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Isa and May by Margaret Forster (view source)
Revision as of 18:01, 26 February 2010
, 18:01, 26 February 2010no edit summary
Isamay is a would-be academic and she's writing a thesis about grandmothers in history, inspired, one suspects, by her own grandmothers, Isa and May. Her efforts are constantly diverted by the present needs of her grandmothers and the secrets about their pasts which rise to the surface when she least expects them. There's another complication too. Isamay is in her thirties and has never wanted a child, but reconsiders, despite the fact that her partner, Ian, is adamant that he doesn't want children. The more Isamay delves, the more she realises that there are secrets in Ian's past too.
With Margaret Forster you never doubt that you are going to get a gripping story and that it will be well-told. ''Isa & May'' lives up to expectation. The grandmothers were present at Isamay's birth and have been in competition for her affections ever since. They're polar opposites in many ways – Isa relies on the social graces, whilst May is down-to-earth if not down-at-heel. Isa is tall and elegant where May is plump and homely. Isamay looks like Isa - they're both tall and Isa is forever commenting that they share the same, rather unusual eye pigment, but even here there are secrets lurking.
There were times when I could have cried as I read the book and others when I laughed out loud. Margaret Forster has a singular talent for bringing to life her female characters which few other authors can equal. You won't be far into the book before you ''know'' Isa and May, before you picture them and their homes. You'll forgive their foibles and failings because they're so human. The male characters fade a little into the background – I was never entirely convinced by either Isamay's father or her lover, but the women more than made up for this. I loved Isamay's mother – an academic with little will to be either mother or child, but with strong common sense when it was required.