I loved this book so I keep recommending it to my loved one and it made its way at least to the bedside table but has not actually been devoured by her yet.

If you have read other books by Jonathan Coe especially his classic „What a carve up“ this book might come as a surprise to you. No wild and twisted edgy plot but a melancholic, beautiful moving story of mothers and daughters.

Rosamund describes family pictures onto a tape recorder before she takes her own life. She tells the story of mothers and daughters, tragedies that are passed on from one generation to the next. How these ghosts from the past keep haunting the people. The title of the book I think is a metaphor for the things that are just outside of your grasp. The moment when you think you recognize a pattern and then its gone.

Yes it is melancholic but not depressing, it has sort of a dreamlike quality to it and I couldn’t get it out of my mind for a long time after I finished it. It is a beautiful haunting story that held me spellbound – go and read it 🙂

“I like the rain before it falls. Of course there is no such thing, she said. That’s why it’s my favourite. Something can still make you happy, even if it isn’t real.”

Das Buch ist auf deutsch unter dem Titel „Der Regen bevor er fällt“ bei DVA erschienen.