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Seven Stops:
Friendships don't come with ground rules...
Anna is persuaded into child minding Jack by his mother Meera, who then leaves the railway station in disguise and disappears. As Anna reassesses and reconnects with her past, the cracks in her world, once papered over by ordered life of routine and sacrifice, become visible and threatening. Then Jack goes missing and the truth becomes known amidst tragedy and new beginnings.
About the Author:
Robyn Cain came to Britain in the sixties with her mother. After spending her childhood in the south of England she married and moved to the North, finally settling in Cheshire. Her dreams of becoming a writer came alive after her children were born. Since then she’s got a first class honours degree in English, completed her MA in Creative Writing and trained as a teacher whilst balancing work, home and children.
With very little actual free time, Robyn completed her first novel, Seven Stops, taking precisely seven years to write it. Now the children need her less she is playing catch up. As well as two published novels, she is currently editing a crime thriller. Amongst her future plans, she has drafts of three other novels in the pipeline.
Anna is persuaded into child minding Jack by his mother Meera, who then leaves the railway station in disguise and disappears. As Anna reassesses and reconnects with her past, the cracks in her world, once papered over by ordered life of routine and sacrifice, become visible and threatening. Then Jack goes missing and the truth becomes known amidst tragedy and new beginnings.
About the Author:
Robyn Cain came to Britain in the sixties with her mother. After spending her childhood in the south of England she married and moved to the North, finally settling in Cheshire. Her dreams of becoming a writer came alive after her children were born. Since then she’s got a first class honours degree in English, completed her MA in Creative Writing and trained as a teacher whilst balancing work, home and children.
With very little actual free time, Robyn completed her first novel, Seven Stops, taking precisely seven years to write it. Now the children need her less she is playing catch up. As well as two published novels, she is currently editing a crime thriller. Amongst her future plans, she has drafts of three other novels in the pipeline.
274 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 13, 2017
...SEVEN STOPS is a marvellously deceptive story... I have seldom read a novel which begins almost as if I'd picked it up by mistake and wandered into someone else's domestic situation... the ease with which the author establishes the base line of several themes is well done... the love-hate 'friends' relationship between two Indian women who have chosen to build their lives in the UK, away from their customary family environments, sets a tone that oozes throughout the book... the illegitimate son of Meera plays a central role, being one of the emotional pawns with which the selfish Meera manipulates Anna... but that's just the beginning of the superb scene setting... chapter after chapter becomes addictive as layer after layer of intrigue and intimacy are peeled back... there is enough romance, sex, drama and downright cheating as the behavior of the separate characters unfolds... no spoiler here, but it's pointless to attempt to guess the outcomes, and there are several involved, as twists and turns jump from the pages... a fascinating reflection on a supposedly fictional story, which could easily be all too credible... I'm not big on endings which leave doubts in the reader's mind as to what happens next, but I make an exception in this instance... the unsaid threads at the conclusion are delicious and would lead to anticipation of any sequel... well done Robyn Cain...
April 19, 2021
If you like murder mysteries, then this is the book for you!
It kept me guessing to the end - and beyond! All the main characters are well-drawn and I found myself particularly challenged and stimulated as the secretive world of one of the main characters unravelled in this fast-moving plot. In fact, I soon found myself having to don my amateur detective hat as the author skilfully led me along all the twists and turns created by that character and read with growing fascination all the affects her machinations had on the lives of those around her. Insights into the worlds of education, prostitution and Indian culture all go towards making an unusual and interesting mix. As the title suggests, the word Seven is significant and crops up in various guises throughout the plot. Actually, I'm still thinking about where and how... A very good read!
It kept me guessing to the end - and beyond! All the main characters are well-drawn and I found myself particularly challenged and stimulated as the secretive world of one of the main characters unravelled in this fast-moving plot. In fact, I soon found myself having to don my amateur detective hat as the author skilfully led me along all the twists and turns created by that character and read with growing fascination all the affects her machinations had on the lives of those around her. Insights into the worlds of education, prostitution and Indian culture all go towards making an unusual and interesting mix. As the title suggests, the word Seven is significant and crops up in various guises throughout the plot. Actually, I'm still thinking about where and how... A very good read!
December 13, 2015
Brutally realistic, gripping portrayal of adult love, friendship and betrayal
I slipped into this story as into a conversation with neighbours, getting to know them and their relationships, judging them dysfunctional, and smug about my own life. There is a lot of sexual detail in the revelations, giving the reader that 'No! She didn't!' sneaky enjoyment. All the sexual descriptions are essential to the book’s themes, and written with the same truth to character as underlies the whole book. My smugness didn’t last long as I was put in Ana’s shoes, made to suffer for every kind gesture in a world where naivete and generosity seem to be crimes. Two-thirds of the way through the book, the dark undertones led to a horribly credible act of violence.
By this stage I needed to know what happened to these people I had come to know. Robyn Cain has a real talent for getting inside somebody’s head and the manipulative Meera is just as three-dimensional as the sympathetic Ana and Max. The fascination of Meera’s life as a prostitute, for the ‘nice’ women who cross her path (not to mention the fascination of the not-so-nice men!), is one of the dark mysteries of human nature that the author shows us, without telling us what to think.
All the characters are real to me and the way Robyn Cain shows us Jack as both the child from hell and the pitiful pup who needs love and security, is very well done. I like the multiple viewpoints as a way of carrying the story forward and challenging those judgements the reader can easily slip into. The British Asian backgrounds of Meera and Ana add a richness to their choices – and a lot of pain. If you break with your family over love of a man, who do you turn to when your Mum was right, and he’s abusive? Sometimes, it seems that all men are abusive – but then there’s Max.
This is sophisticated storytelling from a talented author. My only disappointment was that the bombshell waiting in Meera’s house has not been discovered by the end of the book. In this instance, I don’t think the notion of it being Book 1 of a series works. I think that part of the story had to be discovered in this book, even if misinterpreted by the authorities. There are also minor irritations in the way of malapropisms and awkward adverbs but nothing that interferes with a very powerful book.
I slipped into this story as into a conversation with neighbours, getting to know them and their relationships, judging them dysfunctional, and smug about my own life. There is a lot of sexual detail in the revelations, giving the reader that 'No! She didn't!' sneaky enjoyment. All the sexual descriptions are essential to the book’s themes, and written with the same truth to character as underlies the whole book. My smugness didn’t last long as I was put in Ana’s shoes, made to suffer for every kind gesture in a world where naivete and generosity seem to be crimes. Two-thirds of the way through the book, the dark undertones led to a horribly credible act of violence.
By this stage I needed to know what happened to these people I had come to know. Robyn Cain has a real talent for getting inside somebody’s head and the manipulative Meera is just as three-dimensional as the sympathetic Ana and Max. The fascination of Meera’s life as a prostitute, for the ‘nice’ women who cross her path (not to mention the fascination of the not-so-nice men!), is one of the dark mysteries of human nature that the author shows us, without telling us what to think.
All the characters are real to me and the way Robyn Cain shows us Jack as both the child from hell and the pitiful pup who needs love and security, is very well done. I like the multiple viewpoints as a way of carrying the story forward and challenging those judgements the reader can easily slip into. The British Asian backgrounds of Meera and Ana add a richness to their choices – and a lot of pain. If you break with your family over love of a man, who do you turn to when your Mum was right, and he’s abusive? Sometimes, it seems that all men are abusive – but then there’s Max.
This is sophisticated storytelling from a talented author. My only disappointment was that the bombshell waiting in Meera’s house has not been discovered by the end of the book. In this instance, I don’t think the notion of it being Book 1 of a series works. I think that part of the story had to be discovered in this book, even if misinterpreted by the authorities. There are also minor irritations in the way of malapropisms and awkward adverbs but nothing that interferes with a very powerful book.
October 8, 2014
I was really enjoying this book - have had to add it onto Goodreads BTW - but then suddenly it just stopped. I have since read 7 v positive reviews on Amazon.co.uk and 1 saying the same as me on the US site - mine is from the US site too. Perhaps there is a problem with the edition? It was sooooooo unresolved - I was really enjoying the characters with their many faults, flaws and strengths. The story was interesting and suddenly getting very interesting, coming up to a telling and involving climax...when as I say I turned the page to find no more.
Very disappointed.
Very disappointed.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews