linda baynes

There are more illustrations than words and the words are not very interesting. A fey story - more for children, I think, than for our bookclub. We ordered on spec and it was a disappointment.

As other reviewers have said- too many characters, too much name dropping, too self-indulgent, too boring. Was given this as a birthday present and no longer consider the giver a friend. (Joking... but only just.)

Started well but got less interesting as it progressed. A lengthy family saga, similar to other novels in scope and without any major good points. Written during lockdown and semi- autobiographical, was it a time-filler?

An occasionally witty book about a woman who can't stop talking, her son with Asperger's and the husband who is overly introspective. Life rambles on and the book seems to run out of steam with an ending out of nowhere.

Thought his reflections on his life, in the face of his death, might show some humility. But they didn't.

I found the story as told unbelievable. A totally uneducated girl gets to Cambridge? Ok, so explain (in the same detail expended on the abuse scenes) just exactly HOW? I imagine many people in backwoods across the world have hideous childhoods and it is worrying that so many readers of this book seem to have been unaware of this. I felt this book was deliberately focussing on abuse, not on education. If the story is true, then the writer has overcome almost overwhelming odds but I remain uninformed as to just how.