The Other Family - Joanna Trollope

The Other Family

By: Joanna Trollope

Paperback | 13 April 2010

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When Richie Rossiter, once a famous pianist, dies unexpectedly, Chrissie knows that she must now tell the truth to their three daughters: their parents were never married. Yet there is one more shock to come when Richie’s will is read. It seems he never forgot the wife and son he left behind years ago—Margaret, who lives a quiet life of routine and work, and Scott, who never knew his famous father. Now two families are left to confront their losses and each other, and none of them will ever be the same.

Witty, intelligent, and insightful, The Other Family is a story of modern family life from one of our most beloved authors of domestic fiction.

Reviews

An unexpected line in a will leads to complications and new beginnings in Trollope’s eminently readable latest (after Friday Nights). The novel opens outside London with the sudden death of Richie Rossiter, a once-popular pianist whose star has been on the wane for some time. Chrissie, Richie’s partner for the past 23 years, is shocked to learn that Richie has left his piano and his early musical estate to his “other family”—Margaret, the wife he never divorced, and their son, Scott, now an aimless bachelor. Soon after, Chrissie’s youngest daughter, Amy, becomes fascinated with her father’s original family and his humble roots, leading to a tentative friendship with her half-brother that may result in new opportunities for both of Richie’s families. At times, the grieving characters—particularly Chrissie—seem excessively distraught about trivial matters, but Trollope’s keen ear for dialogue and her pointed development of secondary characters keep the novel on the safe side of overwrought, while the hopeful if too tidy conclusion highlights the sometimes surprising possibilities that can emerge in the wake of grief. (Publishers Weekly - Apr.)

Second family of a British entertainer is unpleasantly surprised by his legacy, in Trollope's latest sensitive depiction of domestic upheaval. Richie Rossiter, whose first wife (and agent) Margaret grew up with him in the fishing and mining towns of Tynemouth and Newcastle, never dreamed of expanding his musical circuit beyond his native Northern England until a much younger fan, Chrissie, approached him after a concert. A successful artistic manager, Chrissie promised to put Richie on the map in London and beyond as a pianist and singer-songwriter. She also enticed him away from Margaret and their son Scott, then 14. Now, established in a fashionable London neighborhood with Richie and their three daughters, Chrissie suffers misgivings over the fact that she and Richie never married. She even buys her own anniversary band of diamonds, albeit industrial ones. When Richie dies suddenly of a heart attack, Chrissie learns he willed his early copyrights and his Steinway piano to Margaret (still his wife) and Scott. Worse, since Chrissie cannot claim a spousal exemption, the rest of his estate will be largely consumed by inheritance taxes. Paralyzed by grief and the threat of imminent destitution, Chrissie resists her friend Sue's advice to sell the family house and give up the piano. Twenty-something daughters Tamsin, with her entry-level job, and Dilly, lovely but listless, are ill-equipped to support themselves. Youngest daughter Amy, 18, who is reluctantly studying for her University entrance exams, reaches out to Scott, now a lawyer in Newcastle, because she wants to learn more about her father's origins. Amy, a flutist, negotiates a diplomatic solution to the piano debacle, and Scott,safely in possession of the Steinway-he's a passably competent player-invites Amy to Newcastle, where she discovers a passion for folk music. Margaret, aging in a shore-side cottage with her cat, is both disillusioned and reinvigorated by Richie's unexpected bequest. Trollope (Friday Nights, 2008, etc.) treats her characters with tough love, refusing to either downplay or offer pat solutions to their predicaments. (Kirkus Reviews)

Biography

Joanna Trollope has been writing fiction for more than 30 years. Some of her best known works include The Rector's Wife (her first #1 bestseller), A Village Affair, Other People's Children, and Marrying the Mistress. She was awarded the OBE in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honors List for services to literature. She lives in England.
Industry Reviews
"She can be as subtle as Austen, as sharp as Bronte. Trollope's brilliant." --Fay Weldon, Mail on Sunday "[Trollope] aims for the heart...and she hits it." --The New Yorker "[Trollope writes] something we see all too rarely these days: a genuinely grown-up work of fiction." --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post "Joanna Trollope's wise understanding shows that the jigsaw puzzle of relationships in contemporary life can be fitted together in new and more humane ways. She illumines human folly and offers a much needed vision of healing." --Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife and Four Spirits "A heartwarming story of renewal and hope...intelligent and moving." --Booklist "Brimming with wisdom, wit, and humanity, The Other Family is a sumptuous feast of a novel. Joanna Trollope creates an impeccably observed world, exploring the vagaries of love and family ties with such honest grace that I was left sweetly aching for more." --Connie May Fowler, author of How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly

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