Annie Murray
Author of Chocolate Girls
Series
Works by Annie Murray
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1960
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK (birth)
- Country (for map)
- England, UK
- Birthplace
- Berkshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Birmingham, England, UK - Education
- University of Oxford (St John's College)
Members
Reviews
Lists
Robert's loans (4)
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 42
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 740
- Popularity
- #34,321
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 10
- ISBNs
- 283
- Languages
- 1
- Favorited
- 1
The main story is that of Jo and Ian. They were a solid couple until the death of their grown up son, Paul, in an accident. Now they're cast adrift from each other, unable to cope with their grief together or apart. One day in the dentist's waiting room Jo reads a magazine and sees a photo of a boy who reminds her in some way of Paul. The boy has been affected by Bhopal and it leads Jo to look into the tragedy. It's her saviour actually, giving her something to work for, something to care about in the aftermath of her own tragedy.
There's also a thread running through the story about Dorrie, Ian's mother, who has been keeping difficult times in her past to herself. Suddenly she starts to confide in Jo by asking her to read a memoir of sorts. Whilst these sections were nice to read I wasn't sure what they added to the story until quite near the end when a comparison is drawn between Dorrie and the women in Bhopal.
I thought this was a really uplifting story in many ways. Despite dealing with various horrific events, there is a sense of rebirth and learning to live with the past. Jo goes through so much even during the course of this story and I really enjoyed how she made new friends who supported her and helped her through a difficult time.
Murray's writing is engaging and very easy to read. It's a wonderful thing she has done writing this book as the proceeds of sale will raise money to help the survivors of Bhopal. I'm not sure I had heard of the disaster before but it's truly horrendous, not only that it happened but that the site has never been cleared and so the poison is still being fed through to the people.
Mother and Child is a moving work of fiction with a strong basis in reality and I really enjoyed reading it.… (more)