This is a story of family, of love, of loss and of the devastation that a terminal and debilitating disease has on the patient and those close to them.
When Jonathan Coulter left his wife and adult children for a younger woman the whole family were devastated. Much of the blame landed in the lap of Megan, the new girlfriend. Jonathan’s haughty ex wife Eloise and her feuding children Liv, Noah and Chloe have complex relationships between themselves and with each of their parents.
A MND diagnosis leaves Jonathan becoming increasingly frail and when he suddenly dies leaving a complex set of instructions for his children to follow, it seems he is looking at them from beyond the grave to heal and decide who will inherit what.
The writing style is excellent and the story carries you along, making you in turn find out about each of the characters and drops small clues about them and why they are the complex people portrayed in the book. As the story develops you find out why Jonathan made his final requests and see how his family adjust to their new roles and try and deal in their own way with his death.
There is also the mention of assisted suicide and although this is not explored fully it is touched upon and towards the end of the story we see that Jonathan’s carer Lisa may have helped him and others to make their final journey. I felt that this could have been explored a little more and her story expanded a bit further as she was a character I wanted to know more about.
I felt quite an emotional response from reading this book. At a time when we have all suffered with huge changes to the way we live our lives and for many, including myself, loss of a parent it was a tough but thoroughly enjoyable read and one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to others.
Thank you to readers first, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
When Jonathan Coulter left his wife and adult children for a younger woman the whole family were devastated. Much of the blame landed in the lap of Megan, the new girlfriend. Jonathan’s haughty ex wife Eloise and her feuding children Liv, Noah and Chloe have complex relationships between themselves and with each of their parents.
A MND diagnosis leaves Jonathan becoming increasingly frail and when he suddenly dies leaving a complex set of instructions for his children to follow, it seems he is looking at them from beyond the grave to heal and decide who will inherit what.
The writing style is excellent and the story carries you along, making you in turn find out about each of the characters and drops small clues about them and why they are the complex people portrayed in the book. As the story develops you find out why Jonathan made his final requests and see how his family adjust to their new roles and try and deal in their own way with his death.
There is also the mention of assisted suicide and although this is not explored fully it is touched upon and towards the end of the story we see that Jonathan’s carer Lisa may have helped him and others to make their final journey. I felt that this could have been explored a little more and her story expanded a bit further as she was a character I wanted to know more about.
I felt quite an emotional response from reading this book. At a time when we have all suffered with huge changes to the way we live our lives and for many, including myself, loss of a parent it was a tough but thoroughly enjoyable read and one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to others.
Thank you to readers first, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.