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The Woman in the Middle - Milly Johnson

 


Description

Shay Bastable is the woman in the middle. She is part of the sandwich generation – caring for her parents and her children, supporting her husband Bruce, holding them all together and caring for them as best she can.
 
Then the arrival of a large orange skip on her mother’s estate sets in motion a cataclysmic series of events which leads to the collapse of Shay’s world. She is forced to put herself first for a change.
 
But in order to move forward with her present, Shay needs to make sense of her past. And so she returns to the little village she grew up in, to uncover the truth about what happened to her when she was younger. And in doing so, she discovers that sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to find the only way is up.

Review

Wow! Milly has packed so much into this book. 

Shay is in the middle of it all. She cares for her Mother and her children even though they are now grown up and she cares for everyone else too. Unfortunately for Shay this isn't reciprocated by all of those people. I was incensed so many times by the way she was treated both in the present and the past.

The scenes with Shay's Mother were so reminiscent of  many a conversation I have had over the years. How much of what Roberta says is true and how much is romancing or a confusion between real life and a TV programme or a film. Shay is about to find out and then some.

I'm sure there will be someone in this book you can relate to. Milly has it spot on with down to earth and realistic characters. There are a few vile characters. They are penned so well that I was ready to take them down myself. I had a few cheers as karma caught up with them. 

The book has so many levels to it and such a well woven plot. I think this might be Milly's best book, it's certainly on a whole new level. Every word, gesture, character is so true to life I forgot I was reading a story.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for granting my wish to review this book.

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