Charades

by Jean Stubbs

A heart-warming Christmas family saga! Perfect for fans of Fern Britton, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Sarah Morgan and Lucy Coleman.Can Christmas in the countryside heal the rifts in the Malpas family?Fearing that her family is drifting apart, Sybil Malpas decides to gather them together for Christmas at Minions, their beloved Cornish holiday home.With unresolved tension between her husband and eldest daughter, Blanche , Sybil must act as peacemaker to ensure that everything runs smoothly.But when three uninvited guests turn up on Christmas Eve, the household is thrown into turmoil.And as more and more painful secrets come to light, each family member is forced to drop the veneer of holiday spirit to confront the trauma of their past…Charades is a moving holiday family saga, set in the English countryside during the 1980s.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Aka Emma Darby

Jean was born in Lancashire and educated in Manchester. She has written many novels and short stories for magazines and collections, several of which have been adapted for radio and television. She has lived for more than twenty years in a cottage in Cornwall, England, with her husband.

Reviews

[Mystica · Rating 4 out of 5]

1989 Christmas in the Malpas family. A reunion of sorts. The family is gravely dysfunctional and it does not augur well to have them around - together - for a very long time.

The addition of three unexpected visitors does not add to the harmony. Blanche the eldest daughter has a baby and the father is unknown to the immediate family and Blanche wants to keep it that way. She wanted a baby and now that she has one that is all she wants. We have Lydia the youngest bringing Freddie home (a lady) and it is obvious from the start that their relationship is an intimate one. Not to the parents who live in a world of their own. We then have their only son with an estranged wife turning up, wanting to resolve permanently the rift in their marriage and talk about divorce and custody of two very very interesting children.

It was a family story more than a Christmassy one but it was interesting nevertheless. A lot of cross currents, personality clashes galore but all adding to the story and the way it turned out.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley, Jean Stubbs and Sapere Books for the book Charades. This is my personal review.
What I was expecting and what I got from reading this book were not even close to being the same thing.
From the description I read on the cover of it being a heart-warming Christmas saga made me eager to read this book. What I got was a strange dysfunctional family saga that in no way for me was heart-warming. It was a difficult book for me to read.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charades is right! Family drama is at the forefront here...you couldn't possibly find more if you tried. Whilst very interesting, in my opinion it was just too much, too unbelievable to be plausible. Each person has a history with deep pain attached. That's fine but their treatment of each other is appalling and resolution seems insincere. They are adults, after all.

In 1989 Cornwall. Sybil invites her adult kids and grandchildren over for a Christmas get together. Sounds normal, right? Wrong. Not with this family. It doesn't take long for them to be at each other's throats in a big way. To compound matters, three uninvited guests show up to a party Sybil hosts which throws things into even more turmoil. It's a full house full of nasty vibes and uncomfortable angst. What is realistic is that the characters are flawed. Though well written, I wasn't engaged or connected, just sort of on edge and felt for the innocent kids. I am glad that each person's history was explained, not that it endeared me any more.

Though not my cup of tea, it may be yours if you are in the mood for a dysfunctional Christmas read. I don't require feel good books but this made me itchy. However, I do recommend other books by this author.

My sincere thank you to Sapere Books and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charades by Jean Stubbs
Publisher: Sapere Books
Genre: Historical Fiction | Romance | Women's Fiction
Release Date: November 24, 2020

Charades is a standalone novel by Jean Stubbs. This is the first book I've read by the author.

If you are looking for a dysfunctional family Christmas story, this is the book for you. Set in Cornwall in 1989, this story recounts a Christmas reunion that quickly turns into chaos.

There was a lot of unpacking of trauma that occurred for the characters in this book and may offer some comfort to some readers.

I'm so grateful to Jean Stubbs, Sapere Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

[Sally Coles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Cornwall in 1989 Sylvia invites her grown up children for Christmas and as soon as they arrive the tensions start as old hurts and squabbles rise to the surface, not helped by the unexpected guests! Can Sylvia get them through and mend all of the old rifts?

An interesting story, not the cosy Christmas story I was expecting, but the story of a completely dysfunctional family who have many buried grievances that all come out..... as no doubt in many families who all get together for Christmas!