Second Honeymoon By Joanna Trollope - Hush can I hear the patter of large feet on the stairs?

Second Honeymoon By Joanna Trollope

Joanna Trollope is another one of those authors that I pick up with assurance, although I think her first majorly acclaimed novel – the breakthrough book as it were, The Rector’s Wife, was a complete tour de force and perhaps because with that book she almost created a genre of middle class, middle aged women issues (though with men definitely getting a leading role at times) I have never quite found another one of her books or heroines that hits me in the same way as The Rector’s Wife and Anna.

Second Honeymoon looks at the issues of what happens when the last of your children leaves home – we’ll be throwing a large party for sure.  However Edie and her husband Russell find themselves at odds as their last son moves out, Edie feels deprived of purpose and meaning, Russell (more my kind of guy) can’t wait to rekindle time with Edie and a new life.  In the spirit of the times, and economy, it isn’t long before offspring are back with them – now there’s a thought to send chills up the spine.

Joanna Trollope is any easy read for me, but I do find myself getting irritated by characters and wanting to shout at them – perhaps the offspring are too realistically depicted, a worrying thought.