Recommended by my reading group. However some of their previous recommendations have been a bit weird. Will have to see.

This was recommended by someone in a reading group I used to belong to. Nice to read about a heroine called Bessie as that's my Grandma's name. Taking to the Leeds meetup.

Released on Tuesday, January 11, 2005 at about 12:00:00 PM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at Angel Inn, Nr Briggate in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England United Kingdom.

RELEASE NOTES:

I've just started to read this. I picked it up at the bookcrossing meetup in January. So far it's really engaging and I can't wait to read on.

CAUGHT IN LEEDS WEST YORKSHIRE UK

oops, I'm not anonymous finder. it was me!

I really enjoyed this book. The early part of the story is based on the life of the author's mother (incidentally Margaret Drabble and A S Byatt are sisters), a precocious and intelligent girl from a south Yorkshire mining town. Her early promise comes to little and she marries a local boy and moves away. Her bitterness about her defeated aspirations blights her relationship with her (presumably fictional) son and daughter and overshadows the life of her granddaughter. The novel questions if it is possible to escape our own childhood and upbringing. For example, Bessie doesn't feel able to mix with her social 'superiors' despite her intelligence, and while despising her home town, doesn't feel comfortable there or anywhere else. There is possibly more optimism for her granddaughter as society is now less hidebound about class and status. Her part of the story brings the tale full circle as she is drawn back the Bessie's home town.
I've passed this book on to my mum, I hope she enjoys it too.