Mum & Dad: The Heartfelt Richard & Judy Book Club Pick

Joanna Trollope

Mar 2020 · Pan Macmillan

About this ebook

A Richard & Judy Book Club Pick

Set in the vineyards of Spain, Mum & Dad is a heartwarming family drama about later life and healing old wounds. From Joanna Trollope, the number one bestselling author of An Unsuitable Match, filled with her trademark humour and wisdom.

'Trollope’s bestselling novel brings elegance and warmth to a painfully familiar dilemma' – Daily Mail

What happens when family roles are reversed and the children must look after mum and dad?

It’s been twenty-five years since Gus and Monica left England to start a new life in Spain, building a wine business from the ground up. However, when Gus suffers a stroke and their idyllic Mediterranean life is thrown into upheaval, it’s left to their three grown-up children in London to step in . . .

As the children descend on the vineyard, it becomes clear that each has their own idea of how best to handle their mum and dad, as well as the family business. But as long-simmering resentments rise to the surface and tensions reach breaking point, will the family finally fall apart?

'No-one dissects the intricacies of family relationships quite like Joanna Trollope' - Good Housekeeping

Ratings and reviews

Gus and Monica moved to Spain 25 years ago and have successfully built their own prestigious (if not necessarily financially) vineyard and farm shop. Then Gus has a debilitating stroke and things start to unwind, Monica can't run the vineyard, their eldest son Sebastian refuses, their daughter Katie is a successful London solicitor and won't which only leaves the youngest, Jake. At first, frankly, each of the characters comes across as unpleasant, in turns snobby, misogynistic, weak, mercenary and self-centred. Little-by-little we see into the lives of Gus and Monica, their children and their spouses and their grandchildren. Things start to make more sense, the characters become more relatable, the children and their spouses in particular change their behaviours. My biggest issue with this book is that it ends very suddenly, I actually thought my Kindle had broken when it wouldn't move to the next page. Maybe it was deliberate, leaving the reader to imagine what happens next, maybe my more regular diet of romance has conditioned me to expect everything to be wrapped up but this felt like the start of something … and then nothing. Overall, I was left feeling 'So what? What was the point?' The writing was excellent, each of the characters (and there are a lot) is given their own voice and the reader can empathise with each in turn (well maybe not all) and I was drawn into the lives of these three generations, but I was left hanging at the end. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

What a well-conceived story! Honest, true-to-life and beautifully written! When Gus decided to up sticks and move to Spain over two decades ago, Monica went with him, leaving their children in England despite knowing they weren't happy about it. Family life has never quite recovered, but when Gus suffers a stroke, it's up to the three adult children to step in and keep the business running . . . A truly wonderful tale of family life; nobody's perfect, they're all just trying their best. Adding partners and children/grandchildren, each individual has more than enough on their plate already and as always with a family crisis, old grudges rise to the surface. Joanna Trollope has her finger on the pulse with her real life characters and this was an absolute delight to read! I raced through it, thoroughly enjoying the family dynamics - after all, who has the perfect family themselves? The author paints a marvellous picture of the attractions of Spain and I wallowed in observing these characters whilst sympathising with each and every one of them. A superb read which I thoroughly enjoyed and have no hesitation in recommending. I can think of no reason not to give this one a full house of sparkling stars!

About the author

Joanna Trollope is the author of many highly acclaimed and bestselling novels, including The Rector’s Wife, Marrying the Mistress and Daughters in Law. She was appointed OBE in 1996 and CBE in 2019, a trustee of the National Literacy Trust in 2012, and a trustee of the Royal Literary Fund in 2016. She has chaired the Whitbread and Orange Awards, as well as being a judge of many other literature prizes including chairing the BBC National Short Story Awards for 2017. She has been part of two DCMS panels on public libraries and is patron of numerous charities, including Meningitis Now and Chawton House Library. In 2014, she updated Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility as the opening novel in the Austen Project. Mum & Dad is her twenty-second novel.