NEW RELEASE
The House of Memories - Monica McInerney (2012)
From the start of this book, I just fell in love with the wonderful main character Ella. We meet her as a curious young girl, travelling with her parents to visit her uncle Lucas in England. He is an eccentric scholar and his house is filled with talented universtity students, who have their accommodation free in exchange for tutoring local students. He loves foxes, as does Ella, and they have an instant connection. What child wouldn't really? He is young at heart, understanding, thoughtful and loving. I found myself wishing I had an uncle like that too! As the years go on, Ella's parents separate and her mother remarries, and Ella's relationship with Lucas continues via her stepdad's fax machine. She sends her uncle many faxes as a child to which he responds quickly. This beatiful little interaction makes the bond between the two even stronger, and Lucas becomes the unofficial "father figure" in her life. The faxes are of great comfort to Ella as she adapts to life with a new dad and a new stepbrother Charlie but most importantly when her sister is born - the "whole" child as her and Charlie call her - they are the halves, one from each parent. We see the bond grow between Charlie and Ella in their childhood, and then meet Ella again after she has grown up, fallen in love, and has a child. It's here that we get to the core of the story... the hint of pain and sadness of an event that has somehow changed the curious little girl we meet at the start of the story. We take the journey with Ella and learn of not just her own, but her family's, personal recollections and emotions to the event as she uncovers them. This is a lovely story about family, life, loss, forgiveness and love. I highly recommend it, just make sure you have a box of tissues handy... the tears can creep up on you suddenly. (VF)
In The House of Memories, by Monica McInerney, sometimes the hardest lessons to learn are those that matter most. The summary says: "Following a tragic accident, Ella O'Hanlon flees to the other side of the world in an attempt to escape her grief, leaving behind the two people she blames for her loss: Aidan, the love of her life, and Jess, her spoilt half-sister. In London Ella is taken in by her beloved uncle Lucas, whose extraordinary house holds many wonderful memories for her. Along with other members of the very colourful Fox family, Lucas helps Ella to see that she is not the only one still hurting, and that forgiveness can be the greatest healer in a family and in a marriage." The House of Memories is out in October.