I am delighted today to bring to you my review of Lucy Diamond’s latest novel. As a long standing fan, having discovered her work around 5 years ago, I was thrilled to get a copy of this book from Netgalley. I would like to thank Pan MacMillan for authorising my request and letting me read this book.
Blurb: It’s a beautiful day in Manchester and four friends are meeting for a birthday lunch. But then they witness a shocking accident just metres away which acts as a catalyst for each of them.
For Laura, it’s a wake-up call to heed the ticking of her biological clock. Sensible Jo finds herself throwing caution to the wind in a new relationship. Eve, who has been trying to ignore the worrying lump in her breast, feels helpless and out of control. And happy-go-lucky India is drawn to one of the victims of the accident, causing long-buried secrets to rise to the surface.
This is a novel about the startling and unexpected turns life can take. It’s about luck – good and bad – and about finding bravery and resilience when your world is in turmoil. Above all, it’s about friendship, togetherness and hope.
My Rating: 4/5
Review: Having an unexpected weekend off and needing something quite different from the book I had just finished, Hydra, I chose this as my next read. I was excited about the release of this book, being aware before Christmas that it would be out in January and I wasn’t disappointed.
The story starts off perfectly normally with 4 friends meeting up for a birthday celebration but then, while they are there, they witness a van crash that barely misses them. The suddenness of the crash and the outcome of it highlights different aspects of the friends lives that they are unhappy with, avoiding or hiding. This story is about them dealing with these issues, how they deal with them and what the outcome of that is.
Life can change in an instant. I know this as I have experienced it myself so I understand completely how it makes you reconsider your own life and any aspects of it that you aren’t 100% happy with. Despite having 4 main characters, all of whom are different and lead different lives, I felt that the shock and personal consequences of such a dramatic incident were handled well. The incident and it’s consequences were never downplayed or dismissed and it was clear that it affected each person differently, as it would were it real.
I really enjoyed watching the characters change and grow through the story but I did find it a little confusing sometimes as to who was who when the story changed character. In addition to the 4 main characters there were family members, work colleagues and other friends or people mentioned and I think that perhaps there were just a few too many for the story.
While there is an ending for the story it is done in a way that fits with real life, there is an end point but you can see that the characters lives will continue although we will not be reading about them anymore. It’s like the reader is dropped into their lives for a period of time to see how they cope in the aftermath of the van crash and is then plucked out when they no longer need to see, like Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee leaving when they are no longer needed.
Despite the changes, some very significant, happening in their lives I loved that the little every day things such as dishwashers and ironing were not forgotten about. While this is a story of change it doesn’t forget that while some things change other things like ironing clothes will always remain a necessary part of life. I also enjoyed reading about a group of people of similar ages to me whose lives are all different and not perfect. It made a nice change to the projected images of the perfect life or weekend that are see in social media and in magazines.
All in all this is an excellent book from an excellent author. If you’re a fan of Lucy Diamond then you will enjoy this and if you’ve not read her books before then this is definitely a good place to start. Be warned though, you will need tissues to hand particularly in the second half of the book.
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