Out on a Limb

No, not me.

Not this time, at least.

Out on a Limb is the title of British author Lynne Barrett-Lee's recent book which I just had the pleasure of staying up far too late in the night reading for the last few nights. I was wishing away my days so I could get back to her book, eager to get back to her world.

And now -- sigh -- I'm finished. And I might just go back and read it again. If you aren't familiar with Lynne Barrett-Lee -- and you like books with a sharp, funny voice and a wry, weary yet still hopeful air -- you might want to take a look at Out on a Limb.

Abbie, physiotherapist single mum of two sons, has just changed jobs to one presumably less stressful in an effort to make her life a bit less stressful (stop running into the married chap she's trying to avoid having figured out that the affair is exactly that and never going to be anything else) and give herself a bit of a 'gap year' while her oldest son Sebastian (no relation to my hero, Sebastian) is off wandering around the continent with his mates.

Good idea. But, like most of us, Abbie discovers that life has a way of complicating her plans.

Her mother, who suddenly becomes a major factor, makes mine look restful by comparision. Her concerns and worries about her sons are ones I remember all too well.

And the TV weatherman who happens to be her mother's dead fourth husband's estranged son, well, let's just say, he makes her life even more interesting.

Can you see why I wanted the day to pass so I could get back to the entertaining shambles that was Abbie's life?

It made me laugh, it made me ache with wry recognition of maternal foibles and daughterly misery.

It was a treat. I'm so glad I read it. I'm so sorry it's over.

I hope Lynne Barrett-Lee writes faster. I loved her earlier Virtual Strangers and Julia Gets a Life. I love her voice. I'm looking forward to more.

Thanks, Lynne.

Now it's back to my own Sebastian who is looking for the right way in to his current predicament.