Picked up at a garage sale.

trade paperback

Told from the view point of four women in the life of Paddy deCourcy, a charismatic Irish politician and the the strength they find in response to tough times.

I had a hard time getting into this book - - difficult to follow with different voices and flashbacks. Eventually began to enjoy it, but never did get used to the way Lolo spoke in a kind of short hand.

Winner of the 2009 Irish Book Award

Sent to elizardbreath as an RABCK that I offered in the forums. Enjoy!

Thanks so much, friend! I know a BXer who has this on her wishlist and I'm planning to send it her way.

Sending to Aramena as a wishlist RABCK. Enjoy!

To the finder of this book:

This book is gift, no strings attached, from me to you. You may keep it forever, pass it along to a friend, or release it into the wild to be found by someone else.

If you are new to BookCrossing, welcome! Enjoy the site, the book, and the BookCrossing community. I hope you'll join us...it's free! If you do, please consider using me, elizardbreath, as your referring member. You can even remain anonymous if you wish!

I hope you'll make a brief journal entry so all the previous and future readers can track this book's journey.

Thanks, and Happy BookCrossing! :)

Arrived today, thanks so much!

Between chapters were little snippets of narration describing a domestic abuse scene, but without providing any names, and each one filled me with a sense of dread and foreboding, wondering which of the women whose stories are contained in the book was the woman being abused.

Four women, all with some connection to golden boy politician Paddy de Courcy. The narration switches around between the women's viewpoints. We start with Lola, whose connection is obvious – she was romantically involved with him until she learned, via the news, that he was engaged to Alicia. While I liked Lola's story, I did not like her narration. Told in first person POV, diary format, it put me in mind of Bridget Jones, but not in a good way. Short, choppy sentences, not only in her narrative, but even when she is quoting conversations. I know the characters did not actually speak the way she depicted it, but at times it was agonizing to read.

Fortunately once I was able to barrel through Lola's narrative, the other parts of the book were much more readable, and I especially enjoyed Grace's chapters. Some serious issues touched on, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and a touching storyline with cross-dressers. I very much enjoyed the book.

I'm never sure how much to say in a JE as I don't want to spoil anything for a future reader, so my full review is on my blog.

Adding this book to JennyC1230's Variety Genre Bookbox.

I received this as part of JennyC1230's Variety Genre bookbox. Thanks for sharing!

We are overrun by hundreds of books...they are like socks and LEGOs...they just appear to multiply when no one is looking. As much as we wanted to read this book, with the volume on our TBR shelves we decided to pass them along to other BookCrossers. Enjoy! Hopefully we'll be able to read it another time around.