Mum’s the word
Even happy families have their deep, dark secrets
While I love a twisty novel as much as anyone, stories about ordinary people dealing with normal life events can be equally compelling. Their hopes and heartbreaks, the secrets they hide from one another and the challenges they face all add up to a lot of story.
Joanna Trollope used to be the queen of what was dubbed the “Aga saga” – producing novels about mostly middle-class folk navigating their lives. But these days she has some hot competition. Best-selling author Erica James writes similarly absorbing family dramas. This one is about 63-year-old Naomi Miller and her two grown-up daughters, Martha and Willow.
Naomi has been recreating herself after the sudden death of her husband Colin, a powerful personality and always the life of the party. She has stayed in the family home, Anchor House, because she loves its seaside setting, but there have been other changes, in particular a rekindled romance with her neighbour Ellis.
As close as she is to her daughters, Naomi isn’t ready to tell them about this new relationship. She is well aware that Martha, who is very like her father, is likely to be hostile. But also, there are things about her marriage that she has never admitted to her girls.
Meanwhile, Martha is struggling to get pregnant.
And scatter-brained Willow has finally met a man who seems to be a good influence – at least at first – but she too is keeping something hidden.
In Mothers and Daughters, the stories of the three Miller
women are woven together with secrets and lies, tensions and truths. Its themes are sensitively explored, its characters mostly realistic and relatable, and the plot largely grounded in reality – apart from one character I found unconvincing and a loose end that is quickly tied up.
A multi-generational read designed to be enjoyed by mothers and daughters.