A review by salreads
Mum & Dad by Joanna Trollope

4.0

With thanks to Netgalley and The Independent Publishers’ Group for a digital copy. Set in southern Spain the story begins with Gus’ stroke and its ramifications for his family - his wife Monica, their three children and their grandchildren. Trollope examines relationships between the couples, between parents and their children and between siblings as fracture lines start to develop. She explores themes of work-life balance, career parenting, teenage self-harm and the fraught juggling act faced by the sandwich generation. As Gus recovers his family must come together to face next steps, but first they have to address the tensions which already exist between them. This is a lovely read which I thoroughly enjoyed. The characters were well developed, the issues described universally relevant, presented with realism and not neatly resolved. The warmth of the Spanish sun and the whisper of vines provided a stunning backdrop and even in lockdown I could feel myself there.