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BUNKING IN
Sylvia rattles around in a house she can’t bear to sell and Cecily is unhappy where she lives. Surely it makes sense for them to bunk in together again? After all, they did when they were twenty, so why not at seventy?
So, Cecily takes the plunge, scoops up her cat and moves in. But her heart soon sinks when the flamboyant, yet compassionate Sylvia extends the invitation to Samer, a refugee from war-torn Syria and his two motherless boys.
Suddenly flung together, is its possible for such a diverse, hotchpotch of people to live harmoniously under one roof.
Happily, having new young blood around the house gives these two genteel ladies a renewed zest for life and both soon rise to the challenge of nurturing their newfound cubs.
But life isn’t always a picnic for Samer as the pain and conflict in his heart often threatens to overwhelm him.
What choice should he make to give his boys the life they should have, without hurting their two, irreplaceable, ‘English Mums?’
So, Cecily takes the plunge, scoops up her cat and moves in. But her heart soon sinks when the flamboyant, yet compassionate Sylvia extends the invitation to Samer, a refugee from war-torn Syria and his two motherless boys.
Suddenly flung together, is its possible for such a diverse, hotchpotch of people to live harmoniously under one roof.
Happily, having new young blood around the house gives these two genteel ladies a renewed zest for life and both soon rise to the challenge of nurturing their newfound cubs.
But life isn’t always a picnic for Samer as the pain and conflict in his heart often threatens to overwhelm him.
What choice should he make to give his boys the life they should have, without hurting their two, irreplaceable, ‘English Mums?’
254 pages, Paperback
Published October 6, 2022
About the author
Clare Cassy
8 books2 followersI was born in Guildford and went to a convent boarding school (yes, really!) when I was about twelve. (Invaluable experience in prepping you for the joys or otherwise, of flat-sharing in later life).
I left there at sixteen and went to a mixed, sixth-form college where I did my A levels. (A big shock after attending an all girls school - boys in the class, how unnerving).
After A levels, I lived and worked as an au-pair girl in Paris for a year. On my return to England, I did a good, old fashioned secretarial course which led me to jobs in advertising and film production.
Having always written since I could hold a pencil, I trained as an advertising copywriter and worked in advertising for a while, writing radio, press and trade ads. From there, I moved on to magazine journalism ( a job I still do, writing feature stories for various women's magazines).
Writing novels now seems to be a natural progression for me.
I left there at sixteen and went to a mixed, sixth-form college where I did my A levels. (A big shock after attending an all girls school - boys in the class, how unnerving).
After A levels, I lived and worked as an au-pair girl in Paris for a year. On my return to England, I did a good, old fashioned secretarial course which led me to jobs in advertising and film production.
Having always written since I could hold a pencil, I trained as an advertising copywriter and worked in advertising for a while, writing radio, press and trade ads. From there, I moved on to magazine journalism ( a job I still do, writing feature stories for various women's magazines).
Writing novels now seems to be a natural progression for me.
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July 10, 2023I'll admit I picked this one up mainly for the narrator. Initially, the story starts off like a cosy mystery – you've got two elderly women who move in together. They're old friends who had lived together in their youth before losing touch. For the first quarter or so, I was hooked.
I knew from the description that a family of refugees would be moving in; however, once that happens, the story veers off course. The first 25% or so is told from Celcily's perspective and reads very much like the setup to a cosy mystery. Once Samer moves in, the perspective starts head-hopping all over the place. And from this point onwards, aside from a cringe-worthy white-saviour narrative, the story doesn't really know what it wants to be.
The quality of the writing is decent but this desperately needed a thorough developmental edit, a critical line edit, and a sensitivity read.
I knew from the description that a family of refugees would be moving in; however, once that happens, the story veers off course. The first 25% or so is told from Celcily's perspective and reads very much like the setup to a cosy mystery. Once Samer moves in, the perspective starts head-hopping all over the place. And from this point onwards, aside from a cringe-worthy white-saviour narrative, the story doesn't really know what it wants to be.
The quality of the writing is decent but this desperately needed a thorough developmental edit, a critical line edit, and a sensitivity read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review