Product Description

Things are never dull in the O'Connell family. Still, Fiona, squeezed between her quiet brother and her mischievous line-dancing twin sisters, thinks life in their tenement flat is far less interesting than Emily Bronte's. But tragedy is not confined to Victorian novels. And life for Fiona in this happy domestic setup is about to change forever. Following the devastating events of a single day, her family can never be the same. But perhaps, new relationships will develop - built on a solid foundation of love. Moving, funny and ultimately heart-warming, "Being Emily" is a wonderful novel about one young girl trying to find her place in the world amid the turmoil that only your own family can create.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124881 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 298 pages

Review
Donovan writes with bittersweet amplomb.
--The Times

Sunday Herald
With its heart-wrenching plot and spirited prose, Donovan's latest novel is her best offering yet.

Good Housekeeping
A sparky story ... buzzing with Glaswegian patois, this is a charming coming-of-real-life novel

Customer Reviews

Real characters, real life
I have just finished this wonderful book and know I will be thinking about the twists and turns in the story for a long time. As you turn the last pages you have no idea how it's 'gonnae end.' It's funny to start with but that doesn't last. The atmosphere becomes very dark by half way and I applaud Anne Donovan for keeping the reader in suspense for so much of the book. You can see the story being played out in the lives of so many people walking the streets and shopping centres in town. So many issues to think about. If you're in a book group choose this for discussion! I can't wait for our group to mull this over in the autumn.

Second half much better than the first half
Fiona is one of 4 children. Her brother Patrick is older than she is (by quite a few years) and then there are the twins, Mona and Rona, a good few years younger than she is. They live in Glasgow with their mother and father and the beginning of the novel introduces all of the characters with a little information about them; making it easier to know who is who.

Narrated in first person by Fiona, we are told the story of her life from being a child until she has become a young woman. It is a nice coming of age story. Fiona narrates in Glaswegian and whilst the accent initially was tricky it soon becomes part of the narrative and you forget about it. Even for words that you may not recognise, it is easy to put them into context.

Fiona's life is challenging at times and Anne Donovan certainly doesn't hold back but what you have to remember as a reader is that we are party to the challenges through the eyes of whatever age Fiona is at the time of them happening. It is easy to use the eyes and wisdom of an adult to solve her problems or think about how we might handle them, however using a child's or teenager's logic brings different results; some of which are painful.

I initially didn't like this novel, I was really struggling to get into it but couldn't put my finger on the reason why. The dialect wasn't holding me back and although I hadn't experienced all of Fiona's troubles I didn't feel like this was the reason either. Fortunately, I reached a point just over half way through where I suddenly realised I didn't want to leave the novel unfinished and I was pleased I had perservered.

Not having read any of Donovan's other novels I have no idea how this compares. It is well written and the reader is definitely involved in Fiona's life but there always seems to be a feeling of detachment. Unless this is intentional and is meant to represent how detached Fiona feels from different aspects of her life? One other aspect I didn't like was the lack of speech punctuation. Thankfully at least Donovan uses italics to distinguish dialogue from narrative but nevertheless the lack of conventions can often detract from a good plot.

Overall, it's a lovely story with all the loose endings tied up neatly at the end. It'll take you through a mixture of emotions and experiences and is worthwhile in the end. So from a beginning that would have been 2 stars, to a much improved middle of 3 stars the overall experience warrants 4 stars.

Delightful, funny and heartfelt
I loved Buddha Da, Donovan's first novel which was shortlisted for both the Orange Prize and the Whitbread, and it's a real treat to read another of her heart-warming and engaging novels.

Donovan is at her best when exploring the intimacies and intricacies of family life and in Fiona she has created a memorable heroine that you grow to care about more and more as the novel progresses.

Being Emily is also a very funny novel that will leave you feeling uplifted but not in a vacuous and sentimental way. And the language of the book is also wonderful with brilliant dialogue that has this distinctly Scottish hue.

Highly recommended.