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
I’ve enjoyed all the books I’ve read by John Ortberg, over the past ten years or so. He doesn’t seem to have written any new ones, so I decided to start re-reading them. They’re well worth it - he has an engaging style, including some family anecdotes and a lot of dry humour, which seems to be somewhat unusual in an evangelical American Christian.
I last read ‘Love beyond reason’ in 2008, and had pretty much forgotten what it was all about. The subtitle of the book is, 'Moving God's love from your head to your heart'. I’ve read it over the past couple of weeks, just ten pages or so each day, as there was much to ponder.
Not that it really said anything unfamiliar, or radical. But it was an encouraging read. It starts by introducing us to Pandy, the author’s sister’s rag doll, who was much loved despite becoming more and more scruffy. When Pandy is accidentally left behind on a family holiday, there’s simply no option but to turn the car around and go to look for her...
The analogy is clear. We are like rag dolls, often more rag than doll, yet God loves us with an abiding passion, and will look for us wherever we stray. The parables of the lost sheep and others demonstrate this admirably, but it’s refreshing sometimes to have a more modern viewpoint, one that we might not have thought ot.
The book looks at God’s love from different angles, giving plenty of examples from the Bible (with dry asides, at times, to lighten them) as well as the author’s own memories and relevant anecdotes. It drew me in, made me think, and encouraged me immensely... although there’s nothing that really stood out, or which I shall be thinking over for months to come.
Highly recommended to anyone, particularly those who might feel that God could not possibly love them. Available in Kindle form as well as paperback book, and still in print on both sides of the Atlantic.
Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 25th June 2013
While I’m not a fan of thrillers and crime fiction in general, I do like reading the occasional Agatha Christie. Written in the early and middle of the 20th century, her stories reflect a calmer, politer way of life than we are used to, where violent crime stands out as a mystery to be solved. Christie’s people are not the most well developed, but then these are not primarily character-based novels; instead, they are puzzles for which she cleverly lays both clues and red herrings.
It was only when I had finished reading ‘Taken at the Flood’, and was entering the information into one of the online book sites that I realised that I had previously read it, in an edition confusingly titled ‘There is a tide’. It was only seven years ago, so I am astounded and a little shocked, since I had no memory at all of having read it before... (see note below)
In this story, the first victim is Gordon Cloade, a wealthy man who is tragically killed in a bomb attack in London. Gordon had been in the habit of funding his various impecunious relatives, and had half promised that they would share his fortune after he had passed away. However, shortly before his demise, he had married Rosaleen, a young widow. As the story starts, Rosaleen is understood to be living in Gordon’s family home with her somewhat overbearing brother.
We get a good picture of Gordon’s family members, although I found myself sometimes forgetting who was whom as there were so many of them. Some are quite sympathetic towards the young Rosaleen, when they finally meet her; others are more hostile. Some of them are keen to ask her for money, and she comes across as quite kind-hearted if a bit weak-willed; her brother evidently rules the roost.
A stranger arrives in the village, asking questions about Rosaleen’s first husband, who supposedly died in South Africa.. or did he?
Naturally Gordon is not the only victim in this story; there is no mystery surrounding his death, just a great deal of tension and argument amongst his loved ones. But someone else dies, and clues seem to point in one direction... except that they are perhaps a bit too obvious. The police are uncertain, and Hercule Poirot, who is called in to investigate, feels that the whole ‘shape’ of the apparent crime is wrong.
As always with Agatha Christie’s novels, there’s a great deal of talking. This is really where her books fall down, as she didn’t write the most believable conversations. Nor does she really distinguish between Gordon’s various surviving relatives; other than some of their interests, I found them all somewhat bland. I had my suspicions about who might have ‘dunnit’, but was - as so often - quite wrong. Poirot solves everything in the end, unsurprisingly, and it all makes sense.
I didn’t feel that the plot was as clear-cut or well-planned as some of the author’s other books, and found the final few pages particularly unsatisfying. Not a bad story, but not one of my favourites, nor one I would particularly recommend to anyone new to Agatha Christie or light crime fiction.
Note: according to Wikipedia's page on this book, 'Taken at the flood' was the author's title for this book, but the US publishers chose 'There is a tide' for their first edition in 1948. Both phrases are taken from a speech in Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'.
Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 19th June 2013
My mother was a great fan of Violet Needham, a little-known writer who was popular in my mother’s childhood and teens. Needham's books were published between 1939 and 1957, and were mostly historical or contemporary children’s fiction. My mother had managed to keep hold of some of her old editions, and had found a few more in charity shops. She was then delighted when the ‘Girls Gone By’ publishers reprinted, in full, a few of her favourites which she had not been able to get hold of previously.
Despite seeing them on her shelves as far back as I can remember, I hardly read any of Violet Needham’s books. I’m not entirely sure why, as some of the titles are quite intriguing, and I do like books intended for older children from this era. However, when my mother died, I decided to bring these to Cyprus, as much as anything because she was so very keen on them. Wanting something fairly light recently, I decided to read ‘The Horn of Merylns’. Research told me it was a stand-alone novel.
The story is about eleven-year-old twins called Giles and Gillian, usually known as Jack and Gill. Orphaned young, they have lived with their rather strict grandmother for some years. They have been repeatedly told that their father’s side of the family are unpleasant people who dislike them. But as the story opens, their grandmother has passed away, and so they are sent to stay with their aunt and uncle in an old country house called Merylns. It’s a lovely place, but not a happy one. Their uncle Julian suffered a terrible tragedy, and their Aunt Elfrida is disabled, unable to move alone, after an accident.
Jack spends most of the year in school, so Gill is sent to Merlyns on her own, where she is very suspicious of her uncle, and quite lonely. She slowly settles in, and gets to know an eclectic mixture of local people, as well as learning about the history of the house, which includes a missing horn and a strange curse...
Violet Needham’s writing flows effortlessly. I found myself quickly drawn into the story, feeling for Gill as she explors her new environment nervously. She expects constant reproofs or worse, and is puzzled when she is shown kindness. I liked Julian and Elfrida too, and was intrigued by the adventure part of the story. I found it quite difficult to stop once I had got into it, and overall enjoyed it very much.
It’s a children’s book, so it was evidently going to have a happy ending. But it is still quite tense in many places. There’s an oddly mystical element too - a ragged old man plays quite a large part in the story, and Gill sometimes wonders exactly who he might be...
All in all, I thought this a very enjoyable book. Written as contemporary fiction in 1943, it gives a nice picture of everyday life in the countryside in the war years. I’m only sorry I didn’t pick this book up before, but look forward to reading the others over the next few months.
Recommended to older children or teens who like a good story with likeable characters, set in the past. Tends to be quite pricey, but may be found second-hand in the newer editions.
Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 16th June 2013
Any time I need something comforting which is light and easy to read, I turn to my bookcase of younger teenage books... and, very often, to the Chalet School series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer. My mother enjoyed these books as a child and through most of her adult life, and I seem to have inherited the same tendencies. I don't read all 60+ together; instead I've been pacing them out, reading just a few each year.
'Joey goes to the Oberland' is one of a small number of Chalet School books that does not, in fact, include much about the School itself. It follows right after ‘Changes for the Chalet School’, which I read in March, and in which an announcement is made that the majority of the school would be moving to the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland.
In this book, Joey Maynard (formerly Joey Bettany), one of the school foundation stones, and now the proud mother of eight (so far...) prepares to move herself, her family and her effects. She will be joining her husband Jack, a doctor at the sanatorium in the Oberland. Jo has plenty of help - a housekeeper called Anna, her adopted sister Robin, and various others, but Jo is a resourceful and energetic young woman who does a great deal herself.
The early part of the book is quite rambling, as Joey and her aides discuss what they will take, how to pack it, and plans in general. This is the book in which we say goodbye to Robin, who is shortly to move to Canada to follow her vocation as a nun. But she’s very involved in the preparations for the move. It’s also the book in which Daisy Venables gets married - a rather low-key affair, with her aunt and uncle absent, but important in the chronology of the lengthy series.
I found some of the conversations a bit lengthy at first, not really going anywhere, and - inevitably - sounding somewhat old-fashioned. More annoying was that Joey and Jack regularly refer to all their children as ‘brats’... perhaps in the 1950s when this was written, it was not as rude or dismissive as it appears today. The children are mostly extremely well-behaved and likeable, about as far from brats as it’s possible to imagine.
Once the journey begins, the story gets more interesting; Jo catches up with some old friends along the way, and eventually gets to the school where they stay temporarily before moving into their new - and enormous - home.
There’s not a whole lot of plot; it would be entirely possible to read the series without this book, but since I like Joey as a character (she was, apparently, based very much on the author’s ideal wife and mother) it was a good book to while away a few hours. I found it quite easy to put down and didn’t finish it as quickly as I had expected to, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Nowhere near as moving or enjoyable as ‘Jo to the Rescue’, one of the early books that focuses primarily on Joey outside the school setting, and I wouldn’t recommend this as a starting point for someone wanting to see what this series is about. But for fans of the Chalet School series, and in particular fans of the lengthy Maynard family, this is a bit different from most, and makes a good light read if you allow for the rambling and datedness.
Recommended in a low key kind of way, if you can find it. It's not currently in print, and second-hand editions tend to sell for extremely high prices.
Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 12th June 2013
I do like it when I discover a new author whose work I enjoy. Even better when I find that her books are all different, yet very appealing. This is my impression, so far, of Jojo Moyes, an English writer who has several published titles. I am slowly collecting them.
'Silver Bay' is mostly set in Australia. It features Liza and her daughter Hannah who live with Liza’s Aunt Kathleen, at a small beach hotel. It’s popular with tourists - in a low-key kind of way - for observing whales and dolphins, although there’s a worrying tendency to attract noisy boats that scare away the marine life.
There’s some mystery about Liza’s past; she suffered immense heartbreak shortly before arriving at Kathleen’s, and we soon discover what that was about, although without details at first. But it doesn’t quite explain why Liza is so very protective about Hannah, not even allowing her to go out on the boats - although Hannah regularly does.
Then a smartly suited man from England arrives. Mike is uncomfortable at first, feeling out of place. He quickly makes friends with Hannah, and is quite attracted to Liza, but attracts some bad feeling, particularly when the locals discover just why he’s there...
‘Silver Bay’ is written from several different perspectives, a technique that works well, giving a bit of background to each of the main characters, letting us see inside their heads, and understanding something of their motivation. The characterisation is good; I found myself becoming quite fond of Hannah, and also Kathleen, although it was harder to be sympathetic with Liza despite the trauma she suffered in the past.
However, it took me quite some time to get into this book. Perhaps it’s that my ecological tendencies are mostly theoretical; while I don’t wish to see harm done to any creatures, I don’t actually have any interest at all in marine life boats, and a lot of the early part of the story was woven around these themes. Other parts of the story involved business ventures and attempts to manipulate investors... and I found those even less interesting.
And yet, slowly, I found myself drawn into the lives of this small community. As the businessman Mike found that he was starting to be accepted, so I found myself caring more about these people and their everyday lives. By the time I was about half way through, I was totally hooked. When there’s a major crisis scene, I was gripped, almost unable to put the book down. When we finally learn the details of Liza’s past, I had tears in my eyes. Even more so later on...
Jojo Moyes has a great writing style that drew me in, kept me reading, and made me believe in her story, even at the end when - if I’m entirely honest - reality felt a little suspended, leading to a most satisfactory conclusion. Things came together just a bit too tidily for reality, but by then I didn’t care. I like a happy ending, even if it doesn’t reflect typical real life.
All in all, I liked this very much... and immediately put a couple more of this author’s books on my wishlist.
Highly recommended.
Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 6th June 2013
