15/150

Getting Away With It - Julie Cohen

I got sent this book by the lovely publishers, Headline Review and am really glad they did. It’s probably not a book I would have picked for myself in a book shop. It’s fairly long at over 500 pages and is a “big” book, if you know what I mean, not just a normal handbag sized one, but a sort of ‘oversized’ one. Not that I’m complaining, sometimes it’s nice to have a big book to dig into. Having said that, it can be tricky if you get addicted to and can’t put down a book of over 500 pages, which is exactly what happened here.

The novel is about a set of twins who end up doing a swap, but not in a completely cliché way. The one unreliable and carefree twin is left with no choice but to take over her serious and organised sister’s life. She must take over the family business without anyone noticing the swap and is left with her mother who has rapidly declined with Alzheimer’s disease. Having had first-hand experience of this terrible condition, it was really interesting to see it being dealt with in a book like this. From the book’s cover you might think that it was a chick-lit book full of sweetness and light, but amongst some lighter moments (the family owns an ice cream factory and Liza must invent a new flavour…Beetroot and Horseradish!!), these more serious moments with her mother and the difficult twin relationship are dealt with very well and really give a great insight into both situations.

It is a funny, warm and sometimes sad novel with great characters and intriguing twists and I would say it’s a great book to take on holiday with you. At 500 pages it’ll last you a good while but there’s pretty much no chance you’ll get bored with it. It’s fast paced and should really capture your attention as soon as you sit down on your sun lounger. I definitely wish I’d had something like this to take on my hols with me. So all in all, I’m going to give this book 4/5 stars. It surprised me and I really did enjoy it. It’s probably not a book I would read again but it was greatly satisfying at the time. I look forward to hunting down some more of Julie Cohen’s novels to add to my enormous ‘to read’ list!

Char x