Infidelity

by Ally Bunbury

Weary of her over-privileged life in London, Elodie Gold is struggling with a self-indulgent mother and a control freak boyfriend. As her artistic dreams go up in smoke, she is tempted to hop into bed with Luke Hampton, a heavenly American in hot pursuit. But fate has other ideas as an unexpected event compels Elodie to bolt to Bellamore, her grandfather’s mansion in the Irish countryside.

Times have changed. Once a shrine to tradition and elegance, Bellamore is now a crumbling world of romantic deceit and guilty secrets. How did it come to this? And can Elodie turn it around?

400 pages, Paperback

Published May 2, 2018

About the author

Born in 1976, ​​​Ally Bunbury was brought up with her three sisters, and a menagerie of animals, in County Monaghan. Following a serendipitous encounter at a dinner party, Ally landed a dream internship with a PR agency on New York's Fifth Avenue, which, in turn, led to a flourishing career in London and Dublin. Ally now runs her own PR company and continues to create dynamic media campaigns for her clients. She lives in County Carlow with her husband, the historian, Turtle Bunbury and their two daughters, Jemima and Bay. From their house, overlooking the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains, Ally wrote her debut novel, The Inheritance.

Reviews

[Ryan Ard]

Infidelity had way too much going on. Every single character has problems of epic proportions. Not your "Wow, I owe $20,000 in student loans" or "My mother and I have not spoken in months because a misunderstanding" problems but "My wife is having an affair with my dad" or "My mom has emptied my thousands of dollar bank account to $0 because she is mad at me" problems. These are only two examples of the insane problems that it seems like every character has. It is almost if the book was written to have the most exaggerated issues of any family of all time. I mean, the Bluths from Arrested Development pale in comparison to these characters. On top of all of the coincidentally huge problems that everyone has, the book is tied up in a perfect little bow at the end. Every character learns his or her lesson, years and years of slights are instantly forgiven, etc. Instead of growing, the character instantly morph into the polished, changed, best possible self.

I enjoyed the interaction between characters but I could not get past the outrageous problems and how perfectly and easily they were solved on the last page of the book.

[Daria Blackwell]

A fast-paced, zany and entertaining read, with beautifully described settings, interesting characters and their plethora of issues that thrust them into some hilarious predicaments. England-reared Elodie Gold is a lost soul if ever there was one. She wants to be an artist, her domineering mother wants her to be a good wife to a wealthy bully, her father committed suicide, but Elodie doesn't know how to make the first move to take control of her own life. She can't hold down a job and suffers from low self-esteem. Until she ditches the controlling boyfriend, meets an American hunk - the perfect match, and jumps in to save her brother.

Elodie organises a move to Ireland where she and her brother can escape their mother's clutches and find refuge with their estranged grandfather and mysterious aunt. But the estate is not what they remembered - the old house is crumbling, there's no water, no money, and everything seems to be ready to collapse.

Suddenly, everything comes together. The brother's new baby is the galvanizing center of attention that brings everyone closer, including the brother's girlfriend and her parents as well as Elodie's own mother.

I kept waiting to see how the 'infidelity' comes into play and it jumped out from the pages without warning. All the intrigue finally made sense - the house was saved and so were all of its inhabitants. If you want an easy read and a bit of escapism for the beach, this is the one for this summer.

[John]

I received a copy of this book from the author, and submit this review both honestly and voluntary.

For me, it was the wrong type of book. This is a cozy Romance novel. With the blurb saying that the central characters would be visiting long lost eccentric relatives in Ireland, I was expecting a bit of humour. I was disappointed, and stopped reading about 40% through - I have more promising books to read.

If this is the type of book you read, give a try.