Title: When Will There Be Good News?
Author: Kate Atkinson
Publisher: Back Bay Books / Little, Brown and Company
Source:Miriam at Hachette Book Group
Atkinson’s writing pulls the reader into another world where bad things happen but there is always someone who wants to prevent the bad things or pick up the pieces afterwards. The first part of the book, titled “The Past” takes the reader to a summer day thirty years before the present day tale begins. The reader gets so caught up in the the events of that day it takes a while to realize the little girl is now a woman with her own family.
Jackson Brodie and Louise Monroe (both featured characters in One Good Turn) do more than cross paths and have made permanent marks in each other’s lives. As far as I can recall, this is the only book I’ve read in which a secondary character gets primary character billing in a sequel. I read somewhere Walter Mosley has done this but I’ve not seen it for myself.Â
Most of the time I read a book in a vacuum because there isn’t anyone else to talk to about it. The readers in my life either don’t read the same books as me or they read them years after I do. This is one of those books I wish I could talk to someone about.  The ending caught me by surprise and my heart broke a little. Some authors believe in putting their characters through hell to create a metamorphosis. All I can say without providing any spoilers is there better be a happy ending but I doubt it’s coming.
Author Bio
Kate Atkinson lives in Edinburgh. Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum,was named Whitbread Book of the Year in the U.K. in 1995, and was followed by Human Croquet, Emotionally Weird, Not the End of the World, Case Histories and One Good Turn.
It sounds like Atkinson is a gifted writer! I can’t wait to try one of her books.