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A Keeper: The Sunday Times Bestseller

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She is less than keen on her remaining family, riddled with conflict and devious machinations, but she has to clear her mother's house with a view to selling it. I love Graham Norton's writing and I would have read it in one sitting if I could, but I needed some sleep in between. This compelling new novel confirms Graham Norton’s status as a fresh, literary voice, bringing his clear-eyed understanding of human nature and its darkest flaws.

Overall, I liked the story and the plot and felt it was fairly well written, although it did bring to mind shades of "Wuthering Heights" meets "Jane Eyre" meets "Rebecca". I don't like to do that with NetGalley reads though, so I may have to rethink on that in the future.He is the host of the comedy chat show The Graham Norton Show and the BBC commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest. Graham's writing is effortless; his Irish roots are very much evident and he uses that to his advantage. The book goes back and forward in time telling the story from both Elizabeth in present day and her mother Patricia in the past.

I was determined to finish it, although was proud of myself to see it out till the bitter end which,although sad, ended on a positive note. There was a creepy ‘Rebecca’ feel to Patricia’s sections, the isolated house perched alongside a ruined castle on the wild coast – Ireland, not Cornwall, but still – a strange man, a crazed old woman, and secrets galore! The next chapter is the "Now" and we meet a young single mom who has just learned her mom has passed. Alternating masterfully between “Now” and “Then,” from Convent Hill in the town of Buncarragh just outside Kilkenny, Ireland to the remote Castle House by the sea near West Cork, Graham Norton spins the tale of Patricia Keane and her daughter Elizabeth.

But nobody seems to know anything about Edward Foley, and the deeper she digs she discovers that she knows nothing about where she came from. He is visiting his gay father, Elliot in California, a man he has seen little of since his parents acrimonious split. In doing so she finds some letters, written from her father to her mother right at the start of their relationship. There is always a soft and homely humour in the background of his books, and his traditional characters shine through with personality. The two treads of the story, current and historical , presented in parallel are an easy read and except for one element the plot is totally acceptable: where are Mary's relatives?

Loneliness features in the lives of several of the characters but Elizabeth’s life is more positive at the end of the book. I'd have given up after the third chapter, but - having read some excellent reviews here on Goodreads - I felt sure the story would pick up towards the end. While staying at her mother's home, Elizabeth is informed there's a codicil to her mother's will and also finds letters from her father that he wrote to her mother almost 40 years ago.I did feel hatred for Edwards mother, yes he was a mummy's boy but why did she have a hold over him? Stumbling across a small wooden box of letters penned to her mother in the early Seventies in response to a lonely hearts advert by the man she has been told is her father it provides her first opportunity to learn more about Edward Foley. His first novel I loved so when I seen he had this new novel coming out, I just had to get myself a copy.

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