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Other People's Children
For eight-year-old Rufus life has become complicated. His parents, Josie and Tom, have divorced and are setting off on separate paths. But now, other people have had to become involved, like his mother's new husband Matthew and his father's new friend Elizabeth. What's even worse is that there are other children too, Matthew's three teenagers, who have been conditioned by their mother Nadine to hate his mother Josie.Matthew's children come to their father for weekends and make it clear how much they loathe Josie. Rufus secretly prefers to be with his father, in his peaceful flat in Bath, where he realises that he doesn't actually hate the idea of a stepmother, if she is peaceful and sane like Elizabeth. But where other people's children are concerned, neat solutions seldom occur ...
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First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Joanna Trollope
132 books604 followersJoanna Trollope Potter Curteis (aka Caroline Harvey)
Joanna Trollope was born on 9 December 1943 in her grandfather's rectory in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, England, daughter of Rosemary Hodson and Arthur George Cecil Trollope. She is the eldest of three siblings. She is a fifth-generation niece of the Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope and is a cousin of the writer and broadcaster James Trollope. She was educated at Reigate County School for Girls followed by St Hugh's College, Oxford. On 14 May 1966, she married the banker David Roger William Potter, they had two daughters, Antonia and Louise, and on 1983 they divorced. In 1985, she remarried to the television dramatist Ian Curteis, and became the stepmother of two stepsons; they divorced in 2001.
From 1965 to 1967, she worked at the Foreign Office. From 1967 to 1979, she was employed in a number of teaching posts before she became a writer full-time in 1980. Her novel Parson Harding's Daughter won in 1980 the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Joanna Trollope was born on 9 December 1943 in her grandfather's rectory in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, England, daughter of Rosemary Hodson and Arthur George Cecil Trollope. She is the eldest of three siblings. She is a fifth-generation niece of the Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope and is a cousin of the writer and broadcaster James Trollope. She was educated at Reigate County School for Girls followed by St Hugh's College, Oxford. On 14 May 1966, she married the banker David Roger William Potter, they had two daughters, Antonia and Louise, and on 1983 they divorced. In 1985, she remarried to the television dramatist Ian Curteis, and became the stepmother of two stepsons; they divorced in 2001.
From 1965 to 1967, she worked at the Foreign Office. From 1967 to 1979, she was employed in a number of teaching posts before she became a writer full-time in 1980. Her novel Parson Harding's Daughter won in 1980 the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews
August 13, 2015
I have always enjoyed this author because she writes a good story and nothing is simple and/or straightforward in her books. The stories are a lot like real life with all its twists and turns.
This book is about stepfamilies - the adults (parents, step-parents), all the various kids, dating someone with kids, the complicated relationships between all people involved, how hard it all is, the joys & love present, the compromises made, etc. Boy, oh boy, did it hit home for me being both a parent and a step-parent. I had to highlight passage after passage because the feelings/thoughts/observations were right on!
Marrying a man with kids IS the HARDEST thing I ever done. You take on the man, his kids, his extended family, his ex, her extended family, her love relationships, any kids she has from men other than your husband, your kids, your extended family. The tangled web goes on & on and never stops.
This book is about stepfamilies - the adults (parents, step-parents), all the various kids, dating someone with kids, the complicated relationships between all people involved, how hard it all is, the joys & love present, the compromises made, etc. Boy, oh boy, did it hit home for me being both a parent and a step-parent. I had to highlight passage after passage because the feelings/thoughts/observations were right on!
Marrying a man with kids IS the HARDEST thing I ever done. You take on the man, his kids, his extended family, his ex, her extended family, her love relationships, any kids she has from men other than your husband, your kids, your extended family. The tangled web goes on & on and never stops.
January 6, 2010
I have always loved (almost all of) Joanna Trollope's novels. And this is one of the best. She's great at exploring the perspectives of ALL people involved in blended families. My only reservation is that the two craziest characters are both women and the men are allowed to be much more normal. That said, if there is a character to be admired in this novel, it is also a woman.
May 15, 2019
4.5 stars. My first Trollope and I was hooked from start to finish! The writing was elegant and captivating, making it an engaging read. And what impressed me most was how well the characters were constructed. I felt that I knew all the major characters, their strengths and weaknesses, fears and insecurities, individual quirks and uniquenesses, although there were more than ten of them, them as in the major characters. Plus I’ve always enjoyed reading books that expand my perspectives and stretches my mind, and this is certainly one of them.
December 6, 2025
Pochi come questa autrice britannica sanno coniugare con altrettanta maestria humour sottile a sensibilità estrema nel dar voce a sentimenti & risentimenti di gruppi famigliari eterogenei.
E qui, in una storia straordinariamente credibile che ruota attorno alle burrasche in cui annaspano due famiglie allargate, il talento è proprio indiscutibile. Si naviga a vista, si imbarca malumore, si cola a picco oppure, fradici di lacrime, si sceglie di abbandonare la scialuppa.
Eterna ottimista, speravo in un finale diverso almeno in parte, ma a conti fatti anche quello è plausibile.
Un gran bel sì, insomma.
Giudizio tecnico finale: fratelli coltelli.
E qui, in una storia straordinariamente credibile che ruota attorno alle burrasche in cui annaspano due famiglie allargate, il talento è proprio indiscutibile. Si naviga a vista, si imbarca malumore, si cola a picco oppure, fradici di lacrime, si sceglie di abbandonare la scialuppa.
Eterna ottimista, speravo in un finale diverso almeno in parte, ma a conti fatti anche quello è plausibile.
Un gran bel sì, insomma.
Giudizio tecnico finale: fratelli coltelli.
December 28, 2017
This is the story of two “blended” families told from the varying viewpoints of stepmothers, their children, and the men in their lives. The stepmothers bend over backwards trying to keep their families together, sacrificing their own needs to satisfy those of the stepchildren that have been thrust upon them by a second marriage. Sadly, these women receive little support from the men in their lives and even less from the children or the children’s biological moms. While reading Other People’s Children, I found it difficult to sympathize with either of the stepmoms, simply because their infinite patience with their obnoxious stepkids smacked of the kind of self-inflicted desperation that has kept women in submissive roles for generations. At a time when women all over the world---or at least in the Western world---are asserting their rights to equality and respect at home and in the workplace, the stepmoms in Other Peoples’ Children seem terribly antiquated.
Elizabeth, an independent and successful career woman who could easily thrive on her own without a man, allows herself to be disrespected time and again by her fiancé's grown daughter in the hope that her "love" for the girl’s cowardly father (Tom) is enough to overcome this obstacle in their relationship. Elizabeth’s passivity---or is it passive-aggressiveness?---made me so angry at times I wanted to throw the book down in disgust. (This of course is a good thing, because an author’s ability to provoke an emotional response in the reader is what makes for a compelling story.) When Elizabeth finally does see the light, she has waited far too long to do so. If I were in Elizabeth’s shoes, I would have called the “authorities” after the second incident and had the soon-to-be stepdaughter committed to a psychiatric hospital (which is clearly where she belonged), which would have given Elizabeth and Tom enough time to escape, without leaving a forwarding address, to Canada, the U.S., the South of France, or any of the other places where British people like to emigrate when things go badly at home.
One of the most difficult tasks for an author is to write about ordinary people and ordinary situations and make them seem extraordinary, and this is something the author has accomplished very well in Other Peoples' Children. Despite my general dislike for most of its characters, I gave this book four stars because it is a well-written, absorbing read with believable characters, a compelling story-line, and situations we can all relate to, on both sides of the Atlantic.
Elizabeth, an independent and successful career woman who could easily thrive on her own without a man, allows herself to be disrespected time and again by her fiancé's grown daughter in the hope that her "love" for the girl’s cowardly father (Tom) is enough to overcome this obstacle in their relationship. Elizabeth’s passivity---or is it passive-aggressiveness?---made me so angry at times I wanted to throw the book down in disgust. (This of course is a good thing, because an author’s ability to provoke an emotional response in the reader is what makes for a compelling story.) When Elizabeth finally does see the light, she has waited far too long to do so. If I were in Elizabeth’s shoes, I would have called the “authorities” after the second incident and had the soon-to-be stepdaughter committed to a psychiatric hospital (which is clearly where she belonged), which would have given Elizabeth and Tom enough time to escape, without leaving a forwarding address, to Canada, the U.S., the South of France, or any of the other places where British people like to emigrate when things go badly at home.
One of the most difficult tasks for an author is to write about ordinary people and ordinary situations and make them seem extraordinary, and this is something the author has accomplished very well in Other Peoples' Children. Despite my general dislike for most of its characters, I gave this book four stars because it is a well-written, absorbing read with believable characters, a compelling story-line, and situations we can all relate to, on both sides of the Atlantic.
September 14, 2014
I like Joanna Trollope. As a dysfunctional, barren spinster the tales of the vagaries of family adult life seem far removed from my personal experience, so I approach them more as fantasy or science fiction. But with less hairy midgets like what they have in the Hobbit. Or robots.
April 18, 2024
Depressing stories of broken families, interfering step children, and last chances for love gone wrong. I really like Joanna Trollope's writing, but this book is just too much of a downer.
March 29, 2010
That is really a very good story! The title itself implements what the story is about. Broken families, children involved.It is hard to try and make children happy, especially daughters with attitudes. The character I dislike. She is 25, overly insecure, jealous and possessive over her father and brother, acting as if she is a wife. She broke the relationships between her brother and his wife to be because of her influence as well as her father's wife to be. It is so sad that both men realized the truth about Dale after the women they loved left them. Why couldn't they speak to her when the time was right.This is how it is in real life too. You cant of course neglect your children but show them how it will be and as a grown up this is your choice.Two different families, two different relationships, two women having difficulties of their own, but there is always a solution, to stay with the man you love or leave and move on.
July 10, 2021
At first I thought some of the characters were conveniently, and somewhat offensively, all one thing or all another, and this led me to expect that they would be conveniently wrapped up - tidily, clean-like - in the (happy) end. But that's not how JT rolled in this one, oh no, so I give her five stars for pulling no punches.
July 26, 2012
This is my favorite of Joanna Trollope's novels and a frequent reread of mine. Trollope deftly gets behind the eyes of so many characters, including two monsters of selfishness, and she's always utterly, heartbreakingly convincing.
May 20, 2012
Heartbreakingly realistic, right down to the very words spoken.
read it before you marry someone with children. Wish I had.
read it before you marry someone with children. Wish I had.
February 18, 2025
This is not one of the genres (family drama) I normally read. I saw this at a rummage sale and picked it up on a whim. As it turns out I am glad I did. It is the story of a divorced couple and their new families and friends. It is primarily about the relationships between parents, step-parents and the various children from their various previous relationships. The characters are well drawn and believable and the emotions feel real. One of the things I liked about it was that there was no finger pointing or blame for the break-ups that occurred. No one was treated as a victim or as a villain but rather as flawed human beings who couldn't stay together. The endings were not tied up neatly with string but were left to play themselves out n the reader's imagination once the books was over. Very nicely done.
December 27, 2022
Frighteningly familiar!
May 19, 2019
This took me a long time to get into for obvious reason! It was amazingly written, I have step kids and was hooked on every line! The last 5 chapters had me crying, I could relate on every way! Well done Joanna Trollope
June 13, 2015
'It's as if stepmothers have come to represent all the things we fear, most terribly, about motherhood gone wrong. We need mothers so badly, so deeply, that the idea of an unnatural mother is, literally, monstrous.'
I had never heard of this book or its author when I picked it up off the lounge floor, caught in the throes of boredom last Sunday afternoon, and started reading. The characters were all introduced at once, so at first it was quite hard to keep track of who was who, especially with such complicated family connections, but the unfolding drama was compelling enough to draw me in and as the story progressed I became more involved and wanted to know what would happen to the characters, and if a book like this could possibly have a happy ending.
The blurb indicates that the main character is Rufus, but although he is a significant character (and likeable because of his maturity) I found that the focus was more on Josie, the new stepmother, and Elizabeth, perhaps a stepmother-to-be. My favourite character and the real heroine of this story, I feel, was Becky (believe it or not!). I applauded the choices she made at almost every turn and I loved how she grew through things and changed for the better. I was annoyed when
Although there is nothing remarkable about her writing and she could have been much more in-depth, Joanna Trollope has the skill to create emotionally and psychologically complex characters, and that was enough to carry this story even without a strong plot or particularly descriptive prose. I really couldn't see how it would end, but it was a neat ending and . She also had something to say and said it without being too preachy, exploring family issues especially concerning broken families and step-children. Maybe intentionally and maybe not, the male characters were all portrayed as weak and the females as dramatic and over-emotional, and often the children came across as more grown-up than the adults. This could be very frustrating.
An enjoyable and thought-provoking but quick read.
January 4, 2025
My first Joanna Trollope and for much of it, I felt ambivalent. Written nearly 30 years ago, in one sense the novel reflects what a patriarchal society expects of women, and - thankfully - these ideas have progressed. The two stepmothers in the story demonstrate forbearance and patience that no one, in fairness, would expect of them today. The fathers of these blended families show inadequate understanding or emotional support of the women whose lives are, frankly, made miserable. How many stepmothers out there are still unfairly maligned while carrying the emotional burden of change? Brattish, poorly disciplined stepchildren and even an older family member play emotional blackmail. I disliked intensely Nadine, the scorned ex-wife, who behaves as badly as her young teenagers. Trollope exposes all angles of relational dysfunction in both families; she writes engagingly and the plot moves along well. But by the end, I felt I'd been watching a domestic soap opera with a rather weak ending. 3,5
May 23, 2016
I have been reading Joanna Trollope's books for many many years; you know exactly what you will get - a story based on family life, centered on an upper-middle class family, where there isn't usually much 'plot' apart from the relationships between the characters and the issues that arise from this. So in that sense its a safe option - I know I will enjoy reading about these people, who's lives are very believable, similar to many people I know.
Its like looking in a mirror I suppose, seeing how the characters deal with the issues life throws at them, and wondering if you would do any better!
As someone who does live now with 'other people's child(ren)' I can affirm that the issues the book tackles are all too real, sometimes difficult, but also can be wonderfully rewarding when you manage to get things right. It was good to see the relationship between Josie and Becky gradually improving through the book (but sad to see other relationships failing). Such is life!
Its like looking in a mirror I suppose, seeing how the characters deal with the issues life throws at them, and wondering if you would do any better!
As someone who does live now with 'other people's child(ren)' I can affirm that the issues the book tackles are all too real, sometimes difficult, but also can be wonderfully rewarding when you manage to get things right. It was good to see the relationship between Josie and Becky gradually improving through the book (but sad to see other relationships failing). Such is life!
November 8, 2013
The only mature adult in this book was Rufus, the eight year old boy.
Families come in all different shapes and forms. This book follows a family broken up and how they try to move on, or not move on with their lives.
Nadine is left by her husband Matthew for Josie, a younger woman. She takes her anger for her husband out on her children. Josie was also married and broke that marriage up for Matthew. Tom, her ex, was widowed when he married the much younger Josie. Tom has an adult daughter Dale who is the poster child fro Daddy's girl and destroys any relationship he tried to have with a woman., Elizabeth gave it all she could and left.
I know life is not fun or easy and can be messy at times, but the adults in this book needed to take lessons from young Rufus..
Families come in all different shapes and forms. This book follows a family broken up and how they try to move on, or not move on with their lives.
Nadine is left by her husband Matthew for Josie, a younger woman. She takes her anger for her husband out on her children. Josie was also married and broke that marriage up for Matthew. Tom, her ex, was widowed when he married the much younger Josie. Tom has an adult daughter Dale who is the poster child fro Daddy's girl and destroys any relationship he tried to have with a woman., Elizabeth gave it all she could and left.
I know life is not fun or easy and can be messy at times, but the adults in this book needed to take lessons from young Rufus..
June 15, 2008
My first Joanna Trollope. The book deals with several blended families . There are several families whose lives are influenced, if not ruled, by concern for their children.
We meet a school principal whose second marriage is strained by his children's rejection of his wife. The ex-wife is a drama queen who uses her children to punish her ex-husband.
The second wife's son by her first husband is a dear child to everyone. When his father begins a new relationship, his adult daughter from his first marriage tries to sabotage the new relationship.
We meet a school principal whose second marriage is strained by his children's rejection of his wife. The ex-wife is a drama queen who uses her children to punish her ex-husband.
The second wife's son by her first husband is a dear child to everyone. When his father begins a new relationship, his adult daughter from his first marriage tries to sabotage the new relationship.
August 17, 2016
I've read most if not all of Joanna Trollope's books, so obviously I quite like her style and the kind of stores she tells. This is one of my favorites of her books, full of real-seeming people and smart observations about human behavior, and in particular, blended families. I was especially struck by the difficult mother who goes to such lengths to be a martyr and the another parent who seems strong but is actually terribly weak. Trollope does a terrific job depicting the subtle interplay between personalities.
May 17, 2018
Probably 2.5 stars. I don't know why people love Joanna Trollope. This is my first book of hers and I found it pretty contrived. Most of the characters were overdone and there were far too many psuedo-psychoanalytic and preachy paragraphs spelling out her message. It did portray some of the possible complications of blended families and the stresses and strains of managing children's behaviours and new adult relationships through these transitions, but other than that I found it nothing more than a useful diversion while I coughed away at home sick on the couch.
June 14, 2011
I would rate this as 3.5 actually. Thought the complex emotions experienced by all characters in a split-family situation very true to life - except possibly for Dale who needed counselling. Tom felt he had to support his daughter in whatever way she elected, but the support should have been directed into professional counselling and strong loving advice from him, rather than letting her run his life, and so affect the happiness of Elizabeth, Rufus, Lucas and Amy as well as Tom.
March 20, 2009
A fasinating book if you are in or thinking about getting involved in a second relationship. It describes perfectly the trials and torment that one goes through whilst trying to breakthough all the emotions involved. Lots of pain barriers and plots.
Reading this book helped me realise I was not on my own and have passed the book on to several friends who are in the same position as I was.
Reading this book helped me realise I was not on my own and have passed the book on to several friends who are in the same position as I was.
September 27, 2012
Emotional but accurate portrayal of families struggling with divorce and stepfamily life, and the impact this has on kids. Wish the characters would get some basic counselling!
May 26, 2013
A keen observant of psychological and domestic details the author offers us a gripping read, a compelling heart-rending novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
December 15, 2016
Joanna Trollope is a very skilled author, she knows how to present round characters, but in theis book I found too many people, with too many issues, that it became a bit of an overload.
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January 18, 2020Heartrending. Compelling. Real. Read it. I read this novel years back - it was written in 1998 - and it stayed with me. I just ordered a copy and reread it. I've had many of my own stepmother moments in the interval. This book rang true to many of them. Even the title resonates - Other people's children. The unanticipated element in life, the part you didn't know you had signed up for.
The story lingers, somehow unfinished. You care about these people, you tear your hair out when they don't do the "right" thing. Sort of like Tolstoy's Anna Karinina or Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. You want to scream, "No, no, don't do that!" You desperately want to rewrite or expand the ending with solutions and remedies.
It goes fast because you can't tear yourself away, not because it is simple or light. Trollope's writing looks straightforward on the surface -- she doesn't fuss, but she sets the scene and the characters deftly, she describes just enough. She writes about real situations that middle class people face, without the novelistic devices of multiple gratuitous murders/dead bodies/sex scenes/violence. Domestic life is complex enough without any of that but most writers want to conform to some genre so that they can be in a bookstore category. Trollope just observes modern life and asks difficult questions about how we treat one another and what happens when we don't grow and learn. Without self-knowledge, people can't change and adapt.
Some of these characters, these so-real adults and the children who are their collateral damage, have been traumatized - including Tom when he lost his first wife and his small children screamed in agony (that's not a spoiler) - and they are stuck. They're British, this was written in the 1990's, so no, they haven't all got therapists and counselors. God knows, you want to give them some phone numbers. They don't tell themselves or each other some of the home truths that would help them move along, that you can see from your distance as a reader empowered with all the facts. They keep their hurts and feelings all to themselves, inside. And that makes them normal and fucked up. They suffer the consequences or sometimes, just sometimes, they work it out and so do the kids. And that's what makes it a good story. Who will be the ones who sort it out and how? And most of all, why?
The story lingers, somehow unfinished. You care about these people, you tear your hair out when they don't do the "right" thing. Sort of like Tolstoy's Anna Karinina or Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. You want to scream, "No, no, don't do that!" You desperately want to rewrite or expand the ending with solutions and remedies.
It goes fast because you can't tear yourself away, not because it is simple or light. Trollope's writing looks straightforward on the surface -- she doesn't fuss, but she sets the scene and the characters deftly, she describes just enough. She writes about real situations that middle class people face, without the novelistic devices of multiple gratuitous murders/dead bodies/sex scenes/violence. Domestic life is complex enough without any of that but most writers want to conform to some genre so that they can be in a bookstore category. Trollope just observes modern life and asks difficult questions about how we treat one another and what happens when we don't grow and learn. Without self-knowledge, people can't change and adapt.
Some of these characters, these so-real adults and the children who are their collateral damage, have been traumatized - including Tom when he lost his first wife and his small children screamed in agony (that's not a spoiler) - and they are stuck. They're British, this was written in the 1990's, so no, they haven't all got therapists and counselors. God knows, you want to give them some phone numbers. They don't tell themselves or each other some of the home truths that would help them move along, that you can see from your distance as a reader empowered with all the facts. They keep their hurts and feelings all to themselves, inside. And that makes them normal and fucked up. They suffer the consequences or sometimes, just sometimes, they work it out and so do the kids. And that's what makes it a good story. Who will be the ones who sort it out and how? And most of all, why?
January 29, 2019
An excellent novel, centred on "blended families", the problems and joys of step parenting and overcoming stereotypes about step mothers. An impossible task, as Elizabeth discovers in her relationship with Tom, the devastation suffered when a relationship breaks down, all of this adds up to a great read, complicated, dramatic, and impossible to understand, especially with stroppy teenagers at the heart of this, not to mention their mother, Nadine, who has her own emotional issues.
I became engrossed, reading as the various tales knitted together and then unraveled. The characters were well rounded, understandable, and easy for the reader to feel compassion for in their personal difficulties.
I liked Elizabeth and Josie I liked the teenagers, Matthew and Nadine's children, despite their behaving in a difficult way, being prone to tantrum, a lot of this was down to their loyalty to Nadine, who carried a lot of resentment.
A difficult read at times, but there were moments of happiness as Rufus built up a relationship with Elizabeth (his father's fiance).
Not the sort of book where there are neat, happy endings, but a great read for all that, as a family drama and a study of human nature.
This is the first book I have read by Joanna Trollope, and I will be looking out for more. I can recommend this.
I became engrossed, reading as the various tales knitted together and then unraveled. The characters were well rounded, understandable, and easy for the reader to feel compassion for in their personal difficulties.
I liked Elizabeth and Josie I liked the teenagers, Matthew and Nadine's children, despite their behaving in a difficult way, being prone to tantrum, a lot of this was down to their loyalty to Nadine, who carried a lot of resentment.
A difficult read at times, but there were moments of happiness as Rufus built up a relationship with Elizabeth (his father's fiance).
Not the sort of book where there are neat, happy endings, but a great read for all that, as a family drama and a study of human nature.
This is the first book I have read by Joanna Trollope, and I will be looking out for more. I can recommend this.
March 17, 2024
This was done in 10, 13-minute segments, read excellently by Penelope Wilton. (I often think the reader has played a critical role in how much I enjoyed the piece.) I have never been through any of the experiences described in this novel, but I could really feel the anguish and anxiety, and sympathized with all the characters. It seemed all very well presented, realistic, and not overly sentimental. I was a little confused at the end-- there seemed some loose ends. What happened with Dale? Her relationship with her father ended on a cliff hanger. And Nadine? Did she improve or should we expect to see her pushing a grocery cart down the street one day? When the series ended, I looked to see if there were more episodes, because so much had been left hanging. It's not unusual for an author to leave their story unresolved, but in this case it was like a TV series that the producers decided unexpectedly not to renew. Don't you hate it when that happens? (I'm looking at you, ITV and Home Fires.) Speaking of TV, I think this would make a great movie. Someone needs to look into that.
January 11, 2020
Given the topic of patchwork/dysfunctional families, I would never have thought that I would enjoy this novel so much - but I did. It is an absolutely truthful and honest account of the challenges and obstacles that newly created family ties bring and at that emotionally engaging. I could have screamed at Dale (to me the least likable character, even if I tried to sympathize and understand) and Nadine as well as the men who passively allowed things to happen, just because they are too comfortable in their old habits. It is not exactly beautifully written, but the narrative style matches the story very well and I also liked the jumps between the different strands of the plot. I deduct one star, because as such the topic is just not my favourite, but if you're into that kind of family narrative, it's definitely recommended.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews