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A review by kellylacey
Messy, Wonderful Us by Catherine Isaac
4.0
Allie’s world is one filled with love and family. But when she accidentally opens an envelope in her Grandmothers drawer, her whole safe world begins to crumble.
I fell in love with Catherine Isaac’s writing style. It is beautiful, well-paced not to heavy on mushy emotion but just the right amount for you to connect and care about the characters. A terrific story weaver, tentatively giving you the bits of the puzzle to fit together and just when you think you have it solved whooshing you off with a new twist.
At the heart of the book is the affect secrets have on our lives. How many times do we not cause a scene or express our feelings because we wouldn’t want to make a scene or create a fuss? How many opportunities are missed in life because we are taught to have that wall of the face we put out to the world? In the book as well as secrets in her family, Allie has them too. But the angst it brought me as I read the book wondering what would happen was incredible. I could see and feel everything as it played out.
Italy plays a key character in the book and the descriptions were so perfect. Garda is an area I have visited and Catherine Isaac captures it perfectly.
My absolute favourite character was Granny Peggy. It was nice to see the history of the older characters in the book as well as following the younger Allie and Ed on their mission. Seeing life through Peggy in the ’60s was fascinating and heartbreaking.
The copy I read was the paperback edition and it is so fresh and lemony looking. The light sage green and the lemons on the front is a gorgeous and beautiful addition to my bookcase.
Catherine Isaac is a new firm favourite of my must-buy authors.
A talented storyteller with a knack for pulling on the heartstrings.
Kelly Lacey
I fell in love with Catherine Isaac’s writing style. It is beautiful, well-paced not to heavy on mushy emotion but just the right amount for you to connect and care about the characters. A terrific story weaver, tentatively giving you the bits of the puzzle to fit together and just when you think you have it solved whooshing you off with a new twist.
At the heart of the book is the affect secrets have on our lives. How many times do we not cause a scene or express our feelings because we wouldn’t want to make a scene or create a fuss? How many opportunities are missed in life because we are taught to have that wall of the face we put out to the world? In the book as well as secrets in her family, Allie has them too. But the angst it brought me as I read the book wondering what would happen was incredible. I could see and feel everything as it played out.
Italy plays a key character in the book and the descriptions were so perfect. Garda is an area I have visited and Catherine Isaac captures it perfectly.
My absolute favourite character was Granny Peggy. It was nice to see the history of the older characters in the book as well as following the younger Allie and Ed on their mission. Seeing life through Peggy in the ’60s was fascinating and heartbreaking.
The copy I read was the paperback edition and it is so fresh and lemony looking. The light sage green and the lemons on the front is a gorgeous and beautiful addition to my bookcase.
Catherine Isaac is a new firm favourite of my must-buy authors.
A talented storyteller with a knack for pulling on the heartstrings.
Kelly Lacey