From the superb storyteller and quintessential women's fiction author Joanna Trollope comes a moving and wonderfully observed new novel about two families who must confront love and loss as an inheritance hangs in the balance.
The trouble with dying is that you're not around anymore to explain what you meant to the people who love you…
Richie Rossiter, a crooner and piano man still popular with his loyal fans, is anyone's idea of a lucky man. In his forties, he abandoned his first wife and son in Newcastle for a young woman who believed she could bring him stardom in the south. Not only does Chrissie rejuvenate his career, she gives him twenty-three years of happy domestic life and three lovely daughters.
But then he dies suddenly, and at his funeral Chrissie and her daughters cross paths with Richie's other family for the very first time. And the uneasy truce that has held over the years between Richie's past and his present loves breaks down into open animosities, fanned by certain bequests he has made and certain secret loyalties he has kept. Grief, loss, jealousy and love rewrite the relationships of both families in ways Richie never could have imagined.
The trouble with dying is that you're not around anymore to explain what you meant to the people who love you…
Richie Rossiter, a crooner and piano man still popular with his loyal fans, is anyone's idea of a lucky man. In his forties, he abandoned his first wife and son in Newcastle for a young woman who believed she could bring him stardom in the south. Not only does Chrissie rejuvenate his career, she gives him twenty-three years of happy domestic life and three lovely daughters.
But then he dies suddenly, and at his funeral Chrissie and her daughters cross paths with Richie's other family for the very first time. And the uneasy truce that has held over the years between Richie's past and his present loves breaks down into open animosities, fanned by certain bequests he has made and certain secret loyalties he has kept. Grief, loss, jealousy and love rewrite the relationships of both families in ways Richie never could have imagined.
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Publisher:
Toronto, ON : Random House Canada, 2010
ISBN:
9780307357472
Branch Call Number:
FIC Trol
Characteristics:
331p
Opinion
From the critics
Community Activity
Quotes
Add a Quote"but do you feel sometimes, when it comes to other people, that you are just -just empty? And same time you have a hunch, which wont go away, that their is someone or something that might just fill you up?"
a
andreareads
Sep 13, 2012
As the youngest, Amy had been good at reticence from an early age, having learned that silent observation often yielded her more useful information than yammering on all the time, like her sisters did . . .
a
andreareads
Sep 13, 2012
From past experience, Donna knew that, if Scott had the initiative, he just left it lying about without using it until it ran out of its vital initial energy, and simply expired.
a
andreareads
Sep 13, 2012
You must be very careful, you know, not to let good memories get poisoned by what comes later.
Comment
Add a CommentVery slow.
This is the first of Joanna Trollope' books that I have read. A very good story about a rock star who dies and the two families who mourn him. His estranged wife and son in Newcastle and his partner and 3 daughters who live in London. Trouble starts when in his will he leaves his beloved piano to his wife. I did not appreciate the odd "F" words.
A good story line which takes you through a family's emotional journey after losing the man of the house.
This writer never fails to impress with good story lines, innovative characters and believable relationships. And she's wonderful portraying kids and in this case, the CAT.
This book starts with a death, and the characters struggle in a daze to deal with the consequences of that death before finally finding some joy in life again at the end. Realistic, but a bit depressing to read.
Two families following the untimely death of their spouse
The completely expected formula from Trollope, but fun nevertheless. What saves her stories is her effortless-seeming writing style.
Lucidly written and portrayed about a small (yet a profound) incident; And how it changes people in quite different ways.
Very poignant and not-quite-a-tear-jerker.
This is the first of her novels I have read. It was an easy and enjoyable read and I would search out others of her books!
Joanna Trollope has crafted yet another wonderful book. Her writing is terrific and her storytelling is delightful.