An excellent mix of real people in different families, immediately engaging my interest. Caroline Bond has a marvellous talent for producing proper 'onion' people (especially her female characters) with layers of history and secrets and rich personality behind the social facade. And they change and develop as they are affected by the life events and dilemmas the writer wraps around them.
Caroline Bond is writing in the same sub-genre as Jodi Picoult and Amanda Prowse. I imagine they spot a couple of inches of local story in a newspaper and use that seed to sprout a whole scenario and all the people who could be affected, exploring all avenues in every nuance. It sounds tiring and may be so for the writer but as a reader you fall into the story and are thoroughly caught up right to the last page.
Quite unbelievably good for a debut novel!
Caroline Bond is writing in the same sub-genre as Jodi Picoult and Amanda Prowse. I imagine they spot a couple of inches of local story in a newspaper and use that seed to sprout a whole scenario and all the people who could be affected, exploring all avenues in every nuance. It sounds tiring and may be so for the writer but as a reader you fall into the story and are thoroughly caught up right to the last page.
Quite unbelievably good for a debut novel!