I bought this book because of the really good reviews it received but I was a little disappointed. At times it flicked from current to past times with no real sense of why. One minute you were reading about the central character Anna dealing with tantrums in the kitchen and the next transported back to the 1800's with no clear path as to why.
I did love the character of Anna and could truly identify with her trying to juggle a career and two little ones. The sleep deprivation and the fact that her husband just grunts and rolls over is something most of us have to contend with. That and blockading the bathroom door just to enable her to have half and hour alone time is something every mother craves.
I did find some of the other characters a little stereotypical and I really didn't take to her husband Giles or the visitors to the island, another dysfunctional family. There was a hint throughout the book that there was a problem with her older son, Raph and I did find his character a little strange. Firstly, having a seven year of my own I know some of the things he says my seven year old would not have a clue about, at one part of the book he suggests he builds a dynamo to power his mums laptop so that she could write whilst exercising and then he could divert this power to the oven. Technical talk for a seven year old but maybe that is part of his problem. It would have been better if this had been made clearer and maybe an indication of what the actual problem was with him. Maybe he was just to old for his years.
The book did all come together at the end but I just didn't really connect with it.
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