From Publishers Weekly
Over 16 novels, Trollope has explored a plethora of the modern family's permutations; her 17th is a tender, funny ode to empty nest syndrome. Edie Boyd is a middle-aged, part-time actress and London mother of three whose youngest is packing up and moving out. Husband Russell is delighted with the chance to rediscover and retune their marriage, but Edie can't quite face life (or herself) without being "Mum" on a daily basis. Not to worry: the children almost simultaneously fall prey to a series of mishaps and financial troubles, and Edie is delighted when her wish to have her brood back is suddenly granted. At this point, the transformations one expects in a flown coop begin to take hold, as does the comedy. Embedded in the novel's sometimes soap opera turns, which cut expertly from the children's points of view to Edie's, are Trollope's somehow insightful takes on the perennial career vs. child-rearing dilemma. The struggles of Edie, of Russell, and of children Rosa, Matt, Ben and their various partners are deftly rendered in the dialogue that dominates the book; it has a good pace and marks out the narrative decisively. The things her flawed but lovable characters say to each other, in fact, save Trollope's tidily concluded latest from feeling too much like chick lit for the PBS set.
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Product Description
Joanna Trollope’s most heartfelt and enthralling novel in years, Second Honeymoon explores what happens when the empty nest is suddenly full again.
Ben Boyd is leaving home. At twenty-two, he’s the youngest of the family and the last to leave. His mother Edie, an actress, is distraught. His father Russell, a theatrical agent, is hoping to get his wife back after decades of family life. Ben’s brother, Matthew, is wrestling with a relationship in which he earns less than his successful girlfriend. Their sister Rosa is wrestling with debt, and the end of a turbulent love affair. Living on your own, it seems, may not be as glamorous as it’s cracked up to be. Rosa is the first of the Boyd children to think she may have to move back in with her parents—just until she can make ends meet again.
This is the empty nest, twenty-first-century style—with grown children coming and going just as parents are getting ready for their second honeymoon. With characteristic grace and humor, Trollope weaves multiple stories of two generations struggling with love, careers, and parenthood into a riveting family drama.
