Review by Booklist Review
Tempestuous mother-daughter relationships, with their psychologically rich undertones of repressed jealousy, transparent contempt, and perceived disapproval, form the crux of Moyes' accomplished debut novel. Set in a remote Irish village, and mining the popular "my mother never understood me" genre with a potent and provocative tale of three generations of Ballantyne women, Moyes' tale reveals with empathic sensitivity the heavy emotional baggage burdening each woman. There's Sabine, a headstrong, petulant, and typically resentful teenager, perpetually at odds with her mother, Kate, a thirtysomething woman whose self-image is measured by a string of disastrous love affairs, and who is troubled by an equally strained relationship with her own mother, Joy, the matriarch whose rigid reserve safeguards painful personal and family secrets. Comparisons to Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher will be inevitable and not altogether undeserved, and in style and substance Moyes is a worthy addition to their ranks. Fluidly paced and cast with engaging characters, Moyes' book offers escapist entertainment in the best tradition of those masters of British Isles domestic fiction. Carol Haggas
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Loosely based on the story of her own grandparents, Sheltering Rain is the impressive debut of U.K. author Jojo Moyes. Joy and her husband, edward, meet during coronation festivities in Hong Kong in 1953. Forty years later, they are living on a ramshackle Irish estate, where edward's health is rapidly declining. Their spunky granddaughter Sabine arrives and is at first miserable in the grim surroundings. Weeks later, she is followed by her flighty mother, Kate, from whom Joy has been estranged for years. There are plenty of fireworks among the three and the strong supporting cast as old secrets come to the surface in this absorbing family drama. National advertising. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Touchy relationships among several generations of mothers and daughters mark this first novel by British journalist Moyes. Chapters alternate between the early days of Joy and Edward Ballayntyne's marriage in Hong Kong and their present-day struggles with London-based daughter Kate and granddaughter Sabine. At 15, Sabine despises her single mother, whose frequent change of boyfriends keeps their household in flux. While Kate irons out her latest man problem, she sends Sabine to live on the family estate in Ireland with her estranged parents, whose passion is horse breeding. Grandmother is coldly stern, and grandfather is ancient and bedridden. Their employee, Thom, teaches Sabine to ride horses, a pastime that thaws the teenager's sullenness. When Kate visits Ireland for the first time since she fled ten years earlier, she is amazed to find her daughter not only happily tending horses but also her difficult grandparents. But while things may be healing on the home front, Kate's romantic life is still turbulent: she encounters an old flame from her younger days on the estate, which reopens old wounds. The Irish setting and warmly described family relationships will appeal to fans of Maeve Binchy. Recommended. Carol J. Bissett, New Braunfels P.L., TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
