A Passionate Man (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I started reading books by Joanna Trollope about ten years ago, initially borrowing them from other people. Since then I've collected almost all of them, and have started re-reading. Then I found that I was missing one of her novels.

I was very pleased, therefore, to find 'A Passionate Man' in a charity shop in the UK, during a recent visit.

The main character is Archie, a well-respected doctor, who is happily married to Liza. They have three young children. Their only real worry is that their nine-year-old son Thomas has just started boarding school, and is clearly not happy there.

Archie is extremely close to his father, Andrew. Liza sometimes finds this frustrating, as if they haven't really let go of each other. It's Andrew who is particularly keen for his grandson to be in boarding school, and somehow they find it impossible to refuse.

Then Andrew falls in love with the widowed Marina, a wealthy and glamorous American. All the family find her surprisingly charming... except for Archie.

Meanwhile, a young teacher at the school where Liza works develops a serious crush on her. Also, a neighbouring farmer decides to sell some land, creating hot controversy in the village. Archie and Liza find themselves drawing further and further apart, although neither is entirely sure why.

The book is very well-written, with an excellent picture of English village life in the late 20th century, and great observations of the stresses and tensions that can arise in even the happiest of families.

I'm pretty sure I read this about nine or ten years ago, but had totally forgotten the plot - even a couple of entirely unexpected events that trigger further unhappiness and heart-searching from all the people involved, before Archie and Liza can pick up the pieces of their lives and move on to a rather different future.

Emotional in places, amusing in others - Archie and Liza's youngest child, Imogen, is a delightful caricature of a rather spoiled three-year-old - and somewhat thought-provoking.

Recommended. Still in print, eighteen years after publication.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 11th July 2008.

A Spanish Lover (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

When I first started reading Joanna Trollope's books, about eight or nine years ago, I had somewhat mixed feelings about them. The characters are great, the books well-written, but they felt a bit harsh at times. But then I was mainly reading character-driven sagas and light historical novels.

Since then I've read a much wider variety of books, and now find I appreciate Joanna Trollope all the more. I have most of her books on my shelves, so am slowly re-reading some of the ones I read first.

'A Spanish Lover' is the story of Lizzie and Frances, who are twins in their late forties. They're very similar - we never learn if they are in fact identical - but have rather different personalities. They have also taken different roles in life.

Lizzie is the mothering, settled type: she is happily married to Rob, and has four likeable children. They run a business together, and live in a very nice home. The only real problem on the horizon is the recession, which has affected their business rather more seriously than they realise.

Frances has always been more of a wanderer. She travels a lot, has had several temporary relationships, and has never wanted to settle down. She's also much more of a dreamer than Lizzie, although they're very close to each other in many ways. Their parents have a rather bizarre relationship, in that their father has a mistress as well as a wife, each knowing about the other.

The story charts what happens when Frances falls in love on a visit to Spain. It all happens rather fast, and while her family all like her lover very much, they're worried for Frances because they can see no future: he is older, married (albeit separated from his wife) and a Catholic. But Frances needs to exert her independence, and also the side of her that would like to settle down and be more secure.

Meanwhile, Lizzie and Rob have to make a lot of changes in their settled, secure life. The balance is changing, and there are some difficult moments for both of them as they have to learn to live separate lives, and support each other in different ways.

It's nicely done, with believable characters, and very good interactions between them. I particularly liked Lizzie and Rob's children, who play significant parts in the story, and also have some growing-up and maturing to do.

I first read 'A Spanish Lover' in 2003, and found that I'd almost completely forgotten the plot in the intervening five years. Very enjoyable - recommended to anyone who likes fairly gentle modern women's fiction.

Still in print in the UK; widely available second-hand.

Review copyright © Sue's Book Reviews, 2nd June 2008

A Village Affair (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I have somewhat mixed feelings about Joanna Trollope's novels. I've enjoyed some very much, and found others less interesting. Still, they're all well-written, and since I started reading her books about ten years ago, I'm now slowly re-reading some of them.

My memory of 'A Village Affair', which I first read in about 1998, was that it was really a bit sordid. So I wasn't sure I wanted to re-read it at all. However I thought it only fair to give it another trial - ten years ago I hadn't read nearly so much modern fiction, after all.

I'm glad I did.

'A Village Affair' is the story of Alice, who's rather a bohemian artist, who hasn't felt like painting for quite some time. She dresses in floaty shawls and skirts, and wears a very long plait down her back. She has three interesting children - the bossy seven-year-old Natasha, the clingy four-year-old James, and the utterly delightful baby Charlie. She also has a rather dull husband, Martin, but gets along extremely well with his parents, Cecily and Richard.

As the novel opens, Alice and her family are about to move into the Grey House, a lovely old house with its own orchard, in a small village. She is convinced that it will be the place where her artistic fervour will reawaken. At least, she was right up until the story begins, when she suddenly gets terribly cold feet about it all.

Alice is thrown right into the midst of village life, as she meets several of her new neighbours. She's persuaded into working in the village shop, and helping with the church flowers. She's also invited to a formal dinner party...

It's the story of Alice re-discovering her passion for art, and some other passions which she didn't know existed. It's hard to say more without giving away the main focus of the plot, which rather shocked me when I first read it; it's the one thing I remembered from it on re-reading.

However I was wrong in my judgement. It's not at all sordid. A difficult and controversial subject is given sensitive treatment. Alice's dilemmas as she has to make some very difficult choices seem believable and well thought out.

I did get a bit muddled about some of the minor characters involved, but the main ones were all three-dimensional and memorable, albeit slightly caricatured. The story works well at a good pace, and the ending is satisfactory and hopeful, if not a rosy happy-ever-after.

All in all, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes light fiction with controversial issues involved. It's not quite as dramatic as some of Libby Purves' novels that cover difficult subjects, but if you're easily shocked, you might do best to avoid it. I'm glad to see it's still in print in both the UK and USA.

The Men and the Girls (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I started reading Joanna Trollope's novels about ten years ago, or a little more. It took me a while to get into her style but I enjoy it very much now. So I decided to re-read some of her books which I haven't read for a while.

It's ten years since I read 'The Men and the Girls'. Although I remembered the bare outline of the characters (two men in their early sixties married to women in their thirties) I had forgotten everything else about it.

I wasn't even entirely right about the people. Hugh, a television personality, is married to Julia. But James, an academic and Hugh's best friend, is living with Kate who has never wanted to settle down in marriage. Moreover, there were four other very important people I had quite forgotten: Hugh and Julia have delightful young toddler sons, and Kate has a teenage daughter called Joss, going through a rather difficult stage.

And then there's Miss Beatrice Bain, an elderly lady who is another academic. She enters the story right at the start, when James accidentally knocks her off her bike. She is not injured, but James strikes up a strange sort of friendship with her, and this is the catalyst for a lot of Kate's dissatisfaction to come pouring out.

Hugh isn't very happy, either. His career is on the wane due to his age, and changing styles. Julia, who is very well organised and confident, finds a good job which is also in television, but Hugh does not adjust well to his wife becoming the main wage earner.

It's a character-driven novel, and Joanna Trollope does it very well. The interactions between all the main characters are believable, and well-paced so that the story moves along at just the right speed. I particularly warmed to Joss, struggling with her identity, and a growing sense of independence which she inherits from her mother.

There are some quite strong issues covered in the book alongside the main people and their problems - battered women, euthanasia, the fickleness of the media. So it was quite thought-provoking at times, if not as hard-hitting as novels by Libby Purves.

I didn't find it compulsive reading, which is just as well as I had a busy schedule in the last couple of weeks. But I enjoyed it, despite a partly bittersweet ending, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a light modern novel.

Recently republished in the UK with a cover that I don't personally like nearly as much as the previous white one with an impressionist park scene on the front - but perhaps it will have a new appeal to a different audience. This book is also fairly often found second-hand.

The Choir (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I like most of Joanna Trollope's books, particularly her later ones. I don't feel as moved by her characterisation as I do by some other authors (such as Rosamunde Pilcher) but I do feel caught up in her plots. They are always intriguing and a little different to the average women's fiction novel.

I last read 'The Choir' over seven years ago, and remembered enjoying it. It was the first of Joanna Trollope's contemporary novels, claimed by the Sunday Telegraph as being 'A modern Barchester Chronicle'- no doubt a reference to the author being a descendant of Anthony Trollope.

It's set in the 1980s, and revolves around the Cathedral Close and choir school in the fictional town of Aldminster. The headmaster is a likeable man, but rather stressed because his wife has vanished. He knows she's alive and well, and she's disappeared before, but he's still not sure why, or whether she will return to him.

The organist, Leo Beckford, is a brilliant musician and exacting choir master. His newest protegé, eleven-year-old Henry, has a voice that seems even more stunning than most - and it's only the best who are accepted into the Cathedral choir in the first place. There's some tension between Leo and the teachers at the school, since Leo believes that the choir should take priority over everything else, including sports.

Then there's the Dean, a rather overbearing man, with a snobby wife. They have some teenage and young adult children who have gone beyond the bounds of rebellion, into almost unbelievable wildness - I suppose this family was the closest to the caricatures of 'Barchester', and they're the ones who cause the most stress within the Close. The Dean thinks the Cathedral itself is far more important than the choir, so when a large amount of money has to be raised to solve problems with the Cathedral roof, he has no qualms about axing the choir... or, indeed, selling the Headmaster's house (which is Cathedral property) to aid the necessary funds.

So there are stresses and strains, not helped by Henry's mother - whose husband works in the Middle East - starting an affair. Henry is a very likeable boy, with a good imagination and integrity, who really loves to sing. I found him the most sympathetic character in the whole book, although most of them were believable up to a point. There was actually rather too large a cast for my tastes and I sometimes forgot who was who; some of them (such as the nice, diplomatic Bishop who refused to take sides) seeming quite unnecessary.

So, in a sense it is a bit like a contemporary 'Barchester Chronicles' and would probably be enjoyed by those who liked Anthony Trollope's work. In another sense it's very different, since the focus is on the choir school and Henry in particular. People learn a lot about themselves, and also about the necessity of life having to move on. I enjoyed re-reading it - having quite forgotten what would happen - and thought the conclusion satisfactory.

Second Honeymoon (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I like Joanna Trollope's books; more so in recent years when her focus has become on characterisation and gentle development of situations rather than being more plot-driven. It means that some readers on Amazon find her more recent novels a bit dull... but others, like me, find them thought-provoking and enjoyable to read.

'Second Honeymoon' is her most recent novel, featuring a delightfully disorganised couple (Russell and Edie) at the stage when their youngest child Ben has just left home. Predictably, Edie is distraught and feels empty in losing her role as mother, while Russell looks forward to spending more time with his wife.

I could certainly related to this; having one son leave home is difficult enough and I know life will change irrevocably when both my sons are gone. But for Russell and Edie, their problems are only just starting... no sooner has Ben moved out than their two older children want to move back in. Moreover, Edie lands a starring role in a locally produced play, and becomes quite close to Lazlo, a young man who is playing her son.

The book revolves around relationships: good ones and bad; making and breaking, and the importance of family ties. Edie discovers that she can't go back in time - that having her adult children back in the home isn't at all the same as it used to be, and that she does in fact want to move on.

Russell discovers that he too has to move forward rather than trying to recreate the early years of marriage before the children arrived. The ending of the book is hopeful - perhaps a little too tidy, as problems get solved neatly, but I prefer it that way.

Probably not of interest to younger people, but for anyone who's contemplating the 'empty nest', or has gone through that stage, a thought-provoking and very readable book.

Recommended.

Girl from the South (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

I have read and enjoyed most of Joanna Trollope's modern fiction, over the past few years.; But I had not bought or asked for 'Girl from the South' due to its rather poor reviews at Amazon UK. Still, when I found it for just over a pound at a charity shop, I decided to add it to my collection. I thought it would fill a few idle hours...

Expecting to be unenthralled, I actually found it an enjoyable book. It's very much about culture differences and expectations, set in both London (UK) and Charleston (USA). There are really four main characters, but the title of the book refers specifically to Gillon, a girl who grew up in the old-fashioned American South. She was raised by an elegant grandmother and a hard-working mother, and feels that she doesn't fit in. She takes a job in London in the hope of escaping from a claustrophobic family, only to find that they do in fact matter to her, much more than she had realised.

Inevitably there are love-affairs in the book. But they're not overdone or unbelievable. Gillon is not the only person to examine herself and look at her expectations. There are some thoughtful sections to the story looking at friendship, work ethics, parenting, and general family values. There is almost a hint of a Libby Purves novel, here and there, though without the terse style or shock value.

It wasn't a book to read all at once. For about the first three-quarters of it, I often found I had to put it down at the end of a chapter and take a break, as it became almost overwhelming with so much conversation. It was light enough to pick up in odd moments, however. It was also memorable enough that I rarely had to backtrack to find out who was whom. Most importantly, it was enjoyable enough that by the end I could barely put it down.

If this is a new direction for Joanna Trollope, I shall look forward to her future novels even more.

Recommended.

Brother and Sister (by Joanna Trollope)

(Amazon UK link)

The more Joanna Trollope books I read, the more I appreciate her as a writer. Perhaps she's mellowed over the years, or perhaps it's me. Whatever the reason, I thought 'Brother and Sister' one of her best novels, and thoroughly enjoyed reading it over the past few days.

The plot revolves around Nathalie and her brother Dave, both of whom were adopted as children. They had good childhoods and developed a close bond with each other; as adults they're pretty well-balanced, both in happy relationships with children of their own. There evidently a few family stresses under the surface, cleverly hinted at in the early chapters, but basically it seems that these two are contented, productive adults.

The catalyst who provokes the main events of the novel is Sasha, girlfriend of one of Nathalie's husband's employees. Sasha is making a psychological study of adults who were adopted in childhood, and is eager to interview Nathalie - who, to date, has had no inclination to find out about her birth parents. But answering questions, and thinking deeply about her childhood as well as her bond with her own daughter, Nathalie begins to feel a longing to know more of her history.

So the book is about her search, and that of Dave who joins in. It's about the effect it has on their spouses and children, on their adoptive parents, and on the birth mothers themselves. I don't know how realistic the emotions are, as I'm not well-acquainted with anyone who's been through this kind of thing, but it felt very believable to me. I was caught up in everyone's feelings as I read, seeing multiple perspectives, aware that for every positive consequence there were also negative ones.

I didn't get quite such a sense of knowing all the characters myself as I do from (say) Rosamunde Pilcher's novels, nor did I find myself shocked out of preconceived ideas as I do often when reading Libby Purves' work. But I did feel I'd understood far better what it might be like to be adopted, to be an adoptive parent, or even to have given up a baby for adoption. Joanna Trollope dealt fairly with all her people and brought the whole to a satisfactory conclusion.

Definitely recommended.