July 10, 2012

A Family of Females • Daughters

Daughters book cover
Daughters by Elizabeth Buchan
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: March 1, 2012
Source/Format: Publisher (Thanks!) || Paperback
[I received this book from the publisher. This in no way affects the contents of my review.]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that all mothers want to see their daughters happily settled. But for Lara, mother to Maudie and stepmother to Jasmine and Eve, realizing this ambition has not been easy. With an ex-husband embarking on a new marriage, and the surprising and late blooming developments in her own love life to contend with, Lara has enough to worry about, especially with Eve's upcoming wedding. And when she begins to fear that Eve is marrying a man who will only make her unhappy, and Maudie reveals something that shocks the entire family, Lara faces the ultimate dilemma. Does she step in and risk the wrath of her daughters? Or does she stand by and watch them both make what she fears will be the biggest mistakes of their lives?


It's been a while since I posted about a contemporary adult novel. DAUGHTERS certainly caters to my penchant for books about families - and this book is only made more special by the fact that it talks about the relationship between the women in one particular family. ELIZABETH BUCHAN appears to have a firm grasp of the relationships between mother and daughter, between sisters, and it definitely shows in this novel.

Each of the women in this novel is characterized in a way that sets them apart from each other. Lara is the mother, the one who worries constantly over her children, hovering and puttering about in the way only mothers can. Eve is the one who's in control, who appears to know what she wants and gets exactly that by wheedling her way. Jasmine is the middle child, the peacemaker, the one who makes an effort to communicate with all the involved parties in any argument. Maudie is the youngest, headstrong and forceful and opinionated. I had no trouble keeping track of each character's story, as they were all markedly different and followed different arcs.

Apart from the characters, I thought the story was simple, yet realistic. The entire family is forced to face all these "big" moments happening in everyone's lives - Eve's wedding and Maudie's announcement. There's a lot of tension, a lot of emotion, but there's also a whole lot of love You can clearly see how each of the characters I've highlighted loves the others - and that is the novel's strongest selling point to me.

2 Comments:

  1. I love that this book is simple yet realistically! I think it's really good that each character had their own defining characteristics, I hate it when characters seem to blur together. Yay for the relationships in this book. Great review, Alexa!

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    Replies
    1. It's a departure from what I normally read, but it's really very good.

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