Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Abacus (2018), 464 pages
Description
"Quentin and Lottie Bredin, like many modern couples, can't afford to divorce. Having lost their jobs in the recession, they can't afford to go on living in London; instead, they must downsize and move their three children to a house in a remote part of Devon. Arrogant and adulterous, Quentin can't understand why Lottie is so angry; devastated and humiliated, Lottie feels herself to have been intolerably wounded. Mud, mice and quarrels are one thing - but why is their rent so low? What is the mystery surrounding their unappealing new home? The beauty of the landscape is ravishing, yet it conceals a dark side involving poverty, revenge, abuse and violence which will rise up to threaten them. Sally Verity, happily married but unhappily childless knows a different side to country life, as both a Health Visitor and a sheep farmer's wife; and when Lottie's innocent teenage son Xan gets a zero-hours contract at a local pie factory, he sees yet another. By the end of their year, the lives of all will be changed for ever. Part black comedy, part psychological suspense, this is a rich, compassionate and enthralling novel in its depiction of the English countryside, and the potentially lethal interplay between money and marriage"--Publisher's description.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member DubaiReader
Victims of recession.
How awful would it be to want to divorce your adulterous husband but instead to have to continue living with him because you're caught in the housing trap?! That is the position that Lottie Bredin finds herself in after she catches Quentin sleeping around. She's lost her job
Along with their two children and a teenage half-black son from a brief encounter when Lottie was much younger, they must fit in with an established community, very different from their London friends. The area is poor and there's almost no work available apart from a pie manufacturing plant. Their rent is low, but there's a reason for that - which none of the villagers will mention.
They set themselves a year, after which the house in London will be sold and they can separate. During that time there are various tensions and a who-done-it, to add interest to the narrative.
Apart from the who-done-it, which seemed to miraculously fall into place at the end, the rest of the book had rather a soap opera feel, not really 'a suspenseful black comedy' as described in the blurb. The style reminded me of books I've read by Anne Tyler, so fans of her books might well enjoy this. It is strongly character based and Amanda Craig does a good job of this - 3.5 stars from me as I'd have liked a little more action.
How awful would it be to want to divorce your adulterous husband but instead to have to continue living with him because you're caught in the housing trap?! That is the position that Lottie Bredin finds herself in after she catches Quentin sleeping around. She's lost her job
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as an architect in London and his journalist skills are no longer needed - the only solution is to rent out their London house and move down to rural Devon where they can afford a run-down house in the sticks.Along with their two children and a teenage half-black son from a brief encounter when Lottie was much younger, they must fit in with an established community, very different from their London friends. The area is poor and there's almost no work available apart from a pie manufacturing plant. Their rent is low, but there's a reason for that - which none of the villagers will mention.
They set themselves a year, after which the house in London will be sold and they can separate. During that time there are various tensions and a who-done-it, to add interest to the narrative.
Apart from the who-done-it, which seemed to miraculously fall into place at the end, the rest of the book had rather a soap opera feel, not really 'a suspenseful black comedy' as described in the blurb. The style reminded me of books I've read by Anne Tyler, so fans of her books might well enjoy this. It is strongly character based and Amanda Craig does a good job of this - 3.5 stars from me as I'd have liked a little more action.
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LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
I had waited for this book for a long time. I first encountered Amanda Craig’s books following a chance purchase of ‘Hearts and Minds’ a few years ago, and I was immediately hooked. I read through her earlier novels and then start ed akmost counting the days until this one was published. It
Lottie and Quentin Bredin have been married for a while, living in relative affluence in North London with their two daughters and her older son from a previous relationship. She is a successful architect, working for a popular practice, while he is a journalist, writing his own column in a daily tabloid. But then things start to go wrong. The reverberations of the credit crunch proved long lasting, thinning out the number of potential clients seeking the services of an architect, leading to Lottie becoming unemployed. Then Quentin, who has, meanwhile, been outed as a serial philanderer, loses his regular job, too, leaving him dependent upon occasional freelance work.
The upshot of all this is that while both resolved to divorce, they are unable to afford to live apart. An escape route opens up when Lottie sees an advert for a cottage in Devon available to rent at an unfeasibly low price. They can let their house in London, and from the income that yields, they can cover their mortgage payments and the rent for the house in Devon, with almost enough left over to live on. Buoyed up by the prospects of a solution to their problems, they nevert stop to question the cheapness of the rent for the Devon cottage.
The difficulties they encounter adapting to country life are adeptly worked. Lottie’s son Alexander (known as Xan) finds the transition particularly hard. He had aspired to go to Cambridge to study English but, having just missed out with his A level grades, he is sinking into a depressive resentment against life. Meanwhile his half-sisters struggle to establish themselves at their new school. There are a series of encounters between the Bredins and their new neighbours, all of which demonstrate the gulf between thir lifestyles.
As always with Craig’s books, however, there is a dark hinterland. This is not just a story about lack of harmony between the local and ‘incomers’. There are dark secrets, and deep rifts, throughout the local community, at the heart of which lives Gore Tore, a retired and exclusive rock musician, who also happens to be the Bredins’ new landlord. One thing that everyone in the local community has in common is that they all seem to go quiet whenever the Bredins’ cottage is mentioned.
Craig pulls fall the threads together masterfully. All her characters are completely plausible, and Lottie is particularly empathetic. One trait I have seen in all her previous books is her ability to weave extensively interlaced storylines, and this latest book is no exception. Beautifully written and deeply satisfying.
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didn’t disappoint.Lottie and Quentin Bredin have been married for a while, living in relative affluence in North London with their two daughters and her older son from a previous relationship. She is a successful architect, working for a popular practice, while he is a journalist, writing his own column in a daily tabloid. But then things start to go wrong. The reverberations of the credit crunch proved long lasting, thinning out the number of potential clients seeking the services of an architect, leading to Lottie becoming unemployed. Then Quentin, who has, meanwhile, been outed as a serial philanderer, loses his regular job, too, leaving him dependent upon occasional freelance work.
The upshot of all this is that while both resolved to divorce, they are unable to afford to live apart. An escape route opens up when Lottie sees an advert for a cottage in Devon available to rent at an unfeasibly low price. They can let their house in London, and from the income that yields, they can cover their mortgage payments and the rent for the house in Devon, with almost enough left over to live on. Buoyed up by the prospects of a solution to their problems, they nevert stop to question the cheapness of the rent for the Devon cottage.
The difficulties they encounter adapting to country life are adeptly worked. Lottie’s son Alexander (known as Xan) finds the transition particularly hard. He had aspired to go to Cambridge to study English but, having just missed out with his A level grades, he is sinking into a depressive resentment against life. Meanwhile his half-sisters struggle to establish themselves at their new school. There are a series of encounters between the Bredins and their new neighbours, all of which demonstrate the gulf between thir lifestyles.
As always with Craig’s books, however, there is a dark hinterland. This is not just a story about lack of harmony between the local and ‘incomers’. There are dark secrets, and deep rifts, throughout the local community, at the heart of which lives Gore Tore, a retired and exclusive rock musician, who also happens to be the Bredins’ new landlord. One thing that everyone in the local community has in common is that they all seem to go quiet whenever the Bredins’ cottage is mentioned.
Craig pulls fall the threads together masterfully. All her characters are completely plausible, and Lottie is particularly empathetic. One trait I have seen in all her previous books is her ability to weave extensively interlaced storylines, and this latest book is no exception. Beautifully written and deeply satisfying.
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LibraryThing member pgchuis
This was a strange one. A family moves from London to Devon for financial reasons - Lottie and Quentin have both lost their jobs and move out of their beautiful London home into a rented cottage with no central heating. Their daughters leave their private school and go to the village primary. Xan,
Most of this novel read a bit like "women's fiction"/a coming of age story for Xan, but then Lottie and Quentin find out what happened to the last tenant of their cottage, which introduces a mystery strand. This seems to be coming to nothing for a good chunk of the story. Then you get to the ending, when all hell breaks loose and story goes completely bonkers. It's a pity, because I was set to give the book 5*, but those last few chapters were just too much.
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Lottie's son, having failed to get into Cambridge, works night shifts at the local pie factory. Quentin is forced to spend time with his terminally ill father, whom he has always hated. Most of this novel read a bit like "women's fiction"/a coming of age story for Xan, but then Lottie and Quentin find out what happened to the last tenant of their cottage, which introduces a mystery strand. This seems to be coming to nothing for a good chunk of the story. Then you get to the ending, when all hell breaks loose and story goes completely bonkers. It's a pity, because I was set to give the book 5*, but those last few chapters were just too much.
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LibraryThing member camharlow2
A captivating novel that combines a darkly comic portrait of a family forced to leave London for the Devon countryside and their subsequent problems of settling into a new environment; an unsolved murder; and the reality of the hardship and poverty of some areas of the country. Allied with this,
Amanda Craig’s deft writing combines all these strands in a rewarding novel that challenges any preconceived thoughts as the main couple of the story, Lottie and Quentin attempt to negotiate their separation and divorce and their changing feelings for each other. All this, added to the suspense created by the murder, make for a riveting read.
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Craig explores the challenges of contemporary marriages and how different couples act to make their partnership work, or not.Amanda Craig’s deft writing combines all these strands in a rewarding novel that challenges any preconceived thoughts as the main couple of the story, Lottie and Quentin attempt to negotiate their separation and divorce and their changing feelings for each other. All this, added to the suspense created by the murder, make for a riveting read.
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LibraryThing member jayne_charles
This felt like something that was intended to be gritty but which ended up being chick-lit with a dodgy whodunnit tacked onto the side. I have always enjoyed Amanda Craig’s writing, she covers “issues” head on and in an entertaining way. I suspect what was intended here was an expose on rural
For me the most interesting bits were those concerning the factory and farming (as a vegetarian it’s a thumbs up from me for the head-on tackling of the realities of the slaughter process). The twee interplay between the characters I found boring, and the “mystery”, theoretically there to keep the reader hooked, was great only if you like your villains suitably villainous and one dimensional. It was very much a case of “good” and “bad” characters, nobody had much in the way of light and shade (and since this is the first book I’ve read to mention Brexit let me say that I bet Sally voted remain). Even when Lottie started musing about her tendency to fall for the wrong men (exciting ones who cheat on her) we ended up being led down a street where (to extrapolate) all the sensible ones are dull and have furry teeth. I still think she’s a great author, but this one didn’t do it for me.
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life - it’s not as idyllic as we think, full of exploitation and social injustice etc etc. The trouble was this time it felt a bit forced, and the characters flat. I smelled a rat from the start - married couple, lost jobs in recession, can’t afford to divorce. Are we meant to believe the *only* possible solution would be to decamp to rural Devon and still live under the same roof together? And why was Lottie losing her job such a catastrophe? Are we to believe that in the whole of London there are no jobs for qualified architects at all? Did she even look?For me the most interesting bits were those concerning the factory and farming (as a vegetarian it’s a thumbs up from me for the head-on tackling of the realities of the slaughter process). The twee interplay between the characters I found boring, and the “mystery”, theoretically there to keep the reader hooked, was great only if you like your villains suitably villainous and one dimensional. It was very much a case of “good” and “bad” characters, nobody had much in the way of light and shade (and since this is the first book I’ve read to mention Brexit let me say that I bet Sally voted remain). Even when Lottie started musing about her tendency to fall for the wrong men (exciting ones who cheat on her) we ended up being led down a street where (to extrapolate) all the sensible ones are dull and have furry teeth. I still think she’s a great author, but this one didn’t do it for me.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2017-06-15
Physical description
464 p.; 7.87 inches
ISBN
0349142688 / 9780349142685
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DDC/MDS
| 823.914 |