Forever Home: THIS SUMMER'S MUST-READ NOVEL FROM GRAHAM NORTON

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The blurb reads: “Carol is a divorced teacher living in a small town in Ireland, her only son now grown up. In his tense and darkly comic new novel Norton casts a light on the relationship between mothers and daughters, and truth and self-preservation with unnerving effect. SHAPIRO: This novel, "Forever Home," unfolds from so many different perspectives. We see chapters through the eyes of different narrators. Was there one character who was your inroad to this story?

Forever Home by Graham Norton | Hachette UK

After Declan is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, Carol stops teaching and turns to full-time care of her partner. Norton paints a frank picture of the harrowing fatigue involved in caring. The ungoverned matter of care-giving and love is inextricable; it is a civil duty demanded of half the world’s population. For women, love and unpaid caring duties are often an involuntary undertaking we are forced to perform. SHAPIRO: What a perfect answer. Graham Norton - his new novel is called "Forever Home." It's been such a pleasure talking to you. Thank you.Still, Forever Home is effortlessly readable – mainly thanks to its reliance on explanatory speech rather than descriptive prose – possessed of a super twist and full of rounded characters to keep close to your heart. This novel, about a family often on the edge, is set in a small town in Ireland and narrated by the author, Graham Norton. It's my first book by this author and I consider it a cozy mystery. I'd like to thank the publisher HarperAudio, NetGalley. and the author, for this ARC for my honest review. A second chance at love brings her unexpected connection and belonging. But her relationship with Declan sparks local speculation: What does a woman like her see in a man like him? What happened to his wife who abandoned them all those years ago? But the gossip only serves to bring the couple closer.

Forever Home: Graham Norton’s latest cosy crime yarn is Forever Home: Graham Norton’s latest cosy crime yarn is

Carol has lived for years in a grand old terraced house with the “second love of her life”, Declan. Declan’s wife has long since disappeared, having left “poor Mr Barry” and their children without a trace, many years previously. That’s all in the past, or so it seems, until Declan falls ill and ends up in permanent care, and disputes over ownership of the house end up uncovering darker secrets involving, you guessed it, a dead body. SHAPIRO: And yet you were well into your career before you started writing fiction. When you began as an author, you started as a memoirist. What made you decide to make that move? Irish comedian Norton casts a gimlet eye on relationships in this fourth novel set in the land of his birth. I absolutely loved this book. The arc I received was poorly presented, with no chapter breaks, nor, at times, paragraph breaks, so a fair bit of rereading took place, but this still did not detract from a great book.At the core of this Family Drama is a focus on mother-daughter relationships, the price one pays for keeping long-held secrets, and, through it all, attempting to live your best life. There's a large cast of characters from: Carol, a divorced teacher, her easy-going boyfriend Declan, Carol's energetic and opinionated mother, Moira (who I enjoyed and laughed about), Carol's father, her only son, and Declan's selfish, adult children: one is a gay son married to his partner and the other is a fractured daughter.

Forever Home by Graham Norton | Waterstones Forever Home by Graham Norton | Waterstones

Having really enjoyed other novels by Graham Norton, I was looking forward to reading his latest, Forever Home. It follows teacher Carol who, after getting divorced, moves in with a much older man, Declan. This sets the locals gossiping until Declan becomes too ill to live at home, and is moved into a care home. Declan's children from his first marriage force Carol to leave the family home... Effortlessly readable, possessed of a super twist and full of rounded characters to keep close to your heart.' THE OBSERVER

Carol is devasted knowing Declan would be against selling the family home but with no other choice she moves in with her mother Moira. NORTON: Well, now, I don't know about you - I'm in awe of young people who write novels because - I don't know - when I was in my kind of late teens, early 20s, 30s, I was out. You know, I didn't have time to sit... Carol Crottie has found a second chance at love with her student’s father, Declan Barry. A few years earlier, Declan’s wife Joan had mysteriously “abandoned her family” – though rumours still circulate. But her transition from teacher to stepmother drives a wedge between Declan and his children, Sally and Killian.

Forever Home | Graham Norton | 9781529391398 | NetGalley Forever Home | Graham Norton | 9781529391398 | NetGalley

The writing style is delightful as ever, and I laughed so much at Graham Norton's sharp descriptions of his characters and biting observations of the stuff they say and do.

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Forever Home" was a compelling and interesting blend of literary fiction and mystery. The author expertly and empathetically delved into the complications and intrinsic complexity of step-families while simultaneously offering up a murder mystery linked to long hidden family secrets. But Moira comes up with a brilliant idea! She and Dave will secretly put a bid on the house and buy it! Carol is horrified but can't stop the train which Moira seems to be on from going off the rails! Carol’s mother is determined to get to the bottom of things—she won't see her daughter suffer this way. It seems there are secrets in Declan's past, strange rumors that were never confronted, and suddenly the house they shared takes on a more sinister significance that affects them all.