Mum and Dad (by Joanna Trollope)

I’ve enjoyed almost all the novels I’ve read by Joanna Trollope over the past couple of decades, so when I learned that she had a new book published last year, I put it on my wishlist as soon as it was available in paperback, and was given it for Christmas. It’s sat on my to-be-read shelf for nearly nine months, but I finally picked it up to read a few days ago.

Trollope’s novels are usually character-based, many of them revolving around families, dysfunctional or otherwise. This is no excep...