This was my first book by Joanna Trollope. Whilst I did enjoy the writing style, I personally struggle to juggle multiple main characters in books. And as I don’t read synopses this was quite a surprise! However I did appreciate that the family was representative of most families, where there is some tension and hostility.

Thank you to the author and the publisher for a copy in exchange for my review

A good family saga, with siblings all with their own ideas and agenda things are never going to be simple and straight forward but the writer deals with it with humour which makes it a really good read

This was my first time reading a book by Joanna Trollope and I really enjoyed the authors style of writing. I enjoyed the plot and look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

Joanna Trollope is a well renowned author who has written many engaging tales over the years. These stories mostly centre around families from the UK and the ups and downs of their lives. Joanna brings witty yet wise insight into the day to day life of modern families. On this occasion, there are the retired parents who live overseas, have a health scare and the family comes rallying around - bringing all their baggage with them. Joanna investigates these family dynamics with the relationships across multiple generations. There seem to be many problems and a lot of trust issues.

A story such as this may resonate with readers who empathise with one or more of the characters and the issues that surround them. Joanna is a master of not only providing an array of character traits to identify with, but on this occasion, also the enticing vistas of the Spanish countryside. Sadly, however, I felt disengaged on this occasion and found it difficult to like many of the characters. And many characters there were with varying perspectives that it can become a bit confusing at times.

Overall, Mum & Dad is a tale of being honest, forgiveness - especially if misunderstandings are to be overcome. This is an easy read with Joanna’s writing quick to follow along with. For me, however, it just lacked a certain something, despite the family drama and is not one of the more memorable JoannaTrollope books.



This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Many years ago someone gave me a copy of this author's novel, The Men and the Girls. I truly enjoyed it.  From that beginning I have gone on to read many of Ms. Trollope's books.


In this novel, the titular parents, Monica and Gus, left their family in England to move to Spain many years ago.  They established a winery and a life there.  Gus was the dominant partner but Monica also loved things about Spain, especially watching the day begin while she sipped her tea.  This couple's life changes dramatically when Gus has a stroke.


Gus and Monica have three adult children, Sebastian, Katie and Jake.  Each has their own partner, children and issues.  As though the lives of the three were not already complex, now they have to figure out how their love and sense of responsibility for their parents will change their lives.  There are many choices to be made as the characters evolve.


I enjoyed this book and became absorbed in the lives of the characters.  Although not a main character, one of Katie's children self harms.  There is some helpful information about this condition in the novel.  Marta and other characters reflect the reality that life is generally filled with some better and some more challenging times.


For readers who are fans of high quality women's fiction, this title is highly recommended.  Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

#MumDad #NetGalley

If I were looking for an adjective for this book, I’d use the word “comfortable”. It is a pleasant diversion to sit down with a cup of tea and read the trials of a modern family beset with the usual problems. There are teenagers, there’s aging parents. There are adult children who are working on their marriages and their relationships with parents and siblings. I wish I could have liked Monica better, but then at then end she did pull her weight in helping a granddaughter through a difficult time.

I've had a few of the some experiences Monica had - notably a spouse who had a stroke and was then unable to drive. Unlike Monica, however, I didn't have family members or household help so I must admit her attitude really irritated me. I spent most of the book disliking her. Actually, I guess I disliked most of the characters. Everyone had problems, everyone was totally self-centered. As the book progressed, my views softened somewhat though I can't say I really liked any of them very much. It's an interesting look at a family, though, when the kids are adults and suddenly realize their parents are getting older and need help.

The writing is good and the story is believable. The situation is one many people may have to face in our aging population and there are no easy answers. Everyone reacts in a different way as the book illustrates.

I did enjoy the book for the most part.

I found it difficult to like the characters in this new novel by Joanna Trollope. The story tells of a family where the ‘mum and dad’ live on a vineyard in Spain, and all of the grown children live in London. The father in Spain has a stroke, and the story covers the family’s reactions to this and how it affects all their lives. Does it bring them together or tear them further apart? The family have very odd and mostly distant relationships with each other and I think the way these relationships are drawn made it hard for me to relate to the characters. It was a fairly interesting premise., but I have read better from this author. Thanks to Netgalley and Independent Publishers Group for an arc of this novel.

A multigenerational look at family dynamics as a family of three adult children come together to deal with fallout of their aging parents’ health challenges. The book takes us back and forth between London and southern Spain as the three generations navigate how the actions of many years ago determine their place in the family structure and the way forward when faced with life changing challenges. A thoroughly enjoyable and relatable read.

All families have their ups and downs. This family is no exception. The aging parents had moved to Spain from London many years ago to start a vineyard. Fast forward to the present when their three grown children living in London find themselves needed to help when their father has a stroke. Secrets are revealed and the story unfolds. Except for things wrapping up too neatly I found this book enjoyable and fast moving.

EXCERPT: . . . what would happen? What future was there for a business whose mainspring - Gus - was looking at a very changed way of living his life? What if he couldn't carry on, what if he and Monica couldn't even stay in Spain? Why hadn't they all thought of this, as a possibility, why hadn't they talked about it, why hadn't she and her brothers even discussed what might happen when their parents grew too old, too frail, to manage a vineyard on the slopes of a mountain in southern Spain?

Katie put her head down on her arms on the windowsill, the tiled windowsill that was cool now, but certainly not cold. It was shameful to have been so careless, to have been so wrapped up in the demands of their own lives that they hadn't really considered this, let alone planned for it.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: It’s been twenty-five years since Gus and Monica left England to start a new life in Spain, building a vineyard and wine business from the ground up. However, when Gus suffers a stroke and their idyllic Mediterranean life is thrown into upheaval, it’s left to their three grown-up children in London to step in . . .

Sebastian is busy running his company with his wife, Anna, who’s never quite seen eye-to-eye with her mother-in-law.

Katie, a successful solicitor in the City, is distracted by the problems with her long-term partner, Nic, and the secretive lives of their three daughters.

And Jake, ever the easy-going optimist, is determined to convince his new wife, Bella, that moving to Spain with their eighteen-month-old would be a good idea.

As the children descend on the vineyard, it becomes clear that each has their own idea of how best to handle their mum and dad, as well as the family business. But as long-simmering resentments rise to the surface and tensions reach breaking point, can the family ties prove strong enough to keep them together?

MY THOUGHTS: I have long been a fan of Joanna Trollope's writing. I have a collection of her books on my shelves, my comfort reads, my happy place.

I love how she captures the essence of family, the interactions of parents and children, siblings, husbands and wives. She tells it how it is, with her charming insightful honesty and a little humour. Trollope has an eye for detail and accurately depicts the quirks of human nature. She writes of situations that any and all of us might face, skillfully and with empathy.

In her newest book, Mum & Dad, Trollope looks at the problem of aging parents who live overseas, and the effects on the wider family when the wheels fall off the wagon.

Trollope's characters are wonderful. Gus, autocratic patriarch of the Meacham family and founder of a winery on the mountain slopes of southern Spain. Monica, his long suffering wife who uprooted the family so Gus could live his dream. Sebastian, elder son, pessimist, is having problems in his marriage to Anna, and feels that neither his wife nor his two sons 'see' him any more. It doesn't help, either, that his parents and Anna have never gotten on. Katie, partner to Nic, lawyer, mother of three daughters, whose relationship with her own mother is somewhat tenuous. And Jake, the golden boy, eternal optimist, who can do no wrong in his mother's eyes, married to Bella and father to Mousie (Molly). The three siblings have never been close, so how are they going to cope now that they all have to pull together, and take care of their parents problems along with their own?

This was, as are all of Trollope's novels, a lovely read. A read where first impressions are deceptive, and the hidden depths of the characters are plumbed. Highly recommended - a realistic and intensely pleasurable read.

❤❤❤❤

#MumDad #NetGalley

Jake to his father's consultant: 'My father is so stubborn, he makes a mule look obliging.'

And I fist pumped the air when Monica tells Gus: '...nothing is going to be the same. Nothing. Do you hear me, you stupid, stubborn old man?'

THE AUTHOR: Joanna Trollope Potter Curteis (aka Caroline Harvey)

Joanna Trollope was born on 9 December 1943 in her grandfather's rectory in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, England, daughter of Rosemary Hodson and Arthur George Cecil Trollope. She is the eldest of three siblings. She is a fifth-generation niece of the Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope and is a cousin of the writer and broadcaster James Trollope. She was educated at Reigate County School for Girls followed by St Hugh's College, Oxford. On 14 May 1966, she married the banker David Roger William Potter, they had two daughters, Antonia and Louise, and on 1983 they divorced. In 1985, she remarried to the television dramatist Ian Curteis, and became the stepmother of two stepsons; they divorced in 2001. Today, she is a grandmother and lives on her own in London.

From 1965 to 1967, she worked at the Foreign Office. From 1967 to 1979, she was employed in a number of teaching posts before she became a writer full-time in 1980. Her novel Parson Harding's Daughter won in 1980 the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to IPG Macmillan via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Mum & Dad by Joanna Trollope for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Mum and Dad is a beautiful and intelligently written generational saga set in rural Spain. The writing is fantastic with description that I can only explain as gently comprehensive. The book just flows in a way that feels comforting, despite the tense moments in the narrative. I loved the characters Joanna Trollope created so very much. They were incredibly full-bodied and just felt so tangible. Even characters I hated were still characters that she filled with such great description and personality that they felt incredibly real. Mum and Dad by Joanna Trollope was hauntingly beautiful and emotionally fraught. It shows such great talent in the author and presents a story that feels so amazingly real and tangible. It is family fiction at its finest and shows amazing ingenuity and uniqueness in its construction and execution. Very much worth the read.

With thanks to Netgalley and The Independent Publishers’ Group for a digital copy. Set in southern Spain the story begins with Gus’ stroke and its ramifications for his family - his wife Monica, their three children and their grandchildren. Trollope examines relationships between the couples, between parents and their children and between siblings as fracture lines start to develop. She explores themes of work-life balance, career parenting, teenage self-harm and the fraught juggling act faced by the sandwich generation. As Gus recovers his family must come together to face next steps, but first they have to address the tensions which already exist between them. This is a lovely read which I thoroughly enjoyed. The characters were well developed, the issues described universally relevant, presented with realism and not neatly resolved. The warmth of the Spanish sun and the whisper of vines provided a stunning backdrop and even in lockdown I could feel myself there.

Thank you NetGalley and Independent Publishers Group for the eARC.
Gus and Monica left England for Spain 25 years ago
where Gus started an award winning vineyard. They have three children, their eldest son and daughter stayed home, but their youngest son stayed with them in Spain. They are not ideal parents, life in Spain being full-on with the hard work required running their vineyard.
When Gus has a stroke, there is much conflict between the siblings as to who should help out their parents. All three have their own careers, school going children and lives in London and seemingly feel out upon having their lives upended.
I've always enjoyed Joanna Trollope's books and did like this one, except for the characters. The story is absorbing and clips along at a good pace, but unfortunately I disliked every character, except the housekeeper. To my mind, everyone in the family was annoying. Even the end didn't make me feel better towards them. That said, I did find myself absorbed by the story. Had I liked the characters, I would have given it 5 stars...

I’d like to thank Macmillan and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Mum and Dad’ by Joanna Trollope in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Gus and Monica Beacham move to Spain in 1993, they build up a vineyard from empty fields and produce award-winning wines. When Monica finds Gus spread-eagled on the floor after suffering a stroke she realises that he won’t be able to run the business any longer and they’re going to need help. Their children, Sebastian, Katie and Jake all have families and their own lives in England but Gus’s stroke affects every member of the Beacham family in ways they couldn’t have expected. Jake immediately offers to move himself, wife Bella and baby Mouse to Spain to continue the family business but Jake has a reason for needing to get away from England that the rest of the family aren’t aware of.

It’s been more years than I care to remember since I’ve read a novel by Joanna Trollope and I liked every one, so I was delighted to be offered ‘Mum and Dad’ which I can truthfully say I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Joanna Trollope has the ability to get inside a character and explore their strengths and weaknesses, their secrets and the love they have for each other, although kept hidden a lot of the time. The characters are interesting especially Monica who’s the kind of person I’d like to get to know better. She has a calming influence especially on Nic and Katie’s daughters, she’s kind-hearted and considerate and brings out the best in people. This is the kind of novel that’s easy to read and once started is impossible to put down. I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

What is juicier than a novel centered on a family in crisis? Joanna Trollope brings her mastery of character and place to this rich read of a family in turmoil--of the secrets, lies, betrayals, and loves which push them apart and bring them back together. A wonderful and wonderfully wise read.

I've been excited about this book since I first heard about it, and it did not disappoint. The characters sucked you into the story and the story kept you turning pages as fast as you could. I devoured it in a day. I loved it.

This was my first Joanna Trollope novel and I really enjoyed this layered story about family, legacy, adolescence, marriage, and the layers and layers of lives we each live.

This story is about Gus and Monica who are living in Spain, running a vineyard. Their three children, Jack, Katie, and Sebastian and their families. There are a lot of characters in the story between the parents, their kids, he kids' partners, and the kid's children, there are 13 right there. Then there is the help staff in the house in Spain which has at least 2 more main characters. Amazingly, I had no trouble keeping track of any of them.

Some characters are better developed than others and there are a handful that I definitely wished I could learn more about (Daisy and Nic come to mind.) But each of the characters are quite distinct and the story is mostly about the parents and their three kids in trying to decide what will happen now that the father has had a stroke.

I liked the way the story shows how each character has a complicated life and many different things they are juggling at the same time, some great, some really hard. In life, most of the time, this is the case and then something big happens (like the stroke) and it just mixes in with all the other big and small things that are already happening to you so you have to sort through it all. I felt that part was really realistic and well done.

By the end of the story, I was invested in each of the characters and really enjoyed this family story and stayed up way too late to finish it.

with gratitude to netgalley and Mantle for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

3.5* rounded up.

This was very readable, as Joanna Trollope always is, and I enjoyed the first half very much. The second half however, during which various things were resolved, was less satisfactory. Some of the characters behaved in ways which moved the story along, but seemed completely out of the blue:

SPOILERS

- why were Dermot and Marcus suddenly so keen to go to Spain?

- why did Monica decide to come to London and why did she suddenly bond with Marta?

- why didn't Anna ask Sebastian if it was true he was planning to run the vineyard with his father?

- when did Sebastian take control of the vineyard accounts (and wasn't it Anna really with the bookkeeping skills)?

- why was Jake surprised that his father (who had lived in Spain for decades) was resident there for tax purposes?

- why was it acceptable to call a child Mousie? (Maybe that just annoyed me!)