... In ‘Baggage’ one feels that we never really ‘know’ Lina. In fact she starts off as the main character at the beginning and soon takes a back seat to Larry and Sophie further on in the book.
However this is to be recommended, especially if you have a love of all things foreign and also ... Read review
Advantages: sun, Australia, good storyline Disadvantages: swearing
Having recently read ‘Cuban Heels’ by Emily Barr, I was quite keen to get my hands on the second book she’d written, which somehow had escaped me at the time it was first published. When I found out it featured Oz, it soon became top of my pile to read next!
* The plot *
Imagine this. Your name is Sophie, you’re a 29 year old female, travelling alone around Australia. You hit a small town and by pure chance you meet ... ...can scarcely believe it. This is your best friend from England, someone who disappeared from your life ten years ago, presumed dead. Her name was Daisy Fraser, but this woman says her name is Lina Pritchett. You know she’s lying, and is pretending not to recognise you but you want to know why she pretended to jump off the Severn Bridge after the death of several friends at a drugs party and left you mourning her ever since.
Having recently read ‘Cuban Heels’ by Emily Barr, I was quite keen to get my hands on the second book she’d written, which somehow had escaped me at the time it was first published. When I found out it featured Oz, it soon became top of my pile to read next!
* The plot *
Imagine this. Your name is Sophie, you’re a 29 year old female, travelling alone around Australia. You hit a small town and by pure chance you meet a woman, a person so familiar to you that you can scarcely believe it. This is your best friend from England, someone who disappeared from your life ten years ago, presumed dead. Her name was Daisy Fraser, but this woman says her name is Lina Pritchett. You know she’s lying, and is pretending not to recognise you but you want to know why she pretended to jump off the Severn Bridge after the death of several friends at a drugs party and left you mourning her ever since.
Back in London, your boyfriend Larry is a journalist. When you return from your backpacking in Oz, in your excitement you tell Larry that you think you’ve found your best friend who vanished a decade ago and seems to have invented a new life for herself in the Australian Outback. Larry never knew Daisy but has seen how you have suffered over never finding out what happened to her, and he thinks this may make one heck of a good story ….
Lina, meanwhile, has had her cover blown after years of living a lie. ‘I am dead inside. This life is over’.
Told in alternate chapters, detailing Lina and Larry, this book delves into Lina’s old life, a past that she has travelled thousands of miles to escape.
* What’s good *
I liked the way that Barr has switched chapters very cleverly, one minute being Lina, the next Larry. Both ways are told in the present tense which isn’t something I usually warm to, but in this book it works. Snippets of Daisy’s life are slotted into the current storyline with ease, giving us a taster of what’s about to happen but yet only giving us a frustratingly tiny glimpse of life back then.
Lina’s character hides a sadness, perhaps regret. After she’s seen Sophie she desperately tries to cover her tracks, informing family and friends of people that may want to come and find her after she evaded taxes in England and to keep her whereabouts secret. The fact that she’s pregnant throughout the story increases her desire to keep the past behind her.
The relationships between Sophie and Larry – new and exciting and Lina and husband Tony, settled and comfortable. Or are they? Are Lina’s secrets straining an already shaky marriage? But one of each couple is withholding something from their partner.
The locations – one minute a chapter is set in London at Christmas time, pubs and parties, the next chapter Australia, stifling hot and family yuletide turkey dinners. Smalltown Craggy Rock’s about to be put on the map – but for all the wrong reasons!
Fragments of Lina’s past life are fleetingly thrust before the reader, leaving us to try and piece together what happened all those years ago. Why did Lina leave England? And just how far away will she have to go this time before she feels safe again?
* Characters *
Interestingly, the one character that develops the most in this book is the journalist, Larry. His is a character I didn’t take to – he’s very career minded and will stop at nothing to get his story, to the detriment of everyone and everything else. I liked the way Barr told his side of things, his ego inflating as he becomes a familiar face around Craggy Rock. He is deeply unlikeable, making promises to Sophie he has no intention of keeping and hounding Lina and her family. He’s uncaring and selfish, and if that wasn’t bad enough, Barr describes him as blotchy faced and sweaty in the glare of the Australian sun! Yuck.
Lina is very secretive, she slips in and out of an Australian accent to hide the fact she’s British. She’s fiercely protective of her young son and unborn baby and is willing to do anything to keep them out of the unwelcome publicity of the small town.
* Overall *
Well I love travelling, and I have a love of Australia because my best friend lives there, so this is one book that appealed to me before I’d even read the first page!
I wouldn't say that Emily Barr writes ‘chick lit’, having read her other two books, as they aren’t told in a fluffy, humorous way. I liked the way this book contained the two separate stories, set miles apart from one another and the slow build up of how they would eventually link up.
The reader really does understand Lina’s fear of living on borrowed time until she’s found out and the reader almost hopes that Lina and Larry never meet.
So to the awarding of the stars. The other reviews have given it 5 but I’m going to be mean and mark it down one. As I’ve read ‘Cuban Heels’ I felt the characters in that book were better explored. In ‘Baggage’ one feels that we never really ‘know’ Lina. In fact she starts off as the main character at the beginning and soon takes a back seat to Larry and Sophie further on in the book.
However this is to be recommended, especially if you have a love of all things foreign and also like a bit of mystery thrown in. An ideal book to take on holiday as it’s gripping and keeps you guessing throughout. It probably won’t conclude how you expected, either!
* Other info *
ISBN 0-7472-6677-8 RRP £6.99 (I got my copy from Ebay)
* About the author *
Emily Barr has written columns and travel pieces for the Observer and The Guardian for a number of years. Her first novel (Backpack) won the WH Smith New Talent Award 2002.
Advantages: Good story, a page turner Disadvantages: Disappointed with the ending
I am lucky enough to have a friend who is always buying books as she is a member of a book group so I often borrow books she recommends. The latest one was "Baggage" by Emily Barr. Emily Barr has also written "Backpack" but I haven't read that.
The Cover
The book has a picture of a woman sitting on a case with a long road stretching out into the horizon. At the top of the book is an aeroplane and the aeroplanes tracks have spelt out "baggage" in ... ...it …" From just looking at the front of this book I got the idea that this was about someone who travelled abroad to escape from her problems. The book cover is an accurate description of the story.
The Plot
The story centres around three main characters Lina, Sophie and Larry. Sophie is backpacking in Australia when she sees someone she recognises but hasn't seen for over 10 years. This person is Daisy Fraser, her childhood friend and someone ...
AJ26 12.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Baggage - Emily Barr
Advantages: A book to get lost in Disadvantages: Not lost enough!
...read that when I saw Baggage in the bookshop I knew I had to have it immediately! I thought, 'at £6.99 you can't go wrong!'
Barr captures the very essence of fictional but seemingly real characters with lives so believable that you almost hope you bump into them on the street and ask them how things are going after a bad trip Down Under or out in Asia.
Baggage on the one hand; is about a woman who dreams about getting the ultimate story whilst ... ...other hand there is a woman down under living in a sleepy town in the outback coping with life, the thoughts of motherhood and a bottle of vodka underneath the kitchen sink wishing that life could get better.
Although the story has a twist, the woman down under hides something very secret from her friends in the Outback and the reporter back in the UK is about to uncover the greatest case known to the London Metropolitan Police! Will she tell them ...
Jugglet 19.04.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Baggage - Emily Barr
...outback is hiding some serious baggage for Daisy... But her world starts to fall apart when a backpacker from London recognises her and reports back to her journalist boyfriend.
Daisy has a dark secret to hide, that is slowly being revealed to all those so close to her.
The heat is on as Daisy tries to leave the past where it belongs...
This book has some great twists and is very exciting in places. The characters are great and you end up sympathising ...
Edgey 24.07.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Baggage - Emily Barr
Advantages: This book will keep you glued till the end and is quite humerous too Disadvantages: Cuts off a bit abruptly at the end so not for the happy endings brigade
I love Emily Barr's writing so i was keen to read this book. It didn't let me down..It was a page turner throughout and one of those books you don't want to finish but can't put down and need to keep reading. Emily Barr really sets the scene for you and you can put yourself in the location of Craggy Town in Oz.
Can someone disappear off the face of the earth and leave family and friends mourning their death? What are the chances of someone from ... ...the other side of the world?
What secrets are you hiding from your "new" friends and family and will it tear the family apart if these secrets are revealed?
Find all this out in "Baggage"
For those who like happy endings, as is usual with Emily Barr, the story doesn't tie up all the loose ends neatly at the end of the book but lets the readers imagination decide if there is a happy ending or not. Take on holiday but make sure you take a second ...
Dukeno1 11.08.2005 (13.08.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Baggage - Emily Barr
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When I originally wrote this I gave the book 4 stars. This time it's getting 3, because I've done a lot of reading since then, and when I re-read it, I didn't find it as good. Funnily enough, one of my new favourite books is also by EmilyBarr - it's called Baggage and though it bares some vague resemblance to this, it's worth checking out whatever your thoughts on Backpack. I'm eagerly awaiting her next novel - to be called "A carry on, a check in and a lot of airport shopping", perhaps? ...
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know, that I can imagine, that I can relate too. I haven't been out of the UK in years but it didn't matter. The descriptions were perfect, I could picture a side of Cuba I had never previously even given a second thought too. It didn't matter that it was in Cuba though, it didn't make it any less enjoyable that it wasn't in settings I could relate too. The story became gripping and it's definately different to what you would expect from this book and different from other books in this genre. It has a bit of thriller thrown into the mix, it works perfectly.
OTHER INFORMATION
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It is written by EmilyBarr who was a travel journalist and obviously uses this skill to her advantage here. She has also written other books including "Backpack", "Baggage ...
At 29, you're backpacking in the Australian outback when you see her. She has a husband, a 10 year old son and a baby on the way. She claims to be someone else, but you know she is Daisy Fraser who was awaiting trial for the deaths of 4 people when she committed suicide by jumping off the Severn Bridge. And your boyfriend is a reporter... See all Product Description
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