On a sunny afternoon, Grace’s young daughter Lotte, darts recklessly onto a busy road. Melody, sharing an icecream with her son Skipper, reacts instinctively to save her as Eddy, heading home from work, slams on his brakes and holds his breath. It’s a near miss, and a grateful Grace invites Melody and Eddy to dinner as a gesture of thanks.

“Years later Melody would wonder what might have happened had Romy and Eddy gone tidily home to their lives. The dinner party probably would have ended with them all saying goodbye at the earliest polite point. Some lives might not have ended in the way they did. Others might not have begun at all.”

The dinner party is a bit of a disaster, given they share little in common. Grace tries too hard, Melody is bored, and Eddy is devastated when his girlfriend, Romy, leaves with Melody’s plus one, and doesn’t come back. Yet circumstance conspires to keep them within reach of each other’s orbit as time moves on.

‘It’s no one’s fault. It’s just the pick-up-sticks of the universe, falling in a certain way. Now we look at what’s there and work out how to make the best of it.’

This is a character driven novel that unfolds over the course of about a year. Grace’s marriage collapses and she struggles with her new reality as a single mum. Melody continues to rely on her mantra ‘the universe will provide’ and just when Eddy is ready to move on, Romy comes back.

At the heart of the story lies the theme of friendship, and how the ‘near miss’ serves as an unexpected catalyst which sparks the formation of a bond between three very disparate people.

Unfortunately I didn’t really connect with the characters in a way which allowed me to become invested in their unspooling lives. It seemed obvious that Grace and her husband would find their way back to each other. I thought Eddy was boring, and I cared not a whit for Romy’s fate. Melody, I felt, was more flaky and vaguely irritating, than spiritual and enigmatic.

I have enjoyed several other novels by Fran Cusworth, most particularly Sisters of Spicefield, but for me The Near Miss was unremarkable and mundane, Goodreads reviews suggest I’m in the minority though, so it seems to be a case of ‘me,not you’.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

At the scene of an accident, three ordinary people are thrown together in a heartfelt romp through the dramas of suburban life.
Grace, hardworking and tired, wants another baby. But she's weighed down by debt, a manic 4-year-old and a jobless husband determined to make his inventions into reality. Can they both get their way, or will competing dreams tear their marriage apart?
Eddy analyses risk for a living, but his insecurities have brought his own life to a halt. He won't let go of the flighty, unfaithful Romy, but will he ever risk believing in himself?
Melody is trying to raise her son Skip in the city while holding true to her hippie lifestyle. But will past mistakes and social pressure force her to leave her beliefs behind?

The titular "Near Miss" is the catalyst for this group of strangers to meet and, from then on, we get alternative views of their lives, problems, happiness - and their friendships in general.

This would be easy to write off as "women's fiction" or "domestic drama" but, for me, it was far more than those simple labels. This story of friends, shared experiences and suburban life is easily relatable to all of us.

The best thing about this book, for me, were the characters. Inevitably, with stories such as these, the characters play a very important role (especially when "plot" isn't anywhere near as important), and Cusworth has done an amazing job with these. There is enough differences between them to give them their own identity but deep down, they are all pretty much the same, so their interactions and judgements have a quality of truth and understanding to them. They are also not too dramatic - there are enough light moments to keep the "drama queens" label at arm's length. There are a few moments when I felt like the writing was overdone and we were left with overwrought situations but, for the vast majority of this book, the balance between characters and emotions was just about spot on.

Recommended reading for those who want stories about real people dealing with real issues.


Paul
ARH