THE ALPHABET SISTERS

THE ALPHABET SISTERS by Monica McInerney

Anna, Bett and Carrie were sisters and childhood singing stars (The Alphabet Sisters). Unfortunately after a family falling out... Bett's fiance deserting her for her younger sister Carrie, things were never the same and the sisters all went their separate ways and as adults hadn't spoken for years. Their much loved, slightly eccentric, crontrolling, larger than life, but very wise grandmother, summonded them home (Clare Valley, S.A.) for her 80th birthday party and surprise announcement. This of course was just a ploy to reunite the sisters and for them to realise they need each other. 

Lola has decided to stage a play in town with local actors and each of her granddaughters have an important role to play. As they work together to bring Lola's dream into being their relationships start to mend. During the course of the story we are submursed into the lives of the three sisters, their trials and tribulations and the misconceptions they have about each other and what really happened all those years before that put a huge barrier between them.


This was a lovely book to read, touching and funny and a twist towards the end had me in tears.  It is a reminder to us that we shouldn't let things get in the way of relationships and it is better to deal with the issues before they become impossible to mend.

I enjoyed Monica's style of writing which flowed well and I liked the way she linked the story with Australia and Ireland. The antics of the grandmother had me smiling as I could tell what she was up to even if the sisters didn't catch on. Monica's new book 'Lola's Secret' is out in bookshops now and apparently it is set four years later when Lola invites some friends for a Christmas dinner to remember. Can't wait for that one!

AT HOME WITH THE TEMPLETON'S

After reading my first Monical McInerney novel I decided to try another and it didn't disappoint in fact I think I liked it better. Similar in style, a having a connection in the story with England and Australia, this book was set mostly in the town of Castlemaine. The story starts as Gracie is heading from London back to the house she once lived in as a child outside Castlemaine. We relive the lives of the Templeton's living in their inherited statley home, which on weekends turns into a tourist attraction, the family all in period costume. By all accounts their neighbours and town folk think this family is eccentric, pecular and very unusual.

Their lives become intanged with the Donavan's, mother Nina and son Tom. At first Nina wants nothing to do with them but as time goes on the relatinship between these families twist and turn until one day a tragedy tears them apart and it seems there is no way they will ever be friends again.

The story has secrets, romance, addictions, betrayal, accidents and lots more... so you really can't wait until the next chapter to see what will happen. Once again the style of Monica's writting is easy to read but extremely touching and I think I am now hooked to read the rest of her collection.

About the author:  Australian-born, Dublin-based, Monica McInerney is the author of the best-selling novels. She is 46 and grew up in a family of seven children in the Clare Valley wine region of South Australia, where her father was the railway stationmaster and her mother worked in the local library. Since then Monica has lived all around Australia (in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart) in Ireland (in County Meath and Dublin) and in London and also travelled widely. She was a book publicist for ten years, working in Ireland and Australia and promoting authors such as Roald Dahl, Tim Winton, Edna O’Brien and Max Fatchen and events such as the Dublin International Writers’ Festival.For the past twenty years she and her Irish husband have been moving back and forth between Australia and Ireland.

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