Olga Minois Press
English Mirrors: Healing by Degrees
Laura Ingleby
| ISBN: 978-0-9563051-1-4 | |
| PP £15.00 (UK P&P Incl) | |
| E-Book Version will be available on 13 November 2009 via http://www.dnaml.com/ | |
“English Mirrors: Healing by Degrees” is a story of success, paid for by its characters according to life’s invoices. Their differences in cultural backgrounds bring sharpness and excitement to the novel and make it appealing to the international audience.
The novels explores:
- The ‘Englishness’ and its expression in a multicultural London, echoing in Europe and the world through centuries.
- Personal harmony and financial stability in a changing world, which sustains outward crises and inward pressures, arising from being born to certain parents in a certain stratum of society.
- It is of interest to people of different nationalities, from teenage to those of more advanced years as it deals with life issues on the backdrop of an extended family history.
This romantic tale explores relationships and human behaviour at the fundamental level, when the wicket gets sticky.
The story wends its way around members of a well-to-do extended English family with close friends and acquaintances, against a background helping of twentieth-century History. A broad cast of eight well-drawn main characters is supported by a similar number of other personalities, including a dog, whose purpose is far beyond fetching sticks.
A couple approaching old age find themselves responsible for the upbringing of their Grandchildren, two boys, following the deaths of their son and daughter-in-law.
The novel starts with a quarrel between brothers, Edward and Richard.
The eldest brother, Edward, has grown into a successful lawyer, running a multitasking business, and believes he has been managing the family finances for years. His brother Richard is gradually becoming an established artist.
The narrative has plenty of dialogue and a love triangle, which is turned into a beautiful square through the efforts of Claire, the main heroine. Three marriage announcements follow.
The main focus is on a year in the lives of the characters, where errors of judgement almost lead to fratricide; and finer judgement leads towards matricide. Parts of personal histories, kept discreet for decades, emerge, and new secrets evolve.
The present goals achieved, new ones are appearing on the ever-forward shifting horizon, including the care of children.
Laura Ingleby is a published writer (previously under a different name), and well travelled. She has run her own businesses since her early twenties. She speaks several languages and lives in London.