Three landmark birthdays make for a heart-warming and life-affirming read
Since she burst onto the scene more than 20 years ago with her debut, Woman to Woman, Cathy Kelly has become hugely successful, with a global following and millions of books in print.
Some years ago, Kelly knocked Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code off the number one slot, and she made it into the list of best-selling authors of the decade in 2009. In the intervening years, she has continued to produce best-sellers, most recently Secrets of a Happy Marriage.
For her 19th novel, Kelly focuses on three women, all strangers to each other but who share a birthday on a day which will completely change their lives.
Only one of them is expecting change.
After years of failed fertility treatments,
Sam is finally pregnant with doting husband, Ted. But when she gives birth to baby India on her 40th birthday, Sam is terrified she won’t be up to the task and will be a bad mother, just like her own distant mum. For Callie, it’s her 50th and her controlling husband Jason has organised a huge celebrity-filled party at their large mansion — a far cry from their working-class roots.
Former model Callie spends her life shopping, having expensive salon treatments and worrying about their teenage daughter Poppy’s sense of entitlement and taste for luxury. Callie can’t wait for the party to be over, but is shocked when it ends unexpectedly with a visit from the fraud squad and Jason doing a runner.
Poppy and Callie are left without a penny to their name. Their housekeeper, Brenda, takes them into her small house, but, hounded by the media, Callie has only one option: she has to return home to Ballyglen and the family she hasn’t seen in 10 years.
Probably the most endearing character is Ginger. Funny and clever but full of self-doubt, she is overweight and has never had a boyfriend. It’s her 30th birthday and also her best friend Liza’s wedding.
When a friend of the groom pays her attention, she is thrilled until she overhears Liza disparaging her looks and weight. Humiliated and devastated, she spends her 30th birthday night at home alone.
Fans will delight in the familiar themes and sensitivity which run through Kelly’s novels — whether it’s opulence and poverty, overcoming heartbreak and loss, or the always wise and kindly aunt figure who helps show protagonists the way. Life-affirming and heart-warming.