Both Your Houses

by Sarah Harrison

A study of the shallows of contemporary society, by the author of "The Flowers of the Field". The Blakes and the Armitages have been friends for years, sharing the ups and downs of life and of parentage. Then the teenage and punkish Giselle Blake falls for the charms of the eldest Armitage son.

384 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1996

Reviews

[Maia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally finished this really boring book--picked it up quickly at a garage sale because I'd liked Harrison's Flowers in the Field, but this is a totally different thing. At first, i was quite drawn in by the characters: two sets of middle-aged, middle-class British friends who've maintained a close though not very intimate friendship through their years. But then one day the complicated son of one of the couples falls hard for the much younger daughter of the other couple, and it's all downhill from there: literally, because the more I read, the more I wondered why I should care! None of the characters was really that sympathetic and the daughter's callous personality became too much to bear. In the end, I just didn't care

[Digby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Light reading.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another title by the author of Life after Lunch. I liked it so well I requested Both Your Houses on ILL after reading reviews of it on Amazon.

The story is about the inter-twined relationships of two families. The married couples have long been friends. The intersection of adult offspring is the focus of the plot. Contrasts between the personalities & parenting philosophies of the pairs looms large when the son of one couple starts a relationship with the daughter of the other. Parts of the drama are predictable, but still gripping. The characters are well drawn & believable. The author has another book coming out this year that I'm anxious to read.