Forever Home
The warm, funny and twisty novel about family drama from the bestselling author
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4.1 • 131 Ratings
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- £0.99
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- £0.99
Publisher Description
Sunday Times bestselling novelist Graham Norton returns with his best novel yet.
A moving yet funny story about what happens when long-hidden secrets are uncovered, and the complex family dynamics around them.
'Dark, funny, full of emotional intelligence and gripping from the start. ..beautifully written... Wonderful.' DAILY MAIL
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'Fabulous.' MARIAN KEYES
'Top-notch... full of warmth, comedy and dark secrets.' DAILY MIRROR
'Beautifully constructed with a twisty plot. A cracking read.' JO BRAND
'Effortlessly readable, possessed of a super twist.' OBSERVER
'Blends dark humour and emotional weight with ease.' RADIO TIMES
'Full of Graham's trademark warmth and wit. It's also a complex mystery that ties its characters together in ways they'd least expect.' SUNDAY EXPRESS
'A winning mix of family drama and comedy crime caper... you may well find yourself reading it in one sitting.' HEAT
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Carol is a divorced teacher living in a small town in Ireland, happy enough with the life she has. But a second chance at love brings her unexpected connection and joy. The new relationship with sparks local gossip: what does a woman like her see in a man like that? What happened to his wife who abandoned him all those years ago?
When Declan becomes ill, things start to fall apart. His children are untrusting and greedy, and Carol is made to leave their beloved home with its worn oak floors and elegant features and move back in with her parents.
Carol's mother is determined to get to the bottom of things, she won't see her daughter treated this way. It seems there are secrets in Declan's past, strange rumours that were never confronted and suddenly the house they shared takes on a more sinister significance.
In his gripping and darkly comic new novel Norton casts a light on the relationship between mothers and daughters, and truth and self-preservation with unnerving effect.
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'His best yet.' SUNDAY POST
'What a fabulous read...Forever Home is his best so far. It's a complex and compelling story - truly unputdownable - but most importantly for me, it has real heart.' MARY LAWSON
'The latest comedy noir by Graham Norton features fractured families at their worst. I loved it!' LIZ NUGENT
'A tale of new beginnings and old secrets. Norton is the king of the Irish small town mystery.' ANNE GRIFFIN
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Norton (Home Stretch) misses the mark in this blend of emotional family saga and questionable crime cover-up set in seaside Ireland. Divorced English teacher Carol Crottie, 48, found second love with Declan Barry, the father of one of her students, 10 years ago. Declan's early-onset dementia leads his two children—unhappily isolated Sally and greedy, self-serving Killian—to pack him off to a nursing home and sell his beloved house in fictional Ballytoor. Carol's parents, owners of a successful café chain, use a shell company to secretly buy the house from Sally and Killian, but then Carol and her imposing mother, Moira, discover a body in a basement freezer. They assume it's the corpse of Joan, Declan's wife, who'd left suddenly years before. When Joan shows up and clearly knows more than she's telling, Moira concocts a series of schemes to get to the truth and avoid alerting the police, ostensibly to spare Declan from charges he can't defend. The family dramas, from Killian's unease with becoming a father with his husband to Carol's regression to adolescent frustration in the face of her parents' steamrollering, are evocatively rendered, but the oddly downplayed central traumas clash with the mildly humorous tone. Despite its zany plot, this is more limp than madcap.
Customer Reviews
My first time reading Graham Norton
I have not read any other books by Graham but did watch the tv adaptation of “Holding”. Which I enjoyed so I thought I would try this novel. It does draw you into the story and the characters. A bit of humour and a twist in the tale all make it a very good read. I enjoy very much and will read his other novels too.
Ok
Too much back and forth between different characters makes it quite confusing.
Too long and drawn out of a story.
Page turner
Excellent read could not put the book down.