Flight by Isabel Ashdown

Flight by Isabel Ashdown

When Wren Irving's numbers come up in the first National Lottery draw, she doesn't tell her husband, Rob. Instead she quietly packs her bags, kisses her six-month-old daughter Phoebe goodbye, and leaves.

We pick up the story two decades later. Rob is now living with childhood friend Laura who has taken over mothering duties of Phoebe, and Phoebe is herself pregnant. They have no idea where Wren is until a journalist tracks her down.

Wren has rebuilt a life of sorts for herself, very different from the family unit Rob has with Laura and Phoebe. She lives near the sea and spends her days on the beach with her two dogs Willow and Badger.  Her only friend in the world is Arthur who sells her a cup of coffee every morning. She has deliberately shut herself off,  and feels things crashing down around her when the same journalist contacts her.

As Wren's secret existence is revealed, another secret from the past catches up with Rob, leaving him uncertain what to do and cut off from Laura just when he needs her most.

The story weaves backwards and forwards between this present day narrative and a historical narrative that takes us back to Rob and Laura's childhood together, and the pivotal moment when they both meet Wren for the first time.

Two strong themes in the story are motherhood and love.

What is the nature of motherhood? Why can't Wren cope with motherhood, and how could she have left baby Phoebe behind? Does it have anything to do with her relationship with her own mother? And how does it feel for Laura to take on the mother role in Phoebe's life when she hasn't been able to become a mother herself?

The love aspect is also interesting. Rob loves Wren and Laura in different ways and at different times, forming what is in some ways a classic love triangle but in many ways something much more complex than that.

I really enjoyed this book. There's so much to it, and you can only really scratch the surface in a review. It encompasses so much life and emotion in its journey through the decades and through the lives of Wren, Laura and Rob. Keeping the reader's sympathy with all three of them is a fine balancing act, but it works. Wren, in particular, could have been a really off-putting character, but is handled so sensitively that she isn't.

In the end the book does hold out hope for the future, despite what the various characters have suffered in their lives.

I strongly recommend this book to others, it is one that I will continue to think about for a while.

Thanks very much to the publishers for a review copy of this book.

You can find reviews of some of Isabel Ashdown's other books here and here. 

Summer Of '76 by Isabel Ashdown

 

Summer Of 76

By Isabel Ashdown

I’ve seen a few comments online saying that Isabel Ashdown seems to have brought about a summer heatwave through the sheer power of her book ‘Summer of ‘76’ which recreates the hot summer of 1976. Well, I read the book just before the current heatwave started and I have to say that it made me believe there was intense sunshine and an impending drought in the outside world even when it was actually raining and unseasonally chilly.

The heatwave itself is an important plot factor in the novel. Everyone is just a bit wearier, a bit tetchier and a bit more likely to fly off the handle than they might have been otherwise. This adds a feeling of edginess to the story which is very effective.

We start the story with two of the main characters back in 1971 and then move forward to 1976 and follow the story of Luke, his parents Joanna and Richard and little sister Kitty from there. As the story starts the heatwave is just beginning to make its presence felt and as the action goes on we see both the heat and the family tensions being cranked up.

The prologue hints at one of the issues that will becoming increasingly important as the story goes on. It takes the reader into the story well because it’s obvious from the start that there is a pretty big secret that is going to surface in the course of the novel.

Set on the Isle of Wight, the novel makes good use of location. The sea, the beach, the holiday camp and the surroundings generally are pivotal to the story. But there is also a feeling of the claustrophobia and isolation of living on an island and wanting to escape as Luke does throughout the story.

I loved all the characters in this book, even the ones who were largely unsympathetic, but I think my favourites were probably Luke’s sister Kitty (an expertly drawn portrayal of a young child), his old friend Martin, his new friend Gordon, and his Gran.

As well as exploring the issues of a particular family, this novel also considers the nature of family itself and comes to some intriguing conclusions that finish the novel in a satisfying way.

This is a fabulous read and I highly recommend it.

Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book. 

You can find out more and buy a copy here.

You can find my reviews of Isabel’s previous novels, Glasshopper and Hurry Up And Wait on Bookersatz.