In January 1995, Maisie Bean’s world is turned upside down when her beloved sixteen-year-old son Jeremy goes missing. Maisie has already had to deal with more than most, having lived with an abusive husband, and now caring for her mother Bridie, who has dementia. Jeremy and her younger daughter, Valerie, are her pride and joy, and she’ll go to the ends of the earth to get Jeremy back. I didn’t think Anna McPartlin could top the sensational The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes but she’s only gone and done it with the most beautiful book of the year so far. A tale of a mother’s fierce love, a son’s desperate secret, and a family’s beautiful bond, it is an incredibly moving, incredibly powerful story, with a final message that needs to be heard. Once again McPartlin creates not just a central character who readers will hold in their hearts, but a whole web of characters, from precocious but big-hearted Valerie to Maisie’s loyal but ailing mother Bridie, and of course the adorable Jeremy and his best friend Rave. And in the space of a single novel she captures the whole of humanity – the good, the bad and the ugly – and explores a slew of compelling issues. McPartlin is fast becoming one of my favourite authors and this book is testament to her brilliance. (JC)
Somewhere Inside of Happy is the latest tearjerker by Anna McPartlin. The summary says: "'And just like that my boy was gone.' Maisie Brennan is standing on a podium on the twentieth anniversary of the death of her son, trying to find the first breath that will help her start talking to a room full of strangers. A daunting task at the best of times, but she's also menopausal and one hot flush away from totally losing it. But as Maisie begins her story, she soon relaxes and word by word disappears into her past, back to 1st January 1995 - the day when one misunderstood action led to a chain of events that changed her life for ever." Somewhere Inside of Happy is out in May 2015.
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