Interesting family saga - Rated 
I'm not going to write a synopsis of this book as the other reviewers have already done so very thoroughly.
It's an interesting saga of a disfunctional family, some of whom aren't even related by blood at all, and how when money appears on the scene, as in a relative's will, all the grasping knives come out.
Throughout, I think we root for the unfortunate and snubbed Lou, who is the only one of the family who really needs the money. She really, apart from her somewhat weak father and her put-upon mother, is the only really likeable character in her family.
The only thing I thought that was really wrong with the book, is that the real love interest for Lou is thrown in almost at the end of the book and we are led to believe that they are then moving in together, happily ever after, after only just meeting; somewhat implausible that. This character should have been introduced earlier and the not going anywhere romance with Harry (is it Harry? -can't quite remember now) should have been cut short.
The best sort of escapism - Rated 
It's a horribly rainy summer and a book to lose yourself in is really in order. This is that book. I will admit to plonking my children in front of yet another DVD of Tom and Jerry in order to get on with the important thing in life - finding out what was going to happen to Lou and Nessa and Phyl and Matt. It also has the added advantage of reminding you of other books that you've enjoyed - those wartime stories of Nevil Shute and Marghanita Laski. An audio version would be welcome.
A gem of a family saga - Rated
Once again Adele Geras has created a fascinating and rewarding family saga. She is the mistress of the genre. The focus of the story is Lou, granddaughter of Constance Barrington, a spiteful matriach who decides, on her deathbed, to leave to Lou only her grandfathers novels. The books - written in the 1960s and long out of print - are a seemingly worthless inheritance. But when Lou begins to read one of the books which her grandfather used to read to her when she was a child, she realises that there is more to it than mere fiction.
This is a hugely satisfying read.
Another magically absorbing and satisfying read... - Rated
The fantastic Adele Geras has done it again! Her latest adult novel, a wonderfully absorbing and satisfying family drama, is as rich and exciting as its predecessors. Set around the blended Barrington family--Matt and Phyl, his second wife, who have a 22 year old daughter called Louise, and two older stepchildren, Justin and Vanessa, who are not related to them by blood but are the biological children of Matt's feckless first wife, sex-bomb Ellie--it starts with the reading of the will of Constance Barrington, Matt's mother, and a right old cow, it has to be said, who makes sure even in death that her selfish, cruel whims can set the cat amongst the pigeons. Handsome, reckless, spivvy Justin(the only one of the family we don't really get to know)gets the very valuable house; spoilt, unhappy Nessa gets the estate; and Louise, known as Lou, whom Constance despised, ends up just with the copyright to her late grandfather's books. John Barrington, Constance's husband, was a novelist whose books, though published didn't do well, and are now right out of print. Lou and everyone else knows that Constance has intended to belittle her in death as in life; but Lou, a struggling single mother with an abusive relationship behind her,and who works for a small film production company as a script reader, dearly loved her grandfather and makes the best of it. At least, she reasons, she'll be able to hear him again through his books, especially his novel Blind Moon, based on his experiences as a child in a Japanese POW camp in Borneo. So taken is she with this novel that she decides to write a screenplay..and then, from out of the blue, a publisher called Jake Golden contacts her to find out if she would agree to the reissuing of her grandfather's books. Soon, the legacy that was supposed to show contempt for her, begins to pay rather more dividends, in all kinds of ways, than anyone could have expected..
Meanwhile, Ellie has her rapacious eye on Matt again, much to Phyl's anguish, Nessa has her life turned upside down and discovers a whole new and exciting side to herself, and Justin--well, you'll have to read the book!
Engagingly, intelligently and grippingly written, this is a novel of family secrets and sorrows, and of how the past can reach out for us not only painfully, but joyously, too. It's a real page-turner, and I found it very hard to put down. Gloriously life-affirming, it's also compassionate, funny and moving. Highly recommended.
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