Product Description

Ben is, at last, leaving home. At twenty-two, he's the youngest of the family. His mother, Edie, an actress, is distraught. His father, Russell, a theatrical agent, is rather hoping to get his wife back. His brother, Matthew, is struggling in a relationship in which he achieves and earns less than his girlfriend. And his sister, Rosa, is wrestling with debt and the end of a turbulent love affair. Meet the Boyd family and the empty nest, twenty-first-century style.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42498 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 383 pages

From the Back Cover
‘Trollope has perfectly caught the angst of the empty nest...the ebb and flow of relationships is brilliantly handled’ Observer

Ben is, at last, leaving home. At twenty-two, he’s the youngest of the family. His mother, Edie, is distraught. Her husband, on the other hand, is rather hoping to get his wife back, after decades of family life. Ben’s brother is struggling in a relationship in which he achieves and earns less than his girlfriend. His sister is wrestling with debts and the end of a turbulent love affair.

As the children’s lives become more complicated, they retreat to the simplicities of their childhood. But can you ever go home again?

Meet the Boyd family and the empty nest, twenty-first-century style.

‘One of the finest chroniclers of the way we live now’ Independent on Sunday

‘Poignant prose...her novels have always contained the unexpected, but lately they've gained a grittiness which suits the everyday subject matter that lies at the heart of her writing’
Glamour

About the Author
Joanna Trollope is the author of eagerly awaited and sparklingly readable novels often centred around the domestic nuaunces and dilemmas of life in present-day England. She has also written a number of historical novels and Britannia's Daughters, a study of women in the British Empire. In 1988 she wrote her first contemporary novel, The Choir, and this was followed by A Village Affair, A Passionate Man, The Rector's Wife, The Men and the Girls, A Spanish Lover, The Best of Friends, Next of Kin, Other People's Children, Marrying the Mistress, Girl from the South and, most recently, Brother & Sister. Joanna Trollope was born in Gloucestershire and lives in London. She was appointed OBE in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to literature.

Customer Reviews

Ironic title for superb novel about 21st century life and pr
Joanna Trollope’s latest novel triumphantly deals with that period in life when the last child has left home and the parents are once again on their own, in the irony of the title, to enjoy a second honeymoon.

In previous generations children married or formed partnerships and irrevocably left the family home and their parents, taking everything with them and severing dependence on their parents forever.

However life is now so transient and uncertain, relationships come and go, jobs are no longer permanent, children need assistance with deposits on houses, the parent child relationships does not cease in the same way.

And this is what the main character Edie Boyd and her husband discover when their last remaining son leaves home to live with his girl friend. Instead of a second honeymoon Edie revives her career as an actress, her husband Russell wants to renew their pre parent relationship and is frustrated, gradually their children drift back into their old rooms.

One of the best characters in the book is Ruth, the partner of Edie’s son Matt. Ruth is a successful career woman earning twice as much as Matt, has ambitions for a flat only she can afford, with Matt struggling to come to grips with the changing and confusing role of men.

Edie’s daughter Rosa is struggling with debt, is unfairly made redundant and struggles to re-establish her identity. She finds an affinity with Lazlo, an actor Edie is mothering in the play and has given a temporary home to.

Then slowly everybody realises you cannot go back, that you have to move forward in life, and Trollope brings the book to an end in a totally believable way.

An absolute must for all Trollope fans and as good a starting point for new readers as any of her other superb novels.

Second Honeymoon
Good old Joanna Trollope, another smashing read for a lazy weekend. This isn't any kind of startling departure from her previous novels, in fact it carries on some of the themes addressed in Girl from the South. The characters are very recognisable 21st century-UK inhabitants and she sympathetically portrays the dilemmas and tribulations of growing up and growing old in a materially wealthy but morally struggling society. There is a marvellous gentleness and tolerance in the marriage of Edie and Russell, and although a more cliffhanger plot would have made the novel more thrilling, I liked the sense of muted drama around the turbulence of the children and the rolling on of the story which comforted you with the knowledge that it was all 'just life' and that each generation would keep going with the threads of a decent, industrious life. Given how gritty and disturbing some of modern British culture can be, this book is very warming.

Sophisticated
Another excellently written book from Joanna Trollope. As already said by a previous reviewer, this story is very much in the vein of her last two or three books. Second Honeymoon revolves around a couple whose three children have grown up and flown the nest; Russell is happy about this wanting to have his wife to himself again, but Edie is not. Just when Russell thought that the second honeymoon period of life was starting, all three children, and an additional lodger, move back home. The description of emotions is beautifully written but I felt it was lacking a strong storyline - hence four stars. It is certainly a lovely book and a sophisticated read but it is not gripping.