of the women in her family, the novelist and biographer Margaret Foster describes her father Arthur's life and death, structuring the narrative around the last six years of his life until his lingering death at the age of 96. As he begins to fail, Forster's beloved sister-in-law Marion is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and Forster compares the fierce struggles both Arthur and Marion put up against the inevitable, marvelling at their tenacity in the face of extreme humiliation and suffering. As she puts it, "These have been two stories not of life but of dying", so this is anything but a sentimental account of death, about which Forster ponders bleakly and with a bracing philosophical clarity. She sifts through her memories of growing up in Carlisle and builds up an often comical portrait of an irascible, routine-obsessed working-class man, who works hard for his family, hates hospitals and is scornful of self-pity. Arthur is as vivid as any of her fictional characters and Forster's calm account of his last few months in a nursing home, unable to hold on to his fiercely-guarded independence, unable to enjoy the landscapes of his beloved Lake District, is both moving and--in terms of his courage--inspiring. --Emily Ormond
Over - Margaret Forster
This is a novel about what happens after a tragedy in a family. Not the tragedy itself but
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its aftermath what's left when the tide recedes and it's over. A daughter has died suddenly shockingly and the different ways in which her mother and father respond to the tragedy how this plays out within the family and affects the other siblings is at the heart of things. The sad story is narrated by Louise mother and primary school teacher trying to hold herself together and get on with life trying to understand not 'what happened' but what has happened to them all in the wake of the accident and why. At first the reader knows only that something bad has happened to one of the family but not what or to whom. Gradually we learn some of the details - a storm blew up a yacht hit rocks and capsized but the body was never found. Louise's husband cannot come to terms with the lack of knowledge and certainty and wants someone to blame. He becomes obsessive in his quest for a reason and travels everywhere neglecting work and family in pursuit of the 'truth'. His wife just wants to come to terms with it can't think of blame moves out into a tiny flat of her own and goes back to work at the infant school where she used to teach.Their other children handle the tragedy better than their parents. What they can't deal with is the way their parents are tearing each other and the family apart. With characteristic subtlety Forster holds back the essential truth till the end when we realize that Louise is not as reliable as her matter-of-fact narration suggests. She blames her husband for destroying the family but her instransigent determination to deal with grief in her own way and her refusal to be defined by tragedy has its dangers. And it's in these faultlines that the real tragedy lies.
Advantages: a diary that spans most of the 20th Century Disadvantages: Won't appeal to everyone
...In her introduction to Diary of an Ordinary Woman, MargaretForster explains how she came to edit the diaries of Millicent King which Millicent had kept from 1914 to 1995. She was approached, she tells us, by Joanna, the wife of Millicent’s nephew. Joanna had read some of Forster’s other books, notably Hidden Lives a moving testimony to the (often difficult) lives of Forster’s own mother and grandmother and
feels that the author would be able to “ make something” of Millicent’s writings. She also probably feels that Forster because she is something of a social historian, interested in women’s issues and skilled at chronicling “real” lives, would handle the material in a sympathetic way.
At first Forster is reluctant to get too involved - she speaks to Millicent - now aged 98; still sprightly but no longer writing her diary...
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Advantages: It's good Disadvantages: Too many coincidences
...Forster has picked herself back up with this novel - her last one was slightly disappointing but I thought I'd try her latest whilst in America - I didn't buy it so I don't know how much it cost.
The story features a painting and its journey throught the lives of the 6 female characters it 'encounters'. It's based on a real painting but it is the fictional story that follows it that is so memorable. It spans from the late 19th Century into the 21st and involves lies, deceit, theft, and ultimately pain. An emotional journey by Forster and perfect for all her avid fans.
That's the story in a nutshell though once I'd read it I couldn't stop thinking about it - there's a lot of what could be construed as annoying coincidences but at the end of the day it's a good read....
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Advantages: Wonderful story with superb characters Disadvantages: No Epilogue, no humour
...About the Author
Margaret Yorke is a very accomplished, respected and famous English crime writing author.
Her first book 'Summer Flight' was Published in 1957. Since then she was written 41 other crime novels.
In 1999 she won the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for 'The Scent of Fear'.
Storyline of the Book
The book is set in the late 1980's in Northamptonshire.
William Adams is a dangerous and unpredictable man. He has recently been released from prison having served seven years of a ten year sentence for rape.
As soon as he is released he changes his name in order to start a new life. By doing this he is not known to the Police and the Sex Offenders Register. After a couple of short term illegal money making scams, he is on the look out for a new way to make money.
One night he stays at a Bed and Breakfast...
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18.03.2004
06.02.2008
