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Victoria is the main character. We meet her briefly as a child, in a prologue that introduces her along with her cousin Guy and his best friend Richard. They’re staying in Corfu with Guy and Victoria’s grandmother, a half-Greek lady called Evanthi. Victoria is rather younger than they are, and sometimes they see her as a bit of a nuisance. But as she grows up she joins in their pursuits, and she finds Richard very kind, sometimes shielding her from Guy’s stormy temper. She announces that she’s going to marry him when she grows up…
The story then leaps forward about twenty years. Victoria, who has a six-year-old son called Jake, has had a shocking bereavement and is still trying to process it. She goes through the motions for a while, and then decides that the best thing to do is to go and stay with Evanthi for a while. Evanthi is in her eighties, and hasn’t been well, although she seems to be recovering.
Alongside this thread, we meet a brilliant photographer called Patrick. His wife Rachel is quite selfish, and they have been growing apart for some time. They have two older teenage children, Sam and Sophie, and they also have a two-year-old called Posy. Rachel was not at all maternal with her older two children, but she went to a counsellor called Bronwen who helped her to relax… and now she’s not just maternal, she’s turned into a possessive helicopter parent who gives into Posy’s every whim…
Patrick’s great uncle Hugh is an artist, and although I’d forgotten the plot, I quickly guessed that not only was Patrick going to meet and rather like Victoria, but Hugh was going to turn out to be connected with the family too. It could have seemed like a very unlikely coincidence that Patrick has been commissioned to photograph Evanthi’s house, which leads to a startling discovery - but Evanthi is quite religious, and doesn’t believe in coincidences. So strong are her views that it made the story entirely believable.
It’s a character-based story primarily, involving two deeply passionate love stories, and two marriages that should probably never have happened. Even then, there’s much discussion about the benefits of both, including the children. The author has a gift of characterisation, and in this book, the last one she wrote, the people almost jump out of the page.
Evanthi is a delightful creation, typical of some elderly women I’ve met with Greek or half-Greek ancestry. Victoria has had a very stressful life, but has a tremendous inner strength. Sophie is a typical teenager, driven by hormones, loving her parents and irritated by them at the same time.
If the men are slightly more two-dimensional, it doesn’t matter. Both Hugh and Patrick are extremely likeable, as is the good-natured Sam. Jake, too, is a believable little boy. I found Guy quite hard to take; the backstory that he eventually tells Victoria (which I had entirely forgotten, so found quite startling when it was revealed) portrays him in a very poor light. But it doesn’t much matter; his role is mainly that of catalyst and is mostly in the background.
It’s quite a long book, over 500 pages in the paperback, and I didn’t want to read it too rapidly. The writing is excellent, the descriptive passages just right to paint an overview of important locations and people. The conversations feel real and unforced, and the story itself gently winds its way to an encouraging conclusion. Not every end is tied up; but many issues are examined, and brought to light, and Victoria starts to see that she is an important person who needs to make some decisions of her own.
All in all, I thought this a wonderful book. It's light in places, very moving in others, and an excellent story. Very highly recommended to anyone who likes thoughtful character-based women’s fiction. It's now available in Kindle form, although the print edition can sometimes be found second-hand.
Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews
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