Finished May 2
The Rain Before It Falls by Jonathan Coe
This is a story of women, mostly those from one family.
Gill is middle-aged with grown daughters, Elizabeth and Catharine, when her Aunt Rosamund dies. Rosamund has left tapes giving her life history for Gill to give her cousin's granddaughter Imogen. Gill has trouble finding Rosamund, so she and her daughters listen to the tapes. The story on the tapes makes up the majority of the book.
Rosamund's story begins with her evacuation to the country during WWII to stay with her mother's sisters family. She meets and becomes close to her cousin, Beatrix. So this story tells of what happens to Beatrix, her daughter Thea, and her granddaughter Imogen. Coe brings the story alive for us by including Rosamund's commentary and emotional reactions to the story she tells.
I loved this book and the characters portrayed. I will definitely be looking for more books by Coe.
Music to my ears - Coe is one of my favourite writers! Try The Rotters' Club next with its sequel A Closed Circle. Gerald Woodward and Adam Thorpe also write novels with all the complicated emotional relationships that Coe portrays so convincingly.
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