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Monday 26 July 2010

The Life You Want by Emily Barr

Searching For A Better Life
review by Maryom


Tansy Harris is dissatisfied with her humdrum life as wife and mother. When she finds herself slipping into old drinking habits and contemplating having an affair with her son's teacher, she feels she needs a shake-up. So, an out-of-the-blue e-mail from an old friend now living in India, asking for help in an orphanage, seems like the answer to her prayers. But although India lives up to her expectations, her friend seems rather elusive and, until it's too late, Tansy doesn't realise what her role at the orphanage really is.

I was rather pleasantly surprised with this book. The cover had somehow led me to expect a lighter weight, fluffy chick lit novel, which may be why it's waited so long on the 'to be read' pile. It turned out to be an excellent read. Emily Barr gets us inside Tansy's head, shows her longing for how life was before marriage and children, for something more than 9 to 5 routine and the school run. Despite being little blinkered and at times rather naive, Tansy is an engaging heroine, one I could easily sympathise with. A page-turner sort of book, light and easy reading but not mind-numbing.

'The Life You Want' is the second part of Tansy's story and, although the ending of the first book, 'Backpack', is fairly clear, not so much is given away that I wouldn't backtrack and read it. I wonder if there's likely to be a third installment?


Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Headline
Genre - Adult fiction

Buy The Life You Want from Amazon

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