On the edge (by Sarah Turner)

(Amazon UK link)

I liked ‘Stepping up’ by Sarah Turner so much when we read it for the local book group a couple of years ago that I put another of her novels on my wishlist. I was given ‘On the edge’ for Christmas and have just read it in the past couple of days.

It took me a few chapters to get into it, but once I was about a quarter of the way through it became difficult to put down. The narrator is called Joni. She’s nearly forty, and has been living with Lewis for the past ten years. Joni hates surprises, and likes to be prepared for any eventuality. She’s really eager to have a baby, and has planned every detail, including the most likely times for conception. 

But before we meet her, there’s an online group discussion, presumably something like Whatsapp although it’s not specified. Someone called Sue, who is not entirely au fait with groups or emojis, sets it up and invites Joni along with four other people. And she tells them that she’s been given the task of organising a week in Joni’s late grandmother’s house, where they have to follow some instructions before hearing her will.  

Joni is very reluctant to go, but is persuaded, though Lewis insists he’s unable to join her. Jodi hasn’t been back for a while, and dreads being in the village where she grew up without her Nana being there. The other participants are her father Michael, her stepmother Allie, and her step-siblings Cate and Nick. Nick also has an adopted son called Stan, who in turn has an imaginary friend called Bilbo who goes everywhere with him. 

The idea of stressed families having to get together for a week after the death of a loved one is a trope I’ve come across in other books, usually with the bribe of an inheritance at the end, as with this one. But the six don’t just have to manage to survive together for a week; they have to follow instructions about unlikely activities which their Nana has organised for them. How she managed to do all this, when she knew she was going to die (and was approaching ninety) is never actually queried.

Joni is not happy when she arrives, but we learn from odd comments that she and Nick used to be very good friends when they were children. Her mother died when she was just ten, and she always felt that her father remarried much too soon, and that her stepfamily had spoiled her life. She left as soon as she could, even though Allie did all she could to care for her. Allie is a somewhat stereotyped ‘new age’ floaty person, into auras and healing stones. She’s also extremely kind, and generous; and she is quite intuitive, too. I liked Allie very much.

Joni’s father refuses to discuss her mother, although she would love to talk about her more. Yet he talks openly about his mother (her Nana) whom he misses very much. So Joni struggles to have much of a relationship with her father. She isn’t particularly polite to Allie, she’s downright rude to Nick and she rather despises Cate who is an online influencer with a lot of followers.

And then there’s seven-year-old Stan, who is my favourite character of the book. Joni doesn’t really know him at first, and is extremely unhappy when he manages to throw up in her car. But one night they’re both awake and she learns some things that make him unhappy; she’s a teacher, so she understands a lot about children, and she discovers that he has a lot of depth, and a great deal of love. Nick adores him but doesn’t always manage to communicate this.

The activities the family has to struggle through include rock climbing and abseiling, canoeing, dancing and life drawing… they discover them one at a time; Jodi does not want to partake in any of them.

There are other threads to the story too - Cate has an apparently charming larger-than-life boyfriend who is there too, but Allie can’t bring herself to trust him. Stan takes charge of Cate’s phone - he has his own online account, and likes to interview people - but hits a few wrong buttons, leading to disaster. And Joni learns some things about the past which turn her world somewhat askew.

It’s essentially a character-based novel, and while some of the characters are undoubtedly caricatures, there are sufficient realistic ones to make this a very enjoyable book. It’s obviously not to be taken too seriously in some of the details, but I did like the way that - almost imperceptibly - new and tentative friendships form, as they discover new things about themselves and others in the party.

I smiled a few places, and was quite moved in others. It was a light-hearted, quick read, but the writing is good with an excellent pace, and I enjoyed it very much. 

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