View source for A Place For Us (Part 1) by Harriet Evans

{{infobox1
|title=A Place For Us (Part 1)
|sort= Place For Us (Part 1)
|author=Harriet Evans
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=The first part of what looks likely to be a great family saga.  Be warned - there's a cliffhanger ending and if you buy part one you're going to ''have'' to buy three more!
|rating=3.5
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=130
|publisher=Headline
|date=July 2014
|isbn=978-1472221285 
|cover=B00KIPSM98
|aznuk=B00KIPSM98
|aznus=B00KIPSM98
}}

Martha and David Winter live at Winterfold.  David Winter is a famous cartoonist but he and his wife are getting on a bit and life isn't quite as easy as it used to be, or, indeed for their children and grandchildren.  As we meet them in August 2012 Martha is sending out invitations for her eightieth birthday and she makes it clear that she'd like them all to be there.  Son Bill is the local GP and he’s struggling in his second marriage to the much younger Karen, but he’s still close to his daughter Lucy.  The girls are much further away.  Florence lives in Florence, just to confuse matters.  She’s a Professor, ferociously intelligent and emotionally naive.  Daisy is in India.  Her childhood was ‘’difficult’’ but she’s now doing charitable work - which isn't a lot of consolation for her daughter Cat whom she abandoned when she was a few weeks old.

This is the first of a four-part serialisation (in ebook format) of a book which will be published as a paperback and full ebook in January 2015.  The four individual parts will appear in July, August, September and October 2014 and - be warned - the first part ends in a vertiginous cliffhanger.  If that doesn't appeal to you then you might be better waiting until you can read all four parts in October, or for the full book in January 2015.

The characters are appealing - so far we seem to have the good, the bad and the downright awful.  There are some you'll be supporting before you’re far into the book and the odd one whom you’re hoping gets a decent comeuppance - but that’s all in the future. It’s difficult to comment on the plot.  The first line of the book teases - ''The day Martha Winter decided to tear her family apart began like any other day'' - but by the end of the first part we haven't heard any sound of ripping and only had the odd hint of where the seams might be weak.  There is though the promise of a darned good story to come.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag - and plead with them not to leave me in suspense for much longer.

If this type of story appeals to you - and you prefer to get the book all in one go - then we can recommend [[A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys Bray]] or [[Bring Me Home by Alan Titchmarsh]]

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