The Other Family
Joanna Trollope
The Other Family
Chrissie always believed that Richie loved her, had loved her for all the twenty-three years they'd been together, loved their three daughters and their house in Highgate and their happy, lively existence. But if she really was the love of his life, why had he never given her the one thing that would have made her life perfect? The ring she wore was not a wedding ring, and it did not bring her the security of marriage. That belonged, still, to Margaret, back in Newcastle where Richie had started off as a musician, before he became famous. Margaret and her son Scott never saw Richie, and had never met the three girls. They were his other family, not mentioned but always in Chrissie's mind, an obstacle to her complete happiness. And then, suddenly and shockingly, Richie is no longer there, and Chrissie and the girls have to learn to manage without him. The presence of the other family becomes, all at once, impossible to ignore - not least because they are involved in Richie's will. Old resentments, and feelings of abandonment and loss, have to jostle with the practicalities of money and property.
3.9 out of 5 based on 7 reviews
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Fiction |
| Genre |
General Fiction |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
336 |
| RRP |
£18.99 |
| Date of Publication |
February 2010 |
| ISBN |
978-0385616140 |
| Publisher |
Doubleday |
| |
Chrissie always believed that Richie loved her, had loved her for all the twenty-three years they'd been together, loved their three daughters and their house in Highgate and their happy, lively existence. But if she really was the love of his life, why had he never given her the one thing that would have made her life perfect? The ring she wore was not a wedding ring, and it did not bring her the security of marriage. That belonged, still, to Margaret, back in Newcastle where Richie had started off as a musician, before he became famous. Margaret and her son Scott never saw Richie, and had never met the three girls. They were his other family, not mentioned but always in Chrissie's mind, an obstacle to her complete happiness. And then, suddenly and shockingly, Richie is no longer there, and Chrissie and the girls have to learn to manage without him. The presence of the other family becomes, all at once, impossible to ignore - not least because they are involved in Richie's will. Old resentments, and feelings of abandonment and loss, have to jostle with the practicalities of money and property.
John Crace's Digested Read -- The Guardian
Reviews
The Independent
Amanda Craig
"The Other Family is exactly the kind of novel you wish men in the middle of a mid-life crisis would read, because it shows so clearly how good men do bad things to those they love out of thoughtlessness and selfishness. Sadly, the appalling dust-jacket makes this unlikely, but women of a certain age should buy its bittersweet story in droves."
19/02/2010
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The Literary Review
Gill Hornby
"[A] clever novel… Joanna Trollope has many, enviable skills but perhaps her greatest is for identifying and illuminating the emotional truths of contemporary life."
01/02/2010
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The Daily Mail
Wendy Holden
"It's a tale of shocks, wills, pianos and adjustment to reduced circumstances, all threaded together with the acute social and psychological detail of which Trollope is such a master (or mistress)."
19/02/2010
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The Daily Telegraph
Jane Shilling
"A satisfying, well-constructed novel, its characterisation on the whole convincing (it wobbles a little in the Tyneside parts), its message one of courage and kindness. It is excellent comfort reading, with only the faintest of hints that Trollope may be growing weary of mining this particular narrative seam."
02/02/2010
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The Sunday Telegraph
Lucy Beresford
"Trollope is shrewdly observant of human interaction… And although the characterisation of the timid secretary, the clammy estate agent and the heart-of-gold northern businessman might feel a tad clichéd for some tastes, Trollope is never unkind, not even in her vivid portrayal of uncomfortable human foibles such as pride, jealousy and resentment. Her appeal lies in this warmth: she is the Aga we turn to (a fabulously glamorous one, admittedly) when we long for a bit of comfort, escapism, or psychological TLC."
14/02/2010
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The Sunday Times
Penny Perrick
"This is a very Chekhovian novel in that its characters can’t move on — grief and bewilderment make them stifled and given to bouts of self-analysis… Even at their least appealing, her fictional creations are invariably depicted with warm humanity. "
14/02/2010
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The Spectator
Susan Hill
"Looking back at Joanna Trollope’s earlier, outstandingly rich, acutely observed novels I find an instinctive take on contemporary life, a wisdom about relationships and individual motives and a brilliant insight into the minds of children, which made The Rector’s Wife and A Village Affair so compelling. Something has been sacrificed here to ‘issues’. But she writes as observantly as ever."
10/02/2010
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