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Friends of Dorothy - Sandi Toksvig

 


Description

The funny, wise and brilliant new novel from the star of QI and the author of Between the Stops

'Warm, witty and wise... the perfect balm for these turbulent times' GRAHAM NORTON

After much searching, the happily married young couple, Amber and Stevie think they have found the perfect spot in Grimaldi Square. Despite the rundown pub across the way, the overgrown garden and a decidedly nosy neighbour, number 4 is the house of their dreams. Stevie, a woman who has never left anything to chance, has planned everything so nothing can spoil their happiness. But ... upstairs in their new home, seated on an old red sofa is the woman they bought the place from - eighty-year-old foul-mouthed, straight-talking, wise-cracking Dorothy - who has decided that she's not going anywhere. It turns out that Dorothy will be only the first in a line of life-changing surprises.

Friends of Dorothy is a touching, funny novel about a family that is not biological, but logical; a story close to Sandi Toksvig's heart.


Review

Amber and Stevie buy a house, but it has a sitting tenant, that they weren't expecting to have. She's 80 years old and doesn't care what anyone thinks and she certainly speaks her mind.

I really wanted to read this book as I loved Sandi's memoir book and her style of writing. Unfortunately for me from the first page I just didn't really gel with the whole premise of the book. Each time I picked the book up I thought the story wasn't progressing very much and I was beginning to get bored.

I stuck with it, and eventually there was a little bit more of a development to the story. Unfortunately whilst I had thought the book would be light-hearted it then went from almost slap stick to covering some darker themes. It felt like a bit of a slap in the face. Maybe the author thought that it was a truer representation of life, but it wasn't consistent with the rest of the book.

I did really like the character of Dorothy and she had some classic lines.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

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