A wonderful read about the dynamics of family. I could visualise and feel all the characters in this beautifully written book I enjoyed every page from beginning to end .

Mum & Dad is a typical Joanna Trollope story. It deals with three generations of a family, all with their own problems. All characters are easily identifiable with people today. Easy to read.

I used to love Joanna Trollope’s books, especially her early ones such as The Men and The Girls, The Best of Friends and Other People’s Children. However, I’ve ended up feeling disappointed in several of her books in recent years, especially Balancing Act which I found dull and inconclusive. However, thanks to Net galley, I was able to try her latest and went in with an open mind.

Mum and Dad is the story of Monica and Gus who have been in Spain for twenty-five years following Gus’s dream of running a vineyard. When Gus has a stroke, their three children back in the UK all scramble, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, to do their duty. The story opens with Monica, who I liked in chapter one and then rapidly went off. In fact, I don’t think there was a single character that I liked or rooted for in the story at all, which is the main part of the problem.

Just like when I read Balancing Act, I found I neither empathised with nor liked any of the characters, which means that I didn’t much want to read what happened to them, which means I lost interest in the story.

To blissfully lose yourself into the fictional word of a book means you have to care about what happens to at least one character and I didn’t like any of them. Which means I read up to 40% on my kindle and left them to it, fighting over the vineyard. I didn’t much care what happened to that either.

By the way, throughout Balancing Act, Trollope massively overused the phrase “let a beat fall” to denote a meaningful pause. I found that phrase in here too and felt sorely irritated.

This is a classic Joanna Trollope story, with many complex characters each with there own problems, but Gus and Monica aka Mum and Dad leave England to retire to a lovely vineyard in Spain. It's their dream retirement until Dad gets ill and can't take care of the everyday running of the vineyard. So they call on their three grown up children who don't get along and all have lives of their own now. Well of course they all have their own ideas as well about how to run things at the vineyard none meshing with the other. A great book about how families squabbles and differences in the end don't matter. Joanne Trollope is a veteran writer with a very large volume of truly wonderful books to her credit, I would add this one as well. A great read with a great background and depth of characters.

Tensions, Trials And Tribulations.....
Modern day family drama written in true Trollope fashion. Excellent character development with an engrossing storyline giving the reader a real feel for the tensions, trials and tribulations the family are facing. Family values pushed to the limits. Doesn’t disappoint.

Joanna Trollope has made a career out of writing about family, relationships and marriage, in this novel she gives us three generations of a family and the dynamics between them. There are the grandparents, Monica and Gus, their three children and their families, bought up short when Monica discovers her husband, Gus, has suffered from a stroke. Decades ago, they had left England for Spain, an unhappy Monica from a generation where women followed and did what their husbands wanted, leaving behind children at boarding school. Gus got involved with a vineyard and set up a wine business, their marriage not in the best of states through the years, but Gus's stroke leaves Monica bewildered and unsure as her familiar world threatens to fall apart. She has not seen her children for some years, highlighting the lack of communication between them.

Gus is selfish, stroppy and antisocial, all too used to getting his own way. Their family descends on them, with Sebastian, married to Anna who has never got on with Monica. Anna is a dominant personality, and she and the kids show barely any respect to Sebastian. Katie has been with her partner, Nic, for twenty years, they have never got married. She is a hard working lawyer, the main earner, barely aware of the problems, distress and secrets that her daughters harbour. Like her mother, Katie not been the best role model for motherhood. Jake, with a more laid back personality, has recently married Bella and has a eighteen month old Mouse. All have their own different ideas with regard to their parents ill health, business and age issues. There are resentments, rivalries, poor communications, secrets, all exacerbated by their past distance from each other.

The scene is set for the potential for further family discord and dysfunction, have they got it in them to survive, to come together as a family that supports one another? Trollope writes a well observed and insightful inter-generational family drama, examining the nature of family, the complications associated with it, not to mention all the trials and tribulations that tend to go with it. This will appeal to Trollope fans and all those who love a good, character driven, contemporary family drama. Many thanks to PanMacmillan for an ARC.

As usual Joanna Trollope portrays excellent characters that I could identify with. That together with enticing descriptions of places makes this a really enjoyable read.

My favourite - a family with complicated relationships. This book is set in both southern Spain (where I travel to annually) and London so ticked all the boxes. Somehow I was reminded of the recent TV series Flesh and Blood. A very enjoyable story

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this authors latest novel. Believable characters and a plot which was a page turner. A real insight into family life which was definitely thought provoking. I didn’t want the story to end even though it was a page turner.

A pertinent subject for our time, this book focuses on the effects that parents falling into ill health at the same time that children are growing up can have on family life for the sandwich generation.
Monica and Gus left their children in boarding school in England and moved to Spain to set up a vineyard thirty years ago. Their very settled life is disrupted when Gus falls seriously ill.
The couple have three children - Sebastian, Katie and Jake who all have their own families. Monica and Gus do not live what you can call a contented life as Gus treats Monica badly, and Monica is very subservient to her husband. They haven't seen their three children and their families for five years but all this has to change.
Sebastian is married to Anna with two sons. Anna does not get on with Monica. Katie has a partner, Nic and they have three daughters. Jake is married to Bella and they have a young daughter, Mouse.
The three siblings are thrown into disarray when they realise that life will have to change in some way for their parents and themselves, and that they will have to, in some way, be involved with orchestrating these changes, whether welcome or not.
Joanna Trollope has written eloquently about the longevity and quality of life for the ageing population and what it means for family life.

Mum & Dad is, as you would probably expect, about family and the complicated relationships that exist in families.
Mum, Monica, and Dad, Gus, moved to Spain over 20 years ago because Gus dreamt of making wine. He created a vineyard making award winning wine but somewhere along the way he became taciturn and grumpy.
Monica followed her husband to Spain because she felt it was her duty. She left her two older children Sebastian and Katie at boarding school in England although she knew they were unhappy. The youngest child, Jake went with his parents and grew up in Spain; no-lingual and at ease with the locals.
Everyone thinks that Jake is his mother's favourite and when Gus has a stroke it is Jake who immediately drops everything to go out to Spain to take care of things.
All of the siblings appear to have good, successful life's but there are problems and complications that are only gradually revealed.
This book shows that as with any relationship it is important to truly communicate with each other. It also shows how easy it is to make assumptions about other people's life's which are far from true.

Inspirational.... three generations who all need to be able to deal with the problems caused by Dad’s stroke and the ensuing consequences.

Dysfunctional family? Not really, all these characters are dealing with the everyday crisis that affect most of us either all at the same time or one after another.

The inspiration being in the way the all the problems and difficulties were deal with and turned around with honesty, practicality and kindness. At the end everyone is able to work according to their strengths and overcome the difficulties caused by Dad’s stroke.
Thank you Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

A dilemma of our modern age is ageing parents and their need for care, and even more so if they've chosen to make their lives in Spain rather than in the UK! Add to this sibling rivalries and gaping cracks in everyone's close relationships and you have the makings of this excellent novel. The author deals with some difficult issues, including dishonesty and self harm, and yet the plot maintains a good pace . The grandchildren put their parents to shame with their straightforward approach to the problems that need to be faced. Joanna Trollope never fails to deliver.

This is my first Joanna Trollope novel but I’ve heard good things about previous books. I really enjoyed this book and think that was mainly due to the complexity of family dynamics that are present in every family. I loved hearing the differing experiences from all siblings and the character of Gus as the dominating patriarch of the family fascinated me. I loved the descriptive text when Monica was enjoying her morning tea on the terrace - I felt like I could be there myself. I will definitely read more from this author. Thank you for the opportunity to provide an honest review.

I so looked forward to reading this new Joanna Trollope novel, most of whose novels I have read and enjoyed in the past.
This book did not disappoint, with the story of a family who have never been close, but who now have to try to find a way to help their ageing parents who run a vineyard in Spain. The parents, Gus and Monica, have dedicated most of their lives to their vineyard, at the expense of their two sons and daughter in their younger lives. When Gus has a stroke, and Sebastian, Kate and Jake are summoned to help, it seems they are expected to drop their lives and families to come to their parents’ rescue.
To begin with, none of the characters was particularly likeable, but in the author’s inimitable style, she quickly developed them all to the point where I had conflicting loyalties; horrified by Gus; impatient with Sebastian; exasperated by Monica; disliking Anna; and mistrusting Jake, before I even considered the two teenage sons of Sebastian and Anna, and the three teenage daughters of Kate and Nic. The narrative explored all of these, gradually changing my mind about most of them as I read on.
The long standing resentments amongst the siblings rapidly surfaces, and the complete lack of communication between the families leads to them all having to take a closer look at their individual lives and priorities. How this seemingly impossible dilemma is resolved gradually causes a shift in several relationships within the family.
I would have liked the book to have been longer, I feel there was so much more to come from this family from all of the characters. I enjoyed it very much.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

The story of a fractured family. The parents Monica and Gus moved to Spain 25 yrs ago mainly because that's what Gus wanted. Two of the children were sent to boarding school in England and the youngest boy Jake lived in Spain.

There was a lot of resentment between the siblings about how they were treated.
Gus runs a vineyard and wine making business. He is a grumpy old man now, staying in his bedroom and hardly speaking to his wife. One morning he has a stroke and this brings the grown up children back to Spain to help out.

They all have their own families now and problems they don't want to share with each other. The visits to Spain are strained as each suspects the other of having their own agenda. Monica especially looks like she'd rather be anywhere else than looking after her stubborn, unsocial, selfish husband.

What a great read. You could feel the friction between everyone between the pages of this book. Flawed characters who only want to help themselves but all have to come together for the sake of their parents and the business.
I would love a sequel to this book. I want to know how they all get on.

This is the first time that I've read a novel by the well-known author Joanna Trollope, and having read so many positive reviews of her previous works, I was eager to commence reading, ‘Mum & Dad’. This novel is set in set in Spain at the vineyard purchased by Gus and Monica over 25 years ago. Now, Gus has suffered a severe heart attack and the couple are relying on their 3 adult children to step in and help out at the vineyard. With all three, residing in the UK and busy with their own lives, the realisation with they are now expected to help out at the vineyard, comes as a shock and the cracks within the family are soon deepened as their secrets come out.
I loved this storyline and raced through the book in one evening as I was eager to uncover the next development in their relationships. At times, I found myself becoming somewhat frustrated with Monica as she seemed to subvert her own feelings and wishes in order to appease Gus. I came to understand this her attitude was representative of many of her generation and it’s down to the skill of Trollope’s own characterisation that I could so quickly come to understand and sympathise with Monica
I received a free copy of this book from netgalley in return for an honest review.

Mum & Dad by Joanna Trollope
Joanna Trollope’s latest story portrays a situation we will all have to face. What happens when your parents who have always been self reliant now need help themselves? The three children of Monica and Gus have a decision to make when Gus has a stroke. Their parents have a successful vineyard business in Spain and it is their middle son Jake that races over to take it all on much to his mother’s relief. His brother Sebastian and sister Katie are not so sure about his motives. How can he just drop everything?
When Monica comes back to London to stop at Katie’s home she finally becomes the grandmother they can confide in and be honest with.
When his brother and sister finally talk to each other and discuss their problems with the grandchildren involved as well events finally get resolved. The extended family involved is an interesting group and sympathetically drawn .We feel for them all.
It is a beautifully told story and when Des partially recovers to help sort things out we feel that the family is more together than ever before.

Very Joanna Trollope. I liked the story. Relevant to me as my parents live aboard..The relationship between the siblings was interesting. I liked the cover. It kept you wanting to read it but not her best

I really enjoyed ‘Mum and Dad’ by Joanna Trollope. It’s theme was simple in that sometimes it takes a shock or tragedy to bring a family together. In this case it was Gus’s stroke. I loved the fact that it was set in both Spain and England. The novel took a close look at the machinations of family life. This is what Trollope does best.