Meet the Ramdin-Chetan family: forged through loneliness, broken by secrets, saved by love.
Irrepressible Betty Ramdin, her shy son Solo and their marvellous lodger, Mr Chetan, form an unconventional household, happy in their differences. Happy, that is, until the night when a glass of rum, a heart to heart and a terrible truth explodes the family unit, driving them apart.
Brave and brilliant, steeped in affection, Love After Love asks us to consider what happens at the very brink of human forgiveness, and offers hope to anyone who has loved and lost and has yet to find their way back.
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(@FaberBooks, 31 March 2020, ebook, 357 pages, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @BorrowBox)
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I've wanted to read this for ages since it was featured on the BBC show Between the Covers. My library launched an additional digital provider and I had to borrow this when I saw it was available. This is an incredible book. I couldn't stop reading because I fell in love with the characters and their stories. The chapters alternate between Betty, Solo and Mr Chetan's POV. This is an incredibly sad book as Solo learns a shocking truth about how his violent, drunken father really died and flees to America because he can't look Betty in the face and feels like everything he believed about his family and life is a lie. His pain and anger is heart-breaking. Betty's pain because she can't make her son understand the reason for her actions because he's blinded by his love for a father he selectively remembers. Mr Chetan is a great character as well, struggling for acceptance as a gay man in a world where he's considered a freak. The shocking ending had me in tears.
