Instructions for a Heatwave
Maggie O'Farrell
Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars
3.71
· 24 ratings · 338 pages · Published: 28 Feb 2013
It's the summer of 1976 and London is in the grip of a record-breaking heat wave when Gretta Riordan discovers that her newly retired husband, Robert, has cleaned out his bank account and vanished. Now, Gretta's three children converge in their mother's home for the first time in years: Michael Francis, a history teacher whose marriage is failing; Monica, with two stepdaughters who despise her and an ugly secret that has driven a wedge between herself and the little sister she once adored; and Aoife, the youngest of the Riordans, now living in Manhattan, a smart, immensely resourceful young woman who has arranged her entire life to conceal her illiteracy.
As the siblings tease out clues about their father's whereabouts, they navigate rocky pasts and long-held secrets, until at last their search brings them to their ancestral village in Ireland, where the truth of their parents' lives--and their own--is suddenly revealed. Wise, lyrical, instantly engrossing, Instructions for a Heat Wave is a richly satisfying page-turner from a writer of exceptional intelligence and grace.
Tagged as:
- historical 3
- historical fiction 3
- family 3
- literary fiction 3
- mystery 3
- drama 2
- secrets 2
- summer 2
- domestic drama 1
- realistic 1
- 20th century 1
- city/urban 1
- psychological 1
- epic 1
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- format - reader age
- audiobook 3
- book 1
- adult fiction 1