Packing up her mother’s life, George instead unpacks her own…
Things you might be surprised to find when cleaning out your deceased mother’s house:
- a secret diary
- a family mystery
- a new lease on life
Grief-stricken middle-aged sisters George, Kat and Annie give themselves a week to pack up their childhood home and divide their mother’s belongings. Beloved items are contested: an Eames chair, a collection of war medals, a learn-to-read book. The sisters – bossy Kat, mediator George and petulant Annie – are hampered by sibling rivalry, the prickly demands of their own offspring, the needs of their disabled younger brother and, in George’s case, the after-effects of a spot of adultery.
The discovery of a decades’ old diary divides the women further: not only do they learn what their mother really thought of them, they learn that she had a life entirely of her own. They are not the family they thought they were – and their mother was so much more than she seemed. This revelation might be the key to George’s freedom…
Ilsa Evans is the bestselling author of fifteen books across a range of genres, from light fiction and short stories to memoir, murder mystery and YA fantasy. Two of her books have been shortlisted for the prestigious Davitt (Sisters in Crime) Awards, while her novel about domestic violence, Broken, was selected as Women’s Weekly Book of the Month. Her last novel, The Unusual Abduction of Avery Conifer was very popular here at Better Reading.
Family Baggage opens with the death of eighty-three-year-old Enid, who, in the moments leading up to her unexpected passing, wishes she’d had more time, mainly to put together a will. “And she most definitely would have burnt that old diary, destroyed the letter hidden in her wardrobe, culled her memorabilia box, and discarded the vibrator nestled amongst her sensible white underwear.”
But she didn’t, so her family – specifically her three very different daughters – are left with the aftermath of that. And there are multiple layers to this aftermath including inheritance issues, grief and their disabled brother Harry.
There are many laugh-out-loud moments in this novel. “The celebrant, chosen during the fog of raw bereavement, delivered a service so monotone that he made Enid’s life seem more depressing than her actual death.” But it’s also a very wise, authentic, multilayered exploration of family.
Writer George was a standout for me, with her discovery of Enid’s diary and the ramifications of that on her own complicated life, and her daughter Rhyll. But all three sisters and their families, and Harry, are well crafted. This really is an ensemble piece, and what Evans excels at is delivering the very different perspectives of each family member, together creating friction and a complex family dynamic.
Throughout it all are Enid’s revealing diary vignettes which not only provide an arc for this story but are also a reminder of how we often don’t really know those we’ve loved and lost.
A deeply insightful and wryly funny story perfect for readers of Meredith Jaffe and The Weekend by Charlotte Wood. While Family Baggage is an absorbing read for anyone, it’s particularly poignant for those of us in middle-age. Ilsa Evans has found a place on my auto-buy list after this.
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