Our Precious Lulu (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Anne Fine has given me immense reading pleasure over the years and so I was magnetically pulled towards this her latest novel.

Firmly back in "Telling Liddy" territory Telling Liddy as immediately we are launched without mercy into a tight, over wrought family drama that made me dizzy with the intense back and forth dialogue. Again sisters feature, together with the telling of secrets, rewriting of family history and fanning of flames by a spouse. The theme of good fortune, in the way of baby making going to the undeserving is topical and involving. As is the realistic insecurity over work and income.

It is tricky to pick a way through the mixed motives. Who are we to believe? I soon thought that way too much was being asked of Geraldine. The amateur psychological dissection/discussions that Geraldine and Robert have about Lulu and her stepmother Jane with their planned remedial manipulation confused and bothered me. Robert and Geraldine, both scientists, appear to have an overly claustrophobic, supportive relationship, their families having lived next door from childhood, all the children went to school together. This solidly married couple are also working closely in the same laboratory. Because you only hear conversations it is harder to work out which of the whole family group really deserves your sympathy and backing. Robert and Geraldine are an excellent example of how a couple can work each other up, building a head of steam over issues that an outsider could find farcical. Alert to nuances of each other's behaviour, they are a finely tuned couple, Robert, loving and observant, is unusually involved with his wife's emotional life I felt; not so common in a man. As always there can be two sides to a family story and Anne Fine demonstrates this with her usual verve and razor sharp skill of observation.

However by the time I had raced through to page 80 I realised, with sadness and disappointment that I wasn't actually enjoying this much as I'd hoped. The writing seemed hectic and unnecessarily fraught. It was rather hurried and exhausting to follow. So I slowed myself down a bit and stopped trying so hard see what what happening. There is much kindly humour to enjoy with the character of Puffer the cat who belongs to Geraldine and Robert (and others!) lightening the atmosphere a bit, redressing the balance. Robert himself is always delightfully witty.

There are many great conversations with Jane, the step mother of Lulu and mother of Geraldine; they are masterpieces of sarcasm disguising deep hurt, pain going back a long way with attempts by her natural daughter to break though the thickets of self deception practiced by her mother. The landscape begins to shift. Layers are peeled back when Geraldine begins to revise her views of her father's departure from their lives. Finding her true place in the family order becomes easier as the scales begin to fall from her eyes. The fierce and speedy writing is taking you to a destination.

Jane, is so really well drawn, she is busily smoothing over the hurtful past and refusing to allow herself to be drawn into the destructively dangerous competitive relationship between Lulu and Geraldine. Jane has so far enjoyed the benefit of being allowed to act as a bystander but gradually she finds herself having to take sides. I loved that part and found the dilemmas of loyalties being tested fascinating.

In the character of Precious Lulu we see a young woman who may well be pushing her luck just that bit too far. In danger of being hoist by her own petard and thinking that she can go on behaving the way she always has, there is excitement in the air until the last satisfying paragraph, will rough justice be meted out?

Lulu - ex-stepdaughter/stepsister - is the archetypal cuckoo in the nest. Since their shared childhood, Geraldine has always felt eclipsed by Lulu's dramatic moods, demands and sneaky tricks, and her mother's determination to sweep the drama under the carpet at Geraldine's expense. Luckily, the unflappable and relentlessly supportive Robert is on Geraldine's side, but as parenthood looms for one of the `sisters', Geraldine's frustration builds to breaking point. Something has to give - but who or what will it be?

Anne Fine is a popular, award-winning children's author but has not received anything like as much acclaim as you might imagine for her adult fiction. Picking up one of her novels for the first time, (unless you are a fan of Fay Weldon,) you might be surprised by her acerbic tone and dark humour. Although family-based, her fiction is far from cosy, and may indeed leave you feeling more than a little uncomfortable. Used as I am to Fine's tone, I still found reading the first chapter or two quite uncomfortable to read; however, I soon found myself sucked into the family melodrama - unsure, at first, who I would warm to and whose would be the winning side.

This novel is a quick read, largely told through dialogue (much as my previous favourite of Fine's adult fiction, `Telling Liddy'). I found Geraldine and Robert's relationship surprisingly reassuring, and the manipulative powers of the various characters fascinating. After disappointment with `All Bones and Lies' and `Raking the Ashes', and despite some reservations when I first started reading, I really enjoyed this book: a definite return to form.

I always enjoy Anne Fine's books and regret my daughter is too old now for me to read her the children's books. So, I love the adult ones and this was no exception, however, I did feel it lacked the depth of her other adult books, we never get to see Lulu's point of view and are given a one sided account. Having said that, I loved the interplay between family members and enjoyed the story immensely.