Hello from the Gillespies

Hello From the Gillespies by Monica McInerney

For the past thirty-three years, Angela Gillespie has sent to friends and family around the world an end-of-the-year letter titled “Hello from the Gillespies.” It’s always been cheery and full of good news. This year, Angela surprises herself—she tells the truth….

The Gillespies are far from the perfect family that Angela has made them out to be. Her husband is coping badly with retirement. Her thirty-two-year-old twins are having career meltdowns. Her third daughter, badly in debt, can’t stop crying. And her ten-year-old son spends more time talking to his imaginary friend than to real ones.

Without Angela, the family would fall apart. But when a bump on the head leaves Angela with temporary amnesia, the Gillespies pull together—and pull themselves together—in wonderfully surprising ways….

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is most definitely one of my favourite books of the year. I was really surprised actually, by how easily I fell into the rhythm of this book and how much I liked all of the characters. Generally, I end up liking one or two characters a lot and not feeling much for the rest of the cast, but that was not the case with this book.

When you read this novel, you instantly feel like you are part of the family. There is such a special quality to Monica McInerney’s writing. If you are a woman with a husband and children, you will no doubt find something in this book to identify with. I think we all have feelings similar to that of the main character, Angela. I was head nodding a lot whilst reading this book.

The location descriptions are beautiful and the author clearly knows what she is talking about. As this story unfolded, I began feeling terrified of reaching the end of the book. What would I do after this? I felt such a kinship with the characters that it was hard to imagine leaving them and moving on.

Family dynamics take centre stage in this novel, and the author did a beautiful job of showing the difficulties of marriage, growing up and maturing into adulthood.

I would happily recommend this book to anyone looking for a great read with a strong family theme.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

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