Monday 5 August 2013

Life Begins ~ Amanda Brookfield

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, especially all the misconceptions she expected which were often not really there.  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. Nice easy read though I read it over a week,  the twists and turns got a bit long winded but on the whole enough suspense and mistakes made it interesting.


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. Once she had come to grips with the truth these little adjuncts to the story disappeared.  The one person I never liked was the estate agent.

Robyn S.

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