The House That Made Us by Alice Cavanagh

 

When Mac and Marie marry and find a home of their own, Mac takes a snap of themselves outside their newbuild bungalow, the garden bare and the paint on the front door still wet. It becomes a tradition, this snap, and slowly the photographs build into an album of a fifty-year partnership.
 
Every year they take a photo and though things change around them – the garden matures, the fashions change, they grow older – the one constant is their love. Every year, come rain, come shine, from the Seventies through the decades, every photo tells the story of their love.
 
Until the last photo, where the couple becomes one, and their story comes to an end…

The House That Made Us by Alice Cavanagh is quite unlike anything I have read before it has such a basic and simple storyline with no surprising twists and turns or dramatic revelations just purely a gentle realistic story that follows Mac and Marie through their lives together and yet I was so enthralled by them that I couldn’t bare to part from them.

Mac and Marie are down to earth characters who face many ups and downs through their lives together and watching them tackle and overcome each one I soon developed a fondness for them both. They have a beautiful heartfelt romance that was so believable at times it felt like I was reading about a family who I cared for as I felt incredibly moved. As we journey with them through their lives we watch them have children, kick off careers and battle with various health concerns and emotions and each of the situations they face was written about with such care and explored the effects everything has on their relationships but ultimately it showed the strength of their love for each other that they could overcome anything knowing that they always had each other by their side.

Family dynamics is a big part of this book and their cherished home of Sunnyside was definitely a constant comfort even if at times Marie may have wanted more! After spending time with this loveable duo I was rocked by the ending and felt my heart break.

This was a very tender well written storyline with a love story we all dream of having in our lives.

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