A free copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
A Place for Us is a story split into 4 parts (and serialised as such). It's the story of Martha and David who invite all of their children and grandchildren home to their house, Winterfold, for Martha's 80th birthday where she is planning on making a revelation to share a secret that she and David have kept from their children and grandchildren.
I read this story as 4 separate parts in the style of the serialization and while I did quite like the ending of the story, the initial three-quarters of the book I found hard to get into and a bit here, there and everywhere. Evans has chosen to tell this story through nearly every member of the extended family (although strangely Joe the local cook gets a POV, while Bill the eldest son doesn't), and it means that while you get an insight into the different characters in this family drama, it doesn't ever feel like you've gone beyond surface level. It wasn't until the final part of the story that I even started liking and rooting for any of the characters (Florence ended up being my favourite), as everyone else seemed very preoccupied with their own selves which was actually not that engaging to read. The central mystery of the story - what happened to middle child Daisy - was revealed pretty early on in the book, but as she wasn't a pleasant character to read or read about, I felt like any sympathy for her, or for Martha who spent all of her time apologising for her or ignoring her terrible behaviour, was rather shortcoming. The bit of romance that was in the story, seemed shoehorned in at the end and felt like it was just written so that the family got a reasonably happy ending with no work.
A disjointed story that only picks up in the last quarter. 2.5 stars.