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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another magically absorbing and satisfying read..., 13 Aug 2007
The fantastic Adele Geras has done it again! Her latest adult novel, a wonderfully absorbing and satisfying family drama, is as rich and exciting as its predecessors. Set around the blended Barrington family--Matt and Phyl, his second wife, who have a 22 year old daughter called Louise, and two older stepchildren, Justin and Vanessa, who are not related to them by blood but are the biological children of Matt's feckless first wife, sex-bomb Ellie--it starts with the reading of the will of Constance Barrington, Matt's mother, and a right old cow, it has to be said, who makes sure even in death that her selfish, cruel whims can set the cat amongst the pigeons. Handsome, reckless, spivvy Justin(the only one of the family we don't really get to know)gets the very valuable house; spoilt, unhappy Nessa gets the estate; and Louise, known as Lou, whom Constance despised, ends up just with the copyright to her late grandfather's books. John Barrington, Constance's husband, was a novelist whose books, though published didn't do well, and are now right out of print. Lou and everyone else knows that Constance has intended to belittle her in death as in life; but Lou, a struggling single mother with an abusive relationship behind her,and who works for a small film production company as a script reader, dearly loved her grandfather and makes the best of it. At least, she reasons, she'll be able to hear him again through his books, especially his novel Blind Moon, based on his experiences as a child in a Japanese POW camp in Borneo. So taken is she with this novel that she decides to write a screenplay..and then, from out of the blue, a publisher called Jake Golden contacts her to find out if she would agree to the reissuing of her grandfather's books. Soon, the legacy that was supposed to show contempt for her, begins to pay rather more dividends, in all kinds of ways, than anyone could have expected..
Meanwhile, Ellie has her rapacious eye on Matt again, much to Phyl's anguish, Nessa has her life turned upside down and discovers a whole new and exciting side to herself, and Justin--well, you'll have to read the book!
Engagingly, intelligently and grippingly written, this is a novel of family secrets and sorrows, and of how the past can reach out for us not only painfully, but joyously, too. It's a real page-turner, and I found it very hard to put down. Gloriously life-affirming, it's also compassionate, funny and moving. Highly recommended.
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