Amanda Brookfield

I was surprised at how much I liked this book. Frances, a contented mother of two young adults, has her life shattered by the sudden death of her husband. This happens before the story begins, and the first half of the book gives a sensitive account of her journey through grief, and the struggles she has to relate to her friends and acquaintances as a widowed woman.

Then she meets someone new... and the rest of the book explores her growing awareness of herself, and various issues that arise. The writing is good, the characters realistic, the story interesting, and the resolution satisfying, despite a few shocks along the way. A little more bad language than I'm comfortable with, but still, four and a half stars for this.… (más)

Charlotte is approaching her 40th birthday, and not finding life particularly easy. Her divorce from Martin has just been finalised, but she finds it difficult to see him with his new partner. And their 13-year-old son Sam is having a tough time at school, no doubt related to the breakup of his parents' marriage.

Charlotte would really like to make a new start so she puts her house on the market, and finds the house of her dreams... she also meets the estate agent Tim who seems to think that Charlotte may be the woman of his dreams. Her rather lost demeanor also attracts the attentions of her best friend's husband. Then her mother - whom she has always found difficult - has an accident...

While the plot revolves around Charlotte and her gradual acceptance of her circumstances, there are a lot of subplots in this book, and such a big cast of people that I often found myself forgetting who was whom. It's quite a long novel (nearly 400 pages) and I read it over a week, just a few chapters at a time, so it was difficult to keep track of - for instance - the names of the people who owned the bookshop where Charlotte worked, or her various friends and their spouses.

Still, I gradually warmed to the book and found it quite difficult to put down as I neared the end. Some of it was predictable, but there were a few surprises along the way; each chapter begins with a brief, first person account from Charlotte's past, in italics to distinguish it from the main text. I quite liked this device and felt it helped me to get to know her better. The one person I never liked was the estate agent.

Recommended to anyone who likes light women's fiction that's primarily character-based.… (más)