For the last thirty years, Angela Gillespie's annual Christmas letter has been full of her family's triumphs. But this year Angela surprises everyone, including herself - she tells the truth. Angela's husband is in the throes of a mid-life crisis. Her grown-up daughters are more out of control than ever. And her youngest child spends all of his time talking to an imaginary friend. With fantasy thoughts of a life before marriage and motherhood becoming more than just an innocent daydream, Angela's real life is slowly slipping out of focus. But, as the repercussions of her ruthlessly honest letter begin to pile up, a shocking event takes Angela from her family, and she realises she should have been more careful of what she wished for. . .
I seem to be like a magpie at this time of year and any
books that are shiny I am drawn to and Hello From the Gillespies is no
exception with its gentle sprinkling of glitter on its simplistic cover, Monica
McInerney is a new author to me but after reading this book I have looked on
amazon to see she has wrote a number of books so after reading this one I cannot
wait to get stuck into another one.
Each year Angela Gillespie writes a Christmas letter to a
hundred friends and family members updating them on their achievements over the
year but this year things haven’t been too good for the family in Angela’s eyes
and as she has gradually let it all build up and get on top of her she soon
finds herself baring the brutal truth in her annual letter to get it off of her
chest having no intention on sending it. As an event makes Angela move away from
her letter something happens and the letter is finding itself in everyone’s
inbox, this letter could have a bad effect on more than Angela’s life.
This was a heart-warming and funny read which was a joy to
read but it also touched on a number of more delicate matters such as depression
which made it a deeper and more meaningful book. The author has quite clearly
undertook a great deal of research for this book not only on the setting in the
outback but also in the medical side to which I don’t want to say too much about
as I don’t want to give anything away!
The Gillespie family were all loveable and such realistic
characters who are all facing the usual struggles from relationships to
financial problems and careers but there main problem is like most families they
do not communicate, so much heartache could have been avoided if they had just
spoke to one and other!
I loved how this book was totally unpredictable this
storyline was, it was an original storyline that had me hooked from the first
chapter. There was a large amount of characters in this book and it does take a
little while to fit them altogether but before long you feel like part of the
mob! I loved Angela as our lead character but I have to say little Ig was by far my favourite, he was such a quirky and loving character.
I loved this book and will definitely be recommending this
one and I have found yet another talented author to add to my favourites list.
Kindle Paperback
No comments:
Post a Comment