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SHAPIRO: ...What makes her so delightful - right? - is the - like, what are you doing here? Well, I guess you're here. SHAPIRO: It's not disclosures about the inner life. It is just a sort of, like, filling the air with sounds. Carol is a divorced teacher living in a small town in Ireland, her only son now grown. A second chance at love brings her unexpected connection and belonging. The new relationship sparks local speculation: what does a woman like her see in a man like that? What happened to his wife who abandoned them all those years ago? But the gossip only serves to bring the couple closer. After Declan is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, Carol stops teaching and turns to full-time care of her partner. Norton paints a frank picture of the harrowing fatigue involved in caring. The ungoverned matter of care-giving and love is inextricable; it is a civil duty demanded of half the world’s population. For women, love and unpaid caring duties are often an involuntary undertaking we are forced to perform.
Forever Home by Graham Norton: the intricacies of family life Forever Home by Graham Norton: the intricacies of family life
Since Declan seems to be getting worse, he is unable to help him with this problem, so Moira comes up with a plan which Carol reluctantly must agree with. This house which Carol loved and cared for all those years has turned into The Nightmare on Elm Street and they just hope their plan does not land them both in jail! So, Carol, must vacate the house and move in with her parents Moira, her judgmental mother and Dave, her quiet seemingly spacy father who only seems to do as he is told. How could this happen to her, especially at her age? Dark, funny, full of emotional intelligence and gripping from the start. ..beautifully written... Wonderful.' DAILY MAIL When Declan developed early onset dementia, his adult children placed him in a care facility and put the home on the market. Holding won the Irish book Award for Popular Fiction and was made into a major ITV drama, directed by Kathy Burke, scheduled for this spring, on Virgin Media, while A Keeper was shortlisted for both the Specsavers Popular Fiction Award and the Irish Book Award. Home Stretch won the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction.I’ve enjoyed all of Graham Norton’s novels thusfar, especially A Keeper and Home Stretch. This one actually probably most resembles Holding (which I would consider his weakest) in the sense that it is effectively a dark comedy, a caper, veering into farce at times. Once you accept this is what it is, it’s a very enjoyable read, full of warmth and humour, and an excellent character in Moira. Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
Forever Home – HarperCollins Forever Home – HarperCollins
A second chance at love brings her unexpected connection and belonging. But her relationship with Declan sparks local speculation: What does a woman like her see in a man like him? What happened to his wife who abandoned them all those years ago? But the gossip only serves to bring the couple closer. Still, Forever Home is effortlessly readable – mainly thanks to its reliance on explanatory speech rather than descriptive prose – possessed of a super twist and full of rounded characters to keep close to your heart. Effortlessly readable, possessed of a super twist and full of rounded characters to keep close to your heart.' THE OBSERVER NORTON: ...Is taken from my mother, where - you know, silence in the car to me is you're driving along silently. For my mother, it is a constant monologue...
Customer reviews
Norton said: "There was a time in my life when I thought I would never manage to write a novel, so to be publishing my fourth feels a little surreal and very special.
Forever Home | Graham Norton | 9781529391398 | NetGalley Forever Home | Graham Norton | 9781529391398 | NetGalley
Carol's mother is determined to get to the bottom of things, she won't see her daughter suffer in 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. Carol Crottie has found a second chance at love with her student’s father, Declan Barry. A few years earlier, Declan’s wife Joan had mysteriously “abandoned her family” – though rumours still circulate. But her transition from teacher to stepmother drives a wedge between Declan and his children, Sally and Killian.The list of celebrities who have published novels is long and weird. Did the world really need YA dystopia from Kylie and Kendall Jenner, or stream-of-consciousness blather from Morrissey? Even Tom Hanks couldn’t win over critics with his 2017 short story collection, Uncommon Type. But it seems the world could always do with more Graham Norton. 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 Forever Home" was a compelling and interesting blend of literary fiction and mystery. The author expertly and empathetically delved into the complications and intrinsic complexity of step-families while simultaneously offering up a murder mystery linked to long hidden family secrets.
FOREVER HOME | Kirkus Reviews FOREVER HOME | Kirkus Reviews
I really hope readers enjoy losing themselves in the twists and turns of this tale as much as I have." Carol frets: “It wasn’t clear what role she could play in his life now.” As so often for women, we are asked to sublimate our needs to those of others – children, to elderly parents, to partners. A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism. Carol’s mother is determined to get to the bottom of things—she won't see her daughter suffer this way. It seems there are secrets in Declan's past, strange rumors that were never confronted, and suddenly the house they shared takes on a more sinister significance that affects them all.A winning mix of family drama and comedy crime caper ... you may well find yourself reading it in one sitting.' HEAT Although I feel like this novel is quite a different kind of story from Graham Norton's other novels (not sure why exactly - perhaps just because we're focusing on a woman as the main character this time?), it still heavily focuses on family and community. The characters are also just as brilliant as they have been in his other novels, and feel very convincing. I can imagine knowing these people. They're written with such charm (though some of them are definitely NOT charming!) and honesty, and I would have happily read a lot more about Carol and the community of this small Irish town.
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