Isa and May

Margaret Forster, in this engaging, intriguing novel, about a young woman and two grandmothers, uncovers the shocking truths that family history reveals. The curiously named Isamay, a would-be academic, is trying to write a coherent thesis about grandmothers in history - from Sarah Bernhardt and George Sand to the matriarchal Queen Victoria and other influential grannies - while constantly ambushed by the secrets her own family has been keeping. An only child, she is named after her grandmothers, Isa and May, who were there at her birth and who have formed and influenced her in very different ways. Jealous of each other, they both want to be first in their granddaughter's affections. Isa has an edge, in that young Isamay looks like her, but Isa's reserved and elegant exterior hides startling surprises that could undermine her granddaughter's certainties. May, on the other hand, is plump, indomitable and opinionated, and it's from her that Isamay inherits her stubborn determination. Isamay, almost thirty, has never wanted children, but suddenly considers changing her mind. Her live-in lover, Ian (always mysterious about his own family history) is sure that he does not want a child. Engrossing, set in the present but with hooks into the past, this is an unusual story about grandmothers and their potentially powerful role in family life, about nature vs nurture, bloodlines and bridges across generations.

ISBN 0099542099   Pages 320 ISBN13 9780099542094 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 221 Publisher Vintage   Published in London Imprint Vintage   Height (mm) 198 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 129 Publication date 03 Feb 2011   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY 823.914   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

"A compelling story, sometimes funny, sometimes painfully sad... All family life is here, messy, insistent and, as the author convincingly shows, as essential as breathing."--"Sunday Times""Margaret Forster has always had the enviable gift of making her characters spring to life, and both Isa and May do just that." --Allan Massie, "Scotsman""A sensitive and intelligent novel with passages of beautifully modulated pathos, while being in part, hugely funny." --"The Times""From the Hardcover edition."

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