Cross My Heart And Hope To Die
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Product Description
More! Magazine
If romantic novels leave you feeling a bit queasy, then check out this brilliant anti-romance. Perfect beach reading
Andrea Henry, The Mirror
Claire Calman's novels are several notches up from chick-fic - they're lively, thought-provoking domestic novels that encroach on Trollope territory
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Read this as it's intended - light-hearted chick lit for the 20something to 40something's - and it's good fun. I wouldn't exactly call it anti-romance but there is a good dose of realism & I'm sure most women can relate to at least some of the problems Miranda & Kath face, and maybe even reading the novel, have the odd laugh about them too!!
Miranda is at the centre of the story. She's the lynch-pin. A successful business-woman and shoe designer, with her own boutique in London, Miranda is so looking forward to a week away by the beach with her best friend, Kath... but when another couple drop out of the holiday & Kath invites her brother, Rob, & her father, Giles, Miranda isn't quite so sure that this is going to be the relaxing break she was so desperate for! However, when her partner Simon insists he's going anyway and taking their daughter, Anna, Miranda reluctantly agrees to join him.
It's a holiday fraught with tensions as no-one seems to be having the best time. Giles, a seemingly cold & distant widower, is there by default of having broken his arm & being dragged along. Rob has brought his girlfriend who's clearly into him way more than he is with her. Kath & Joe just want to be able to have some time on their own without being interrupted by their kids & then there's Miranda and Simon who barely have a civil word to say to each other. As the week unravels so to does the plot - can Miranda hold it all together?
The book starts off a bit stilted but gets better as you go along. Touchingly human, and with moments of perfect insight, it's a good read.
Miranda is at the centre of the story. She's the lynch-pin. A successful business-woman and shoe designer, with her own boutique in London, Miranda is so looking forward to a week away by the beach with her best friend, Kath... but when another couple drop out of the holiday & Kath invites her brother, Rob, & her father, Giles, Miranda isn't quite so sure that this is going to be the relaxing break she was so desperate for! However, when her partner Simon insists he's going anyway and taking their daughter, Anna, Miranda reluctantly agrees to join him.
It's a holiday fraught with tensions as no-one seems to be having the best time. Giles, a seemingly cold & distant widower, is there by default of having broken his arm & being dragged along. Rob has brought his girlfriend who's clearly into him way more than he is with her. Kath & Joe just want to be able to have some time on their own without being interrupted by their kids & then there's Miranda and Simon who barely have a civil word to say to each other. As the week unravels so to does the plot - can Miranda hold it all together?
The book starts off a bit stilted but gets better as you go along. Touchingly human, and with moments of perfect insight, it's a good read.
Format:Paperback
Although a little disjointed at first, with seemingly lots of characters to get to know, this book still grabbed me early on. Miranda has lots of secrets, and flashbacks take you there on a slow journey, broken up with lots of present day angst. I particularly like the way the story is broken into 'days', it works very well. The difference between Miranda's marriage and Kath's is poignant, and Claire Calman writes sympathetically, with an excellent ear for dialogue.
I thought I had figured out Miranda, and was pleased to be proved wrong. I like a novel to be a little unpredictable, and was not disappointed.
I thought I had figured out Miranda, and was pleased to be proved wrong. I like a novel to be a little unpredictable, and was not disappointed.
5 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although set in an old house by the sea, 'Cross My Heart and Hope to Die' isn't so much a rural story as the landscape of an extended family on holiday together. Family members are portrayed with warmth, humour and a deceptive lightness of touch. Their irritations and anxieties are there, along with their hang-ups, avoidances and confrontations, but at the same time there was plenty to make me smile and enjoy the company.
Secrecy and misunderstandings are tangled up with the pleasures the family finds in being together, and there is plenty for the reader to unravel. As family members get to know each other under different circumstances, changes and surprises surface: Anna (aged 8) has her own daydreams but is old enough to mirror tensions of the adults around her; Miranda and Simon are fighting an uncomfortable war of attrition; Kath wants to keep everyone happy but this is not so easy with her father around, and what will she do with her unexpected find in the attic?
This book kept me turning the pages late into the night. There is plenty of good dialogue, keeping the narrative flowing and revealing more and more about the characters. How would this diverse group ever find any resolution? Would there be painful compromises, easy solutions, more surprises? I had my own theories and they certainly weren't all right...
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