I discovered Rosy Thornton several years ago, and have read and enjoyed several of her books. I was given this one for my birthday a year ago, and finally sat down to read it.
‘Ninepins’ is the name of an old house in the Cambridgeshire fens. It’s near a dyke, and has a pump-house which works as a guest flat, and has been let out to a series of students. We meet Laura, the owner, as she hurries home from work to meet a new potential tenant: 17-year-old Willow, along with her social worker Vince.
Despite initial reservations, Laura decides to accept Willow. Laura has an eleven-year-old daughter, Beth, and is amicably divorced from Beth’s father who has a new family and pops in and out of their lives through the book. Laura lives in reasonable comfort, but evidently needs the money from the lodger, and the extra bonus from social services is useful.
But Willow is a troubled young person; her childhood was bohemian, but not in a good sense. We gradually build up a picture of a hippy-style somewhat neglectful mother, and a little girl forced to grow up before she was ready to. Willow is a nice contrast to Beth, whose mother takes rather too much care of her and struggles to let Beth grow up and be more independent.
The blurb describes this as having the tension of a thriller, but (thankfully) I didn’t feel that way at all. I don’t like books with a lot of tension. It’s more of a character-based domestic book; much revolves around the kitchen and Laura’s need to look after her daughter and, gradually, Willow too. Vince, the social worker, continues to make regular appearances and is a likeable man.
Willow stays rather shadowy and inward looking, very different from Beth but drawn to her too. Beth makes some poor decisions about her friends and struggles through her school days, developing rather young teenage angst; but her upbringing stands her in good stead, at least most of the time. Laura is kind and caring but can be a bit too pushy; I wanted to nudge her arm sometimes, to tell her to hold back, to listen more to Beth’s point of view, to allow her to make her own decisions. It’s a sign of a highly believable character.
Rosy Thornton writes very well; some of the descriptions left me a bit cold, but then I’m not a visual person. I was none the wiser as to what dykes or fens looked like even after finishing the book, but it didn’t particularly matter. I could vaguely imagine the pump house and the kitchen; I suspect a good picture was painted, however, for those who are more drawn to sensory detail.
I think I'd have preferred the ending to be a bit more conclusive, but perhaps it was better left somewhat open.
It took me a little while to get into the story, and nearly ten days to finish it; but all in all, I enjoyed this book very much. Recommended to anyone who enjoys women's fiction that's character-based.
Review copyright 2015 Sue's Book Reviews
It’s several years since I first came across Rosy Thornton, when I was sent one of her books to review. I liked it, and put a few more of her novels on my wishlist; I read a couple more and liked them very much. I was then given this particular one a couple of years ago but it’s been sitting on my to-be-read shelf all that time, until I decided to read it last week.
‘Crossed wires’ is a light and gentle character-based story featuring two main people. Mina, who’s in her twenties, works in an auto insurance call centre in Sheffield. Peter, who’s around forty, is a lecturer in Cambridge. Both are single parents - Mina to a shy ten-year-old bookworm called Sal; Peter to identical nine-year-old twins called Kim and Cassie. But that’s about all they have in common.
They ‘meet’ by phone, when Peter calls to report a car problem. In explaining the circumstances of his accident, Mina chats a bit more than she would normally, liking the sound of his voice. That would have been the end of it, except that he manages to have another prang not long afterwards, and deliberately asks to speak to Mina as she was so helpful the first time. Then when he ends the call somewhat abruptly, she looks up his file on record and discovers something that makes her go against official guidelines and call him at home outside her work hours…
The story is told alternately from Mina’s and Peter’s point of view, charting their lives as they struggle with day-to-day problems. Mina worries that Sal is so shy, Peter worries that his twins are too close to each other. Mina’s sister causes her a great deal of stress; Peter spends time trying to help his research student, who is struggling financially, without making it too obvious that he’s helping her funds.
I found most of the characters likeable, including the token gay couple (so many modern books have them) who are Peter’s best friends, Jeremy and Martin, although they were a bit caricatured. I thought the three girls were well-drawn and believable, even if a few of the minor characters seemed flat and somewhat stereotyped.
The writing is good, the style enjoyable, although it's not going to appeal to those who like a lot of plot or fast action. Instead it portrays the different people and circumstances, offering a peep into the lives of people we might otherwise know nothing about.
Peter and Mina find that despite very different circumstances in life, they think in the same kind of way, and start to enjoy their phone conversations - which turn into a weekly event - but I was beginning to wonder if they would ever meet…
There’s some drama in the middle of the book, and various crises; indeed I found it quite hard to put down during the latter half. I enjoyed the day-to-day lives of the two families, on the whole, but felt that one or two threads weren’t really resolved at the end even though the conclusion is hopeful and mostly satisfying.
'Crossed Wires' is no longer in print, and second-hand paperback editions can be quite expensive, but it's also available in electronic form for the Kindle.
Review copyright 2015 Sue's Book Reviews
It's a few years since I came across Rosy Thornton. Having enjoyed two of her books, I put a third on my wishlist and was delighted to receive it for Christmas.
The main character in 'The tapestry of love' is Catherine Parkstone, who is driving through hordes of sheep as this book opens. She’s desperate for some coffee, but decides that a bar of Dairy Milk will have to suffice. She glances at her watch before resigning herself to waiting... the picture is painted, vividly, of a typical British businesswoman entering a completely different culture.
We soon learn that Catherine has bought an old farmhouse in the Cevennes mountains in France. She has just emerged from a divorce, and her two young adult children are established at university and in a job. Her mother is in a pleasant nursing home, suffering with advanced Alzheimer’s Disease, and barely recognises her daughter.. so Catherine is, at last, following her dreams and moving into France, where she hopes to establish a business making curtains, furniture covers and tapestries for the locals.
The first part of the book takes us through the first months, where Catherine gets to know her neighbours, discovers what will and won’t grow, becomes more confident in her language skills, and gradually begins to feel as if she’s settling in. She finds herself quite attracted to the somewhat mysterious Patrick, one of the few of her neighbours with excellent English... then her sister Bryony arrives for a holiday, and embarks on what seems to be an affair with Patrick.
There’s not really a whole lot more plot to this gentle and enjoyable novel. Catherine is on a journey to establish a new life as an expat; having done that as a family ourselves, I could relate to her quite strongly in her struggles with bureaucracy, her frustrations about lack of time sense, and her gradual explorations beyond her own boundaries.
There are also questions of priorities - of how she relates to her children, her sister, her mother. As she goes through the different classical stages of culture adjustment ,and comes up against some apparent obstacles to her business, she has to ask herself whether or not it’s worthwhile, or whether she should cut her losses and return to the UK.
I don’t know why this book was so enjoyable; there’s more description than I am usually comfortable with, more people than I could easily remember, more detail about farm life than I find interesting. And yet, seeing everything through Catherine’s eyes (albeit in the third person) I could almost imagine her home and her environment ,and feel some of her confusion and pain when difficulties arose or people behaved out of character.
The writing is excellent, a cut above the majority of modern books, and somehow the pace is exactly right. It would not appeal to anyone who likes fast action - although there are one or two quite tense scenes - and there’s no fantasy, no crime; even the romance element is very low-key. Yet somehow it was a delightful book, and one that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys women’s fiction.
Available on Kindle as well as in paperback.
Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 12th February 2013
I'm a little surprised to learn that it's now over four years since I came across Rosy Thornton. I read her first novel, 'More than Love Letters', for the Bookbag site, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was determined to read more of her books, but at the time there was only one other. So it went on my wishlist.. and I was given it a couple of months ago for my birthday.
I've just finished reading 'Hearts and Minds', and liked it just as much. Despite the rather fluffy-looking cover, this is intelligent fiction, set in St Radegund's, a women's college in Cambridge. While the college itself is fictional, the setting seemed highly authentic; I later learned that the author is a Fellow at a different Cambridge college.
The book opens as James Rycarte, new 'Master' of the college, arrives. He is to learn that his appointment was quite divisive; having a man at the top brings out the worst in some strident feminists, including a few who would like to see his downfall. James is not even a Cambridge graduate, but an ex BBC journalist; he's a likeable man who uses his television skills to put his points lucidly and often manages to charm those who might take exception to some of his ideas.
While much of the novel revolves around James, the star of the book from my perspective is Martha Pearce, the Senior Tutor. She's a hard-working and warm-hearted woman in her early 40s, often frustrated with the college, but caring deeply about the students. Her private life is far from easy: she is the main bread-winner of her family, supporting her poet husband and their unemployed teenage daughter Lucia, who seems to be heading for a serious depression; Martha is also worried about her mother who seems to be developing Alzheimer's Disease.
And, indeed, the book looks in a realistic way at some serious issues. The author skilfully brings out both sides of several controversial debates on topics which I had barely thought about before. How far should a college go in subsidising rent for student accommodation, for instance, when some of the students are from wealthy families? How can students from all backgrounds and walks of life be persuaded to study at prestigious universities, when they are so steeped in tradition and - sometimes - snobbery? Can one accept a hefty donation from someone who wants it linked to his daughter's entrance to the university?
It's a mark of the great characterisation that I found myself rather frustrated with Martha at times, not dealing with Lucia in the most tactful way, almost pushing her into quiet rebellion or angry silence. I wanted to take her on one side, to tell her that her family was much more important than her work, and to her some parenting tips... then had to remind myself that she is not real. Other characters were equally believable; I followed them into meetings, listened to their discussions, and found myself coming down on one side or the other - usually sympathising with James and Martha.
Despite the serious subjects and academic setting, it's not a difficult book to read. There are some light-hearted parts: some amusing dialogue that made me chuckle once or twice, and even a low-key romance. I found 'Hearts and Minds' almost impossible to put down by the time I was half-way through, and was pleased that the ending was tidily satisfying, leaving open an encouraging future for everyone.
Definitely recommended.
Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 17th June 2012
I had not come across Rosy Thornton before. If I hadn't been sent this book to review by 'The Bookbag', I probably would never have picked it up. The cover is light and fluffy, though not unattractive, and it looks as if it would be 'chick-lit'.
Moreover, a quick glance through the book shows that it's an epistolary novel - one written entirely in terms of correspondence (letters, emails, minutes of meetings, etc). I am not particularly keen on letters even in the midst of regular novels, so that would have put me off before I started.
But I'm so glad I did read it, because 'More than Love Letters' is an extremely enjoyable book.
It opens with several letters from Margaret Hayton to her MP, Richard Slater. She writes about greenhouse gases, dangerous wire in a park, the lack of waste bins, and taxes on women's sanitary products. She treats them all with equal passion... and he responds with exactly the same form letter each time, assuring her that he will be looking into the matter in the near future.
It made me smile. I thought Margaret was a middle-aged or elderly do-gooder.
Then, after the minutes of a meeting, there is a letter from Margaret to her grandmother... which made me blink a couple of times, and realise that she must be younger than I had thought. She turns out to be a twenty-four year old primary school teacher. She corresponds not just with her grandmother, but with her good friend Becs who teaches in an inner city school and has an insatiable appetite for men.
There are also emails from Richard Slater to a friend of his, another MP. He, too, assumes that Margaret is an elderly do-gooder until he actually meets her, and finds her extremely attractive...
It's all very cleverly done. The styles of letters are different enough to show the characters of the people concerned, and the story gradually builds up through the various correspondence.
There's a romantic thread running through the book, but there's also an examination of the problem of the homeless, a serious look at the long-term effects of incestuous child abuse, and a lighter look at the mistakes and misunderstandings that can easily arise in the media. It's thought-provoking in these ways and others, without in any way preaching. Although it took me a little while to get into it, I found it difficult to put down once I had got about fifty pages in.
It's much better written and deeper than typical chick-lit. It reminded me somewhat of the novels by Libby Purves, which also manage to combine a good story with some very thought-provoking issues.
Definitely recommended.
My slightly longer review of 'More than Love Letters' can be found at the Bookbag site.
