Forever Home: The warm, funny and twisty novel about family drama from the bestselling author of FRANKIE

A warm, twisting, turning read. Sometimes sad, poigniant & also funny/strained/dysfunctional family relationships. Will definitely be seeking out other books by this author.

I bloody love Graham Norton. I honestly think he makes the world a better place, and I love his writing. On a more detail-oriented note, I was blown away by how utterly human this story is. It is very much character-driven, and it does a superb job of exploring the relationships between all the characters.

I have to admit to being a big fan of Graham Norton, both on TV and as a writer, and have enjoyed all his various memoirs and works of fiction. I particularly like that although he sets all his stories in somewhat genteel, small-town Ireland, he always manages to run a strong, dark thread right through them, with this book perhaps being the darkest so far. The story itself had me turning every page with anticipation, as desperate to discover its secrets as the heroine, Carol. Bereft at the loss of her partner, in mind if not body, she is served a double-whammy when his children sell her family home from under her, forcing her, in late middle age, to return home to live with her aged parents. But she's not done with the house - or perhaps its not done with her - and her mother is definitely not standing for the shabby treatment of her beloved daughter. While Carol stands helplessly by, her parents take charge and make plans to right a perceived wrong - but the best laid plans can go awry, and these go very awry indeed. As I say, this is quite possibly the darkest of Graham's novels but, as ever, there is a rich seam of humour and Irish fatalism running right through it. As the English-born child of an Irish parent, I was, nevertheless, surrounded by Irish accents from an early age, and every bit of dialogue here played out in my head with that wonderful Irish lilt and rhythm. An absolute corker of a story, brilliantly conceived and written. Can't wait for the next one!