Un-Stable Lane

Lane Trilogy #2

by Julie C. Round

The challenges involved in a difficult marriage are multiplied by outside intervention. Can the family weather the storms?

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Born Julie Christine Dundas.
Educated at Ealing Grammar School for Girls.
Trained as a teacher at Balls Park Training College, Herts.
Married Ben in 1966 and had two sons.
Became a tutor for dyslexics in Bromley.
Now living and writing novels in Worthing, West Sussex.

Reviews

[Jayne Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will principally be of interest to those who have read and enjoyed its predecessor, 'Lane's End'. It picks up just a short time after the previous book left off, following the family and a slightly expanded cast of friends and neighbours on a year or two of marital, financial and environmental strife. Told in the same concise, unfussy style, and organised into bite-size chunks, the story tends more towards brief vignettes - a runaway horse, louts in the orchard, a blown-up Bingo hall, all arranged around the normal comings and goings of the family.

Although a big upcoming trauma is tentatively foreshadowed, the best element of this book for me was the introduction of a character from Bernard's past. The infilling of his story was quite fascinating, and culminated in a twist I didn't see coming. Whilst it missed the high emotional drama of the first book, it was interesting to follow the ongoing fortunes of these familiar and likeable characters.

[S.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julie Round continues the tale of Bernard and his family with an assured touch. There are no thrills, spills, sex or violence in these tales - just ordinary people getting on with their lives the best they can.

Julie creates well-rounded and credible characters who behave in credible ways. The dilemmas they face are prosaic but real, and they resolve them with courage and integrity. It's gentle, reassuring reading; and sometimes that's just exactly what I want from my fiction.

[Carol Gatford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read lanes end and couldn't put it down I wanted to read Julie's other two books about the longman family and found this just as good

[Julie Round]

I don't rate my own books.