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Immediately positive ideas are dispelled because after Channel 4’s Brookside we are all familiar with the concept of the ‘body under the patio’, and after ITV’s cold case series Unforgotten, bodies defrosting in freezers have become run of the mill.
They start erasing her from their family and ignoring the fact that their father loved and cherished her. He presents The Graham Norton Show on BBC1, a show on Virgin Radio every weekend, and is a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. Good story, heart-warming elements, strong themes and humour to cut through the dark/surreal elements. Two families living in a small-town in Ireland, with complicated ties, collide in the most interesting, over-the-top way.As I said below, I had only seen and liked the tv series based on Norton's first novel, Holding, so didn't really have expectations for this book. The characters are engaging (even the nosy neighbour) and I loved the descriptions of the small town. Six years and three novels later, there’s again a gruesome discovery in a domestic basement and a litany of rumours and family upheavals in a quiet Irish town to unpick.
Despite this Carol and Declan live happily (though unmarried, because he has never actually divorced his first wife) in the family home for a number of years until Declan begins to develop dementia. Forever Home’ is another excellent read and I found it so difficult not to read from start to finish in one sitting. Norton’s previous publication, Home Stretch, is to some extent auto-fiction, concentrating as it does on a young man growing up gay under the restrictions of a society trammelled by strict adherence to the rule of the local priests. I'll be checking out his backlist for more fun and I highly recommend this entertaining story to those who enjoy a blend of Family Fiction and Cozy Mystery that's on the darkly humorous side!heard great things about this author’s previous book so I was really excited to get an early copy of his new release. A lot of the story deals with parental responsibility and guilt, as well as the extents you go to so as to save your life and the life of your children. With his his quick wit and attention to characters' flaws and growth, this is a delight and easy read! Forever Home has a wide-range of characters that are diverse and neighborhood antics similar to happenings in our everyday lives almost anywhere. I am a huge fan of Graham Norton’s and have previously reviewed his earlier novels Holdingand Home Stretchon here.
Although this novel was very readable and I did enjoy the story very much, I did feel that some of the character's actions stretched credibility. It seems there are secrets in Declan’s past, strange rumours that were never confronted and suddenly the house they shared takes on a more sinister significance. Graham was soon approached by the BBC to front his own self-titled chat show The Graham Norton Show in 2007. Declan was much older than Carol and neither his children, her parents or her son was too enamoured with their relationship. The inclusion of the dry, snickery humor this author is so well-known for is an added bonus and pure-delight.There are secrets, there is a sense of shame and a desire to appear normal, even when things clearly aren’t, and in this way the author makes a nod, though not a heavy one, to elements of Ireland’s past that it is still coming to terms with. MARILYN has somehow fallen into motherhood and spent four decades married to DAVID, who's pretty certain he loves her more than anyone has ever loved another person. I predict late success with the paperback, it has been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and is a superb summer read. He’s seemingly revelling in a second chance at a relationship, too, given the wife of his two adult children mysteriously disappeared years ago.
This one actually probably most resembles Holding (which I would consider his weakest) in the sense that it is effectively a dark comedy, a caper, veering into farce at times. It’s a complex and compelling story – truly unputdownable – but most importantly for me, it has real heart.I really enjoy the writing of Graham Norton whether is be his biographies or perhaps more surprising his novels. We slowly uncover more about Carol, Declan, her family and Declan's children as the novel continues, and start to wonder if everyone is hiding something.
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