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kimbofo 's review for:
A Sixpenny Song
by Jennifer Johnston
A new Jennifer Johnston novel is always something to celebrate in this household, so I was very much looking forward to the arrival of A Sixpenny Song, the author's 18th novel, at the end of October.
This short book, easily read in an afternoon or over a couple of evenings, is what I would describe as "typical" Jennifer Johnston fare. Like so many of her earlier stories, this one is about fathers, daughters — and family secrets.
The story, told in the third person, focuses on Annie Ross, who is in her late 20s/early 30s. She was born in Dublin, but her father, a rich and domineering man, shipped her off to boarding school in England when she was 12 — shortly after her mother died — and later, as an 18-year-old, she fled the family home to start a new life in London, free from her father's expectations and his financial support.
Now her father has died and he's left her the house, which is set on about 10 acres, so Annie must return to Dublin, her first visit in more than 10 years, to take ownership. But when she returns she finds that the large stately house — "standing resplendent on what looked like its own private hill and backed by the low mountains" — represents more to her than bricks and mortar: it is a repository of her childhood memories, especially of her beloved mother.
When she arrives she is greeted by her father's second wife, Miriam, who plans to decamp to her pad in Monte Carlo with the money she's inherited, and Kevin, the odd-job man and gardener, who has spent his life maintaining the property and was a close confidante of her mother's.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
This short book, easily read in an afternoon or over a couple of evenings, is what I would describe as "typical" Jennifer Johnston fare. Like so many of her earlier stories, this one is about fathers, daughters — and family secrets.
The story, told in the third person, focuses on Annie Ross, who is in her late 20s/early 30s. She was born in Dublin, but her father, a rich and domineering man, shipped her off to boarding school in England when she was 12 — shortly after her mother died — and later, as an 18-year-old, she fled the family home to start a new life in London, free from her father's expectations and his financial support.
Now her father has died and he's left her the house, which is set on about 10 acres, so Annie must return to Dublin, her first visit in more than 10 years, to take ownership. But when she returns she finds that the large stately house — "standing resplendent on what looked like its own private hill and backed by the low mountains" — represents more to her than bricks and mortar: it is a repository of her childhood memories, especially of her beloved mother.
When she arrives she is greeted by her father's second wife, Miriam, who plans to decamp to her pad in Monte Carlo with the money she's inherited, and Kevin, the odd-job man and gardener, who has spent his life maintaining the property and was a close confidante of her mother's.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.