Brilliant and mercurial Will Tye suffers a life changing accident. The terrible event ripples through three generations of the complex and eccentric Tye family, bringing to light old tragedies and dangerous secrets. Each member of the family holds some clue to the chain of events which may have led to the accident and each holds themselves to blame. Most closely affected is Will's cousin Cecelia, whose affinity with Will leaves her most vulnerable to his suffering and whose own life is for ever changed by how she will respond to it.

Told through the eyes of three women close to Will, his sister, his grandmother and his aunt, Cousins is a novel weaving darkness and light which takes us from the outbreak of World War Two to the present day, exploring the recurrence of tragedy, the nature of trangression, and the limits of morality and love. I really enjoyed this family drama.

I know that this book was given good review and I usually like the wonderful Salley Vicker's novels, especially when they have references to Catholicism, but I just couldn't get into this one at all, and I tried to read it about three times. It was just too dreary and depressing. I also found most of the characters a bit unlikable and not well-drawn.



I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

I absolutely love a family saga and Sally Vickers never disappoints, whatever the novel so I adored Cousins. Wa peek into the entire world of WiIl's accident is the catalyst for the unfolding of this vividly realised and gripping family tale which allows the reader a.window into the fascinating world of the Tye family and their unfolding history from the 1930s to the present day. I loved Hetta as a narrator and was very connected to her 'voice' as she pulled back the curtain on her family's tale. I loved Vickers' skill at exposing the characters' - warts and all - and letting us see them as each other see them as well as being able to gauge our own responses. I took this book on holiday and totally immersed myself in it and I'd recommend it to anyone who loved a strong character driven read with a pleasing side effect of making you think hard about the families you know and what makes them tick too. A five-star read.

Found it very hard to get into this. I found that the story dragged on and the narrators were just uninteresting to me. I struggled to find the motivation to pick this up. I think I've just been in a literary fiction funk lately. If you love literary fiction you'll probably love this.