Hello From The Gillespies, Monica McInerney

Hello From The Gillespies opening line: It was December the first.

Hello From The Gillespies

My blurb:

And Angela Gillespie is doing what she has done for the past 33 years, she is writing her Christmas letter. But this year, everything is different. Her daughters are not growing up to be the adults she thinks they should be, her ‘late arrival’ son has not outgrown his childhood imaginary friend and her husband is not talking to her about what is going on. Instead, he is talking to another woman on Skype, and becoming wrapped up in his family tree, rather than being a part of their family. Life is no longer as she knows it and Angela writes the truth but only to vent, and not to send out. However, things don’t happen as she plans and the letter goes out to the hundreds of people on her mailing list and the result kept me turning the pages wanting to read more about this family.

Hello From The Gillespies
Angela finally started the letter, summoning her usual cheery tone. Then she stopped. Her friend Joan’s voice suddenly came to her mind, as if she was standing there beside her.
‘Go for it, love! Let it rip! Tell the truth! It’s good for you.’
She actually laughed out loud. Tell the truth? How could she? 
 Angela stared at the screen for a long moment. Then she started a new letter, typing faster than she’d ever typed before…
Angela Gillespie is tired of pretending that her family is completely perfect. This year she needs to tell it how it is. But, as the repercussions of her too truthful Christmas letter keep coming, perhaps she should have been careful what she wished for. .
My verdict:

I can highly recommend this book which took me no time at all to work my way through. The family are believable and the situations each one finds themselves in so totally relate-able. It will introduce you to life on an Australian sheep station situated in the middle of nowhere and how complicated life can be and how a community can rally together.

Publishing information:
ISBN 9781405914154
Format Paperback
Published November 2014

Disclosure: I was sent the book to review by Penguin Books South Africa. I was not required to write a positive review. This post is in line with my blogging policy.

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13 thoughts on “Hello From The Gillespies, Monica McInerney

  1. Love the sound of this book – am going to seek it out – thanks Tandy.

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