Fran Littlewood

Oh, man, I loved this one. A lot. I sometimes find books about motherhood to be of little interest, but Grace is a fascinating character. I loved how Littlewood wove three strands of timeline together to give us a full picture of Grace, her husband Ben, and their daughter, Lotte. Touching on issues of misogyny, parenthood, grief, bullying, and the complex emotional ties between mothers and daughters, this book made me laugh and cheer and cry.

The audio is perfect, and it's one of those books I am not sure I would have liked as much in print. The narrator imbues Grace with so much warmth and pain and humor, she really came alive for me.

5 stars… (lisätietoja)

fiction - linguistical genius and working mom sets out to repair her relationship with her 16-y.o. daughter while simultaneously dealing with a divorce/separation, perimenopause, and a freelance career in trouble. Set in London.

switches between 'now' (2019), 3 months earlier when her current troubles started to get out of control, and 2003, when she met the man who would become her husband and the father of their daughter Lotte. I like the characters and the stories unfolding in the earlier timelines but got impatient with the 'now' storyline which didn't really progress, seemingly full of random obstacles that delay Grace's reaching her intended destination. It comes together in the end but in the meantime is a bit frustrating. Still, it's a nice light read that won't give me nightmares if I read it at bedtime (unlike the true crime book I'm also in the middle of right now), and Grace/Ben make a sweet couple to root for even if Lotte remains guarded and completely unapproachable for almost the entire book.… (lisätietoja)