Starting Over (by Robin Pilcher)

(Amazon UK link)

I had almost forgotten how much I like Robin Pilcher’s novels, so am very glad I decided to re-read them. I’ve just finished his second novel, ‘Starting Over’. Apparently I re-read it last in 2017 but I had entirely forgotten the story. It’s character-based - like his better-known late mother, the author has a tremendous gift for creating three-dimensional, sympathetic and entirely believable people.

Liz is one of the first people we meet. She’s around forty, the mother of 19-year-old Alex, and recently separated from her husband Gregor who had an affair. So now she lives in her childhood home with Alex and her recently widowed father. They’re struggling to make ends meet - and a proposal has been made by an American consortium to turn her farm, and Gregor’s neighbouring one - into a golf course. Liz hates the idea, but the bills keep coming in.

Alex is a student at St Andrews university in Scotland, which is about half an hour’s drive from his home. So when Liz and her father agree that perhaps they should take in a lodger, Alex suggests his German tutor, Arthur Kempler. It’s a bit awkward at first, but Arthur quickly finds a kindred spirit in Alex’s grandfather, and it seems to be working.

And then there’s Roberta Bayliss, an older middle-aged woman, the youngest of her siblings, who is passionate about golf. She’s always been single and has an excellent relationship with her father. But it’s clear that her father is very frail, and when he dies he makes rather an unusual request of his youngest daughter…

Much of the novel involves these people, and others, getting to know each other, exploring different locations, making hard decisions, and taking some risks. Liz in particular is challenged to put aside her anger with Gregor and her depression about the farm, and try something entirely different. Roberta, who’s quite miserable, finds a new and special friend. Arthur manages to heal the relationship with his estranged son, after a serious injury.

It took me a little while to get into the book, and it was a busy period so I only read a chapter or two each day for much of the past two weeks. The chapters are short, but whereas, with some books, I forget who the characters are if I don’t read in big chunks, I had no difficulty with ‘Starting Over’. I felt as if I knew everyone, and was catching up, a little more, on their lives as I dipped into the book.

The author was clearly very familiar with the locations he writes about - in particular St Andrews, but his descriptions of other places are realistic and colourful. I’m not a fan of descriptive passages, and skimmed several of them, but the bits I did read seemed entirely authentic.

Although a male author, the book is classic ‘women’s fiction’, and likely to appeal to anyone who enjoys that genre. It’s a tad more gritty than Rosamunde Pilcher’s novels, with quite a dramatic climax to the book where the outcome is uncertain for some chapters. And the outcome of the story is not as predictable as many women’s fiction novels; right until the end I wasn’t sure where the relationships were going, and what the future would hold.

There’s a bit of ‘strong’ language, but not used inappropriately; there’s nothing remotely explicit, and the violence of one incident is so well-written that there is tension and immediacy, but no horror.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews