Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones

Handed Down Tale
review by Maryom


An African hotel supervisor has an affair and a child with a foreign tourist. He doesn't intend to abandon her though, but take the child back to his home in Berlin to be brought up by him and his wife. She determines to follow him at all costs and see her son again. The story follows her trek across Europe, exploited, helped or hindered by strangers.
I received this book as part of a promotion in which 100 copies were sent out to be read and reviewed and then handed on to new readers. These books are numbered so hopefully I should be able to track where this copy goes to and what future readers have to say about it.
Sad to say I was a little disappointed with Hand Me Down World. It started fine. I loved the way the story was told, passed on to the next person in the chain who picked it up and carried on - but when the goal of Berlin is reached the plot stalled and, although it picked up again later, I didn't feel it reached the momentum of the early chapters. This woman's story ought to have been heart-breaking BUT somehow it wasn't for me.

Publisher - John Murray (Publishers)

Genre - Adult Fiction

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