Book blurb:
“1980: Josephine flees her home in Ireland to start a new life in London – but can’t leave her traumatic childhood behind.
Seventeen years and two children later, her sister calls: their mother is dying and wants to see Josephine. It’s a summons she can’t refuse….
1997: Ten-year-old Clare can’t wait for the summer holidays, when she will meet her grandparents in Ireland for the first time. She hopes this trip will put an end to her mum’s dark moods – and drinking. But family secrets can’t stay buried forever, and following revelations in Ireland, everything starts to unravel. Have Josephine and her daughter passed the point of no return?”
My thoughts:
Here is second review I am behind on and my tour of the uk takes me from Scotland onto England and Ireland, and this is a real heart wrencher.
I keep having to remind myself that this is not a true story, it easily could be.
The main characters in this sorry tale are Josephine and her daughter Clare, lots of other minor rolls but this story revolves around them.
families are messy messy things and closure is a transparent and hard to grasp thing and all throughout this story, it’s something for both Josephine and Clare that seems to be just out of reach.
This might be a bit of a shorter review than normal, not because it wasn’t a good book, it was great but it was difficult subject matter with not alot of light at the end of the tunnel, I so wanted the best for all concerned, but it just never seem to happen.
The Narrator for this tale of woe is Caroline Lennon who does a fantastic job given the bleakness of the story she has to tell, the accents are spot on for every character and tells the story at a good pace.
So if you are looking for something bright and airy then this isn’t it, but don’t mishear me dear readers,for all the darkness contained with this story, the one thing I can say shines through brighter than anything is that Alice Fitzgerald and Caroline Lennon has managed to capture beautifully is the overwhelming humanity and frailty of everyone represented. A job that’s not always easy to do.
So if you want something not light and fluffy but something real then give this a listen.
you can buy it here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07HWY4KNT/ref=tmm_aud_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1547724634&sr=8-1
Follow Alice here: @AliceFitzWrites
A Listener's Slant 