Forever Home: THIS SUMMER'S MUST-READ NOVEL FROM GRAHAM NORTON

Product Information

We slowly uncover more about Carol, Declan, her family and Declan's children as the novel continues, and start to wonder if everyone is hiding something. Why I'm reading this: I enjoyed the tv series based on Norton's previous novel, Holding, so thought I'd give his latest book a whirl. There's a large cast of characters from: Carol, a divorced teacher, her easy-going boyfriend Declan, Carol's energetic and opinionated mother, Moira (who I enjoyed and laughed about), Carol's father, her only son, and Declan's selfish, adult children: one is a gay son married to his partner and the other is a fractured daughter.

Forever Home by Graham Norton | Waterstones

Its structure is of a type; its world-building is strong (chapters often begin with a wide-pan shot of the town, the houses, the eccentric characters, before zeroing in on the scene at hand); and its characters are well-developed, with individual storylines that feed into the larger plot. I like how Norton weaves these issues into his story, the humour not detracting from the serious nature of them. Declan’s wife has long since disappeared, having left “poor Mr Barry” and their children without a trace, many years previously.This is a character-driven story and all are well depicted especially the matriarch, Moira~ my absolute favorite character! That’s all in the past, or so it seems, until Declan falls ill and ends up in permanent care, and disputes over ownership of the house end up uncovering darker secrets involving, you guessed it, a dead body. This house which Carol loved and cared for all those years has turned into The Nightmare on Elm Street and they just hope their plan does not land them both in jail! His latest, Forever Home, sees him in familiar territory, with a mystery set in the fictional town of Ballytoor. I have said it before, with every review I’ve written on one of his novels, but Graham Norton really is in a class of his own.

Forever Home: GRAHAM NORTON: The KING of dark comedy

The blurb reads: “Carol is a divorced teacher living in a small town in Ireland, her only son now grown up. This sometimes dark, sometimes humorous story, provides a great build-up through detailed backstories in the first-half, that results in a suspenseful, thrilling, and a bit of a wacky second-half. Fast forward several years and Declan is now in a home and appears to be suffering from Alzheimer's.I loved the main character’s mother, Moira, and some of the side characters were entertaining as well. This is the fourth book I’ve read by the author and I’ve really enjoyed them all but this one not so much.

Writing novels has created a quiet happy place for talk show

The sense of unfairness that had knocked her so badly wasn’t because she didn’t have a baby, but because her brother didn’t deserve one. Norton continues his focus on small Irish towns and their citizens in their advanced age and the secrets they keep to protect the ones they love, and the dangers that inevitably arise. The children resented her, understandable because she had taken their mother's place, someone they both felt would come back. Carol Crottie, a divorced English teacher and mother of a grown son, grabs her second chance at happiness by moving in with Declan Barry, a man several years her senior.Years pass and the children are grown and out of the house when Carol sees Declan begin to show signs of dementia. To access you ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. And I could not but marvel at and admire Carol's mother Moira— an 80-year-old powerhouse of a woman. But there's not much of my life - I deliberately tried to keep my life out of the books because - I mean, it's different here, in this country, where I'm - you know, I'm not really very well-known at all. Carol discovers that Declan’s past is full of secrets and the house they shared takes on a more sinister significance.

Forever Home: Graham Norton’s latest cosy crime yarn is Forever Home: Graham Norton’s latest cosy crime yarn is

It's a complex and compelling story - truly unputdownable - but most importantly for me, it has real heart. This one actually probably most resembles Holding (which I would consider his weakest) in the sense that it is effectively a dark comedy, a caper, veering into farce at times. SHAPIRO: Everyone feels like they know you so well from television, from podcasts, from live events.But her relationship with Declan sparks local speculation: What does a woman like her see in a man like him? Effortlessly readable, possessed of a super twist and full of rounded characters to keep close to your heart. I've had a soft spot for Graham Norton ever since his Father Ted days and have more recently enjoyed his novels along with his chat shows. NORTON: I mean, they're not autobiographical, but, you know, if you read any novel, it does give you an insight into who wrote it because, you know, it all came out of their head.