Amazon description

Greedy for experience but determined to be good, Flora Dunbar spends a lifetime seeking love, trying to build a future out of the wreckage of her past - an eccentric childhood spent in the shadow of her musical twin, Rory; early marriage to Hugh, a clergyman twice her age; motherhood, which brings her Theo, the son she cannot love; middle-age, when she finds brief happiness in a scandalous affair with her nephew, Colin.

"If you asked my sister-in-law why she hated me, she’d say it was because I seduced her precious firstborn then tossed him onto the sizeable scrap-heap marked Flora’s ex-lovers. But she’d be lying. That isn’t why Grace hated me. Ask my brother Rory..."

Review

I held back this book as a special treat having loved Linda's other two books, and for the first twenty-five pages I thought I was going to be really disappointed. It's such a different read - starts with a funeral and a large cast of characters, then jumps around in time, and for a very short while you feel rather lost. But then it soars - I got absolutely lost in Flora's life, the fragmented timeline felt absolutely right, the switching from first to third person, the strongly drawn characters (few of them particularly likeable). This is writing in a different league.  The story might not appeal to all - it's a brave theme to tackle - but I was totally absorbed by it and finally put it down at 2am feeling satisfied but quite exhausted. Then I picked it back up and read the first twenty-five pages again... A brilliant read, a challenging one too, but don't miss it...

Thank you Annie

I've got this on my tbr so will bump it up..........

 Great review as always Annie.  This is waiting patiently on my TBR pile, l too have been saving it for that particular time that feels right.

I also have this one TBR, thanks for reviewing it Annie.  I'm looking forward to reading it even more now - that cover scares the bejesus out of me though

 I have this on my TBR too and am saving it having read Emotional Geology and Star Gazing in quick succession.

 Thanks, Annie! I have this on TBR too, and it sounds very good. I haven't read either of the others.

 Thanks Annie for the great review. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it (although I know "enjoy" isn't quite the right word.) This book gets such different reactions and some extreme ones  - and let me say right now I would hate to think of anyone feeling inhibited by my presence on the forum. Please feel free to say what you think. I'm sure some fans of STAR GAZING and EMO GEO will be disappointed, but since someone in an Oxford book group said ALB was the worst book they'd ever read, I'm almost impervious to criticism! I'm absolutely thrilled when people like my books - esp ALB which is my favourite - but I've had so many differing reactions to all 3 books now, I can take the rough with the smooth.

annie130:

Then I picked it back up and read the first twenty-five pages again

I was interested to see that you'd gone back and re-read the beginning. A lot of people do this. In fact I often suggest they should so they can appreciate what I'm actually doing in that Prologue which was brain-straining to write.

annie130:

It's such a different read - starts with a funeral and a large cast of characters, then jumps around in time, and for a very short while you feel rather lost.

Yes, this is a problem! When I sell copies to people I say "Just keep reading. Don't worry if you can't work out who everyone is and don't worry if you don't know how old people are." (Each section begins with a date, anywhere from 1942 - 2000) I tell them to keep turning the pages and they'll get the hang of it. Mostly they do.

What I was trying to convey was that we are all the ages we have ever been. I'm 58 but there's a part of me that's still 35 or 22 - even 12. This is how memory works, in layers. INn ALB I've laid all the layers on top of each other like a club sandwich! It looks random but it isn't - the layers are very carefully arranged to reflect on each other and to withhold the information that constitutes the big plot twists and revelations. But it does make for a challenging read, both in style and content. I think Transita were brave to publish it.

Can you see it as a TV series, Annie? After the 9.00pm watershed of course! ;-)

 No inhibitions here Linda - but I must admit I'm rather hoping Mackenzie Ford's not googling my other review!! I rather want to read it again now, so that I can appreciate that layering rather than just letting it "happen" ... Ooh, I'm ready to cast the series already - Hugh Bonneville as Hugh, perhaps (casting round for young actresses...) Ali Bastian as the young Flora, but has to be Helen Mirren in maturity...not sure about the others, I'm not very good on the men ... Rupert Penry-Jones has to be in there somewhere doesn't he?!   

annie130:

Rupert Penry-Jones has to be in there somewhere doesn't he?!   

As Rory?!

I always saw Lindsay Duncan as Flora but yes, Helen Mirren would be good too. I also wondered about Joanna Lumley. I actually sent her a copy of the book!

I don't think Hugh Bonneville is quite handsome enough for Hugh but yes, it's his sort of part. What about Colin Firth now he's peaked?

The trouble is you need several actors for some roles as the story covers 58 years.

Oh this sounds like a very interesting read. Must put it on the old wishlist.

sparhawk:

Oh this sounds like a very interesting read. Must put it on the old wishlist.

Ditto!

Ooooh sounds fabulous and is sat on my TBR!

This is a great review and as this is sitting on mount tbr alongside star gazing I have them both to look forward to, aren't I lucky.

Have just finished this and thought it was a wonderful dark read. It took some getting used with the years jumping back and forth and I found a few times that I had to go back and check the dates but it does all fit together.  I actually feel quite sorry to have finished it.

 Thanks kaydee23. Glad you enjoyed it. Apparently those characters do tend to haunt readers! They haunted me too. ALB is the only book I've wanted to write a sequel to, to continue Rory's story and also because I missed the characters so much when I'd finished..

kaydee23:

I actually feel quite sorry to have finished it.

Readers often go back and re-read the Prologue which appears in quite a different light once you've finished. I imagine the whole book seems very different on a second read because of the things you now know.