(Image Source, Authors Own)
The deets:
Author: Jane Elmor
Pages: 406
Publish Date: 2009
Publisher: Pan
Genre: Fiction
The story starts with Luna, a thirty something free-spirited artist, who after going to her father's funeral wants to understand why her mother, Angie, left him behind. In addition, Luna starts to question the decisions she has made regarding her lifestyle (living the dream as an artist but struggling to make ends meet and actively choosing not to have children) which is the defining theme in the book. As the story develops we see the reason why Angie left Dave, learn about her life on a welsh commune, Luna questioning herself as a woman and we are introduced to a young mother Nat. Nat is trying to build a good life for her children despite the fact she is a young mother who mixes with the wrong crowd. The story is told from three angles, Luna in the present, Angie in the 1970's and Nat in the late 1990's.
I really enjoyed the book, so much so I have reread it a few times. The hippy 1960's/ 1970's era really interests me and always has done. Therefore, I found Angie's chapters detailing life on the commune to be the best and most appealing to me. Luna was just quite moany after a while and that started to grate with me. However this I felt was meant to be deliberate by the author. Nat didn't need to be in the book, I much rather had more chapters about Angie's life on the commune than Nat's chapters. So I found myself flicking through those parts quite quickly. As there was no connection between Nat and Luna and Angie both (apart from the children and them being women) it felt fragmented and found myself skipping over those parts. Although it all came together in the end and the book ended well. It left me hoping there is an Angie spin off!
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