Life Begins: Ii's Never Too Late To Start Your Life Again

by Amanda Brookfield

If Life Begins at Forty, then Charlotte Turner's not off to the best of starts. On top of a recent divorce, and trouble with her twelve-year-old son, the husband of her closest friend has just started to show a bit too much interest in her as a newly-single woman.

But only when Charlotte has faced up to some uncomfortable truths about her past can she finally shed the unhappy skin she's been so comfortable in, and open up her life – and her heart – to all the promise and possibility that her future holds.

Is life, for Charlotte, about to begin at last...?

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Family

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

I have two elder sisters and a twin brother who is much quieter than me and with much longer legs. Our Dad was in the Foreign Office so we spent our childhood living in far-flung places like Shanghai and Stockholm. In fact, until the age of 32 I had never spent more than 3 years under the same roof...it's left me with the opposite of 'itchy feet'.
I fell in love with writing aged 11 when my class was asked to write a ghost story - that thrill of being able to make it all up! Studying English at Oxford was a dream come true, but then real life got in the way and I started a career in advertising, climbing the greasy pole for four years, helping sell washing powder and cold remedies.
Aged 25, I got the chance to go and live in Argentina. I left advertising, set myself up as a freelance journalist and wrote my first novel,'Alice Alone' which was published (to critical acclaim!) in 1989. I haven't stopped,or looked back, since.
I am now published by Penguin. At the last count I had produced fifteen novels and two sons. There will be no more offspring, but lots of books I hope.

Reviews

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do wish publishers would stop putting stickers on books declaring ‘Guaranteed great Read or your money back.’ Why? Because it is misleading and builds up expectations about a book, yet too often they are not a great read in my opinion at all. In this case the book was an okay read but far from great. I struggled to relate to the character of Charlotte at all. In fact she pretty much lost me when she left her son, Sam with a babysitter she had not met on someone else’s recommendation. My other problem was with Charlotte’s whole attitude. Hardly surprising to me that her husband would look elsewhere when she made her son the love of her life, attention and focus from the time he was a baby. No child should ever be in that position that rightly belongs to the one you are married to. So yes, I had more than a few problems with this main character and not really sure why I kept reading. So the best I can say is it was okay.

[Lara]

My first Amanda Brookfield, and I enjoyed it. Nice and easy, thought provoking in places and made me laugh out loud in some places. I'm sure this won't be my last from this author.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Laborious

[Sue Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off liking this book, but then got bored as it seemed rather drawn out

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read although rather predictable, and some of the characterisation rather stereotypical. A good holiday read if looking for something light that you know will end up with a happy ending.

[Livija · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long sentences and chapters make it difficult to read. Very easy to lose the train of thought.
Also very predictable. Got me into a reading slump unfortunately

[Bev Shoesmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by Amanda Brookfield and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

[Jane Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good holiday read

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This piece of fiction was a hard slog, I managed a chapter a day. Not sure if it was the long sentences or the sentence structure that made it difficult for me to read. I felt as though I couldn't sink into it due to a slow, however, by chapter 12 or so it started to pick up and I found myself wanting to curl up in a chair to read what happens next. I felt transported by the rain outside my window and in the book but I couldn't envisage the English locations based on the brief descriptions. All I garnered was flowers and gloomy houses in need of repair.

I liked the time travel snippets into Charlotte's past and how it encroaches on the present (her mother telling her the truth about Reggie). I also enjoyed the perspectives of different characters like Theresa and Henry, her son Sam and Rose, Martin and Cindy and how they entwined with the main character. Although there was mention throughout of thoughts regarding the marriage ending I didn't get a real sense of the utter despair and clouded judgement that comes with a relationship ending. The book was a little too neat about it (Cindy's pregnancy) and predictable at times with Tom and Dominic. Although a few spanners were thrown in the works - did Eve write the note? No it was Lu!

If you're looking a a book you can pick up and put down because, you know, life gets in the way then this is a fine read. But if you want to curl up in a cosy chair or are on holidays and want to really sink your teeth into something this isn't it.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte is approaching her 40th birthday, and not finding life particularly easy. Her divorce from Martin has just been finalised, but she finds it difficult to see him with his new partner. And their 13-year-old son Sam is having a tough time at school, no doubt related to the breakup of his parents' marriage.

Charlotte would really like to make a new start so she puts her house on the market, and finds the house of her dreams... she also meets the estate agent Tim who seems to think that Charlotte may be the woman of his dreams. Her rather lost demeanor also attracts the attentions of her best friend's husband. Then her mother - whom she has always found difficult - has an accident...

While the plot revolves around Charlotte and her gradual acceptance of her circumstances, there are a lot of subplots in this book, and such a big cast of people that I often found myself forgetting who was whom. It's quite a long novel (nearly 400 pages) and I read it over a week, just a few chapters at a time, so it was difficult to keep track of - for instance - the names of the people who owned the bookshop where Charlotte worked, or her various friends and their spouses.

Still, I gradually warmed to the book and found it quite difficult to put down as I neared the end. Some of it was predictable, but there were a few surprises along the way; each chapter begins with a brief, first person account from Charlotte's past, in italics to distinguish it from the main text. I quite liked this device and felt it helped me to get to know her better. The one person I never liked was the estate agent.

Recommended to anyone who likes light women's fiction that's primarily character-based.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Printing full pages of text in ITALICS should be illegal. It drives me nuts and makes me feel ill. It looks awful and is actually painful to read, not to mention intensely irriating and more time consuming to read. This is vexingly bad book design. To have used a different font instead would have been an easy and far better solution. Italics should only ever be used for a single paragraph at most.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

somewhat predictable story of recently separated almost 40 year old woman. Not sure about the parts looking back to main characters childhood,might have been better to have separate chapters for these instead of a different typeface incorporated into parts dealing with a current event but that is obviously a personal preference and might not bother everyone.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a woman begin 40, divorced with a teenage son can be really good, but this one was just not deep enough. I found myself not caring at all about the caracters. What ever happened was fine enough for me.
This is a light read, ideal for the beach or the pool where you don't want to think to much :)

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only book I have read in a long while that lacked everything from story lines to like able characters. Very disappointing read. It was only curiosity as to how the author would tie up her many loose ends that made me persevere, the answer was mundanely.

[Neen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a rather disappointing read. The characters just didn't feel quite believable. The story line had potential but then resulted in a too predictable neat little bundle. I like happy endings but do not want them to be so apparently orchestrated.

[Camille · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pleasant predictable book that I plodded through about a woman nearing 40 recently separated dealing with life. Naturally she meets a very handsome recently widowed man!

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

Light, easy reading. A bit predictable, but perfect for a six-hour train commute.

[Els · Rating 1 out of 5]

Het las vlot, maar bleef niet hangen :-(

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know if I could mark this book as read. I started reading it, it was due back at the library, and it really didn't capture me enough to want to get it out again. 'Nuff said.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to get into but once it go going enjoyed the read.

[M.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

what an AMAZING book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! review to come

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging if lightweight read. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did.

[Leanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet but predictable story - chick lit about a hapless 40ish divorcee instead of a hapless 30ish singleton.

[Yoland Antill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this as a talking book in the car- an easy listen, a modern day Austen. Great

[Tracym · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok book. Nothing major to write home about. Not what I would call a page turner but just wanted to get to the end to finish the book more so than anything else.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

very predictable story line but an easy read

[Lesley Halliday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit meh! Didn't feel it had a good plot it wasn't exactly gripping just plodding along!!

[Zoe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this dull, clumsily written and irritating. There was no definitive plot to follow and no likeable characters - and I tried, I really did.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it!

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a long time to get into the book, the right guy win in the end!