Back of the book :
When Flora, James and their two teenage daughters are offered the holiday of a lifetime in a chateau in the south of France in return for one simple good deed, they jump at the chance.
They exchange the confines of Clapham, the weight of the mortgage and anxieties over their future for a blissful break.
But Flora didn’t anticipate a mysterious guest and a whole heap of family baggage coming too.
With James developing a schoolboy crush on a famous singer and Flora distracted by ghosts from her past, their dream holiday suddenly takes some very unexpected turns.
What I think :
Flora and James have been married for 19 years, they have two teenage daughters, Amelia and Tara. James is a Foot specialist and Flora a restaurant reviewer. Whilst on a flight home from a weekend in Paris, James ‘saves’ the life of a child belonging to a famous french opera singer, when I say ‘saves the life’ I mean that he gave her a EpiPen injection after she ate peanuts ! In return for this Camille De Bouvoir (The famous opera singer) offers them her villa in the South of France, for an all expenses paid months holiday. All goes well until James decides to invite his father ‘The Brig’ and his two sisters Sally and Rachel, who can be ‘slightly’ difficult. They usually spend their summer holiday in Scotland with them. Then what makes matters worse is the fact that a unwanted guest turns up in the form of someone from Flora’s past. Is Flora going to get her much needed and wanted dream holiday, or will it all end in tears ? …
Flora, the main character is just a normal housewife that has to deal with the many strains of normal family life. She has one really lovely daughter. Tara and one quite ‘spikey; one, Amelia. A mother that doesn’t seem to want to grow up and never listens to what Flora has got to say. And lastly a husband that seems to fancy the opera singer more than her.
I must admit that I was a little disappointed with this book, it took me quite a while to get into it, however I did find it quite amusing in places, although it did seem to go on quite a bit, at over 400 pages I did think it was slightly long . I really couldn’t identify with the main character, I felt she was a bit of a pushover and really could have stuck up for herself more. Perhaps it was just me but I do like my main women to be ‘strong’ and ‘independent’.
Having said all of that though please don’t think that i didn’t like this book, It just didn’t stand out for me.
I give it 7/10.
published on 26/02/15 by Michael Joseph (Penguin)
Thank you to Lovereading.co.uk for the copy of the book to read and review.
Candys BookCase 