I'll be there for you (by Louise Candlish)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m enjoying re-reading my collection of Louise Candlish novels, and have just finished another one: ‘I’ll be there for you’. I last read this in June 2011, ten and a half years ago, so it was no surprise to find that I had no recollection of the characters or storyline at all. I didn’t recognise any of it as I read, so it was as if I were reading it for the first time - always a good experience, since I did recall that I liked the book the first time round.

The novel revolves around the sisters Hannah and Juliet, who are four years apart and very different from each other. They have a younger sister Laura who appears a few times, but she doesn’t add much to the storyline. Hannah is married to Michael and expecting their first baby. However she’s a bit nervous about letting him know as he’s expressed that he doesn’t want to start a family just yet. Hannah is gentle and motherly; she appreciates the comforts of life, and since Michael is very well-off, she can spend anything she likes, not having to worry about finances at all.

Juliet is a hard-drinking heavy-smoking businesswoman who’s pretty cynical about life and men. We learn early in the book that she lost her boyfriend Luke a year earlier, and that she’s still grieving. It’s not until the end of the book that we discover exactly what happened, or why she’s cynical as well as sad, but hints are dropped and the picture gradually builds up. I thought that storyline was very well done.

Juliet and Hannah used to be close but have drifted apart, mainly because Juliet doesn’t much like or trust Michael. She thinks he’s over-charming and manipulative, and probably a womaniser, and she thinks her sister married him because of his money. However she would like to be closer to her again. She’s living in a flat-share with quite a selfish friend, and while she has plenty of other friends, she’s losing interest in her job, and she’s a bit concerned that she’s started blanking out now and again…

I liked Hannah very much, although she’s a bit blinkered, I was surprised to find that I liked Juliet too despite her lifestyle being so foreign to anything I’ve ever experienced. It was hard to relate to her at first, but she’s quite introspective, and some of her thoughts resonated (though not a huge decision she makes about half-way through the book, which somewhat shocked me).

Hannah and Juliet have a lot of friends, some of them mutual, but I had a very hard time distinguishing who was whom. Their characters weren’t particularly well-developed, other than Siobhan, a single mother who befriends Hannah when she’s going through a tricky patch in her relationship. But most of the other friends were just names, and I lost track of who was whom - it didn’t matter much, and I didn’t really care what happened to any of them, or who was involved with whom.

The book has a good pace and is very readable, even if there’s more bad language than I’m comfortable with, and an apparent acceptance of one-night stands and general promiscuity, so long as none of the participants is married or seriously involved with anyone else. I’m not sure I entirely believed in Juliet’s lifestyle, or her gradual emerging from it into a caring and well-respected professional - but it makes a good story.

Recommended if you like women’s fiction with a good number of subplots and don’t mind a confusing number of rather two-dimensional secondary characters.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews