This book was on my shelves with half a dozen others by the same author. I must have read it before but I really don’t remember it. Margaret Forster, who died a few years ago was married to Hunter Davies, writer for the Times and Sunday Times and (much more importantly) biographer of The Beatles!
The scenario is a breast cancer clinic and all the characters are in some way involved in this, immediately or at a distance. Not a jolly book you may be thinking and you would be right. I did however enjoy the consummate skill with which Margaret Forster incorporates these people, all with their different issues into one complete story. She is an amazing observer of the human condition and at some points brought to mind Anne Tyler and the minutiae of her detailed writing, recording nuance and subtlety of thoughts and feelings.
Margaret Forster however is more grounded and full of realism. Life can be and often is hard. The story does not shy away from this difficult fact.
This book was a quick read but not one that I will repeat. I will though, look again at that particular shelf. I both like and admire the writing of Margaret Forster.