In association with

Over
by Margaret Forster
from Vintage

Editorial Review:

`Forster's prose rings true...'

`Written with her customary spareness and restraint.'

"Forster's novel avoids both melodrama and easy resolution, depicting instead bereavement and alienation with delicate intimacy"

'With its contemporary settings and authentic dialogue, Forster's novel feels less like fiction and more like real life.'

`There is much to admire in this slim volume'

'Forster's first person account is an impressive feat of
observation and imagination'

'Utterly compelling and painfully convincing'

'Margaret Forster once again proves her ability to get under the
skin of her characters'

'You really must read'

'Over is a gripping page-turner...a haunting rewarding read.'

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• Lacking that special something
  This is a brilliant depiction of a family disintegrating following the death of a daughter, sadly a situation so often encountered in real life. The characters are well-drawn and convincing and the writing clear and concise. So why was I not compelled to keep reading, anxious to return to the book whenever I had put it down?
  It's a difficult question to answer, but I somehow had to force myself to read to the end. Maybe because it was so obvious what was going to happen the story lost that sense of... more info

• Brilliant, heartbreaking novel
  Over is yet another novel from Margaret Forster that touches a raw, sore nerve. Over is about grief and death. Yet this "misery novel" is never mawkish or grim. When tragedy strikes, an erstwhile happy family tries to deal with the loss. Everyone copes with the death of their eighteen-year-old sister/daughter in a sailing accident differently and causes unintentional further pain to other members of the family as they do so. The book is not so much about the shock of the tragedy itself as what happens next... more info

• I Don't Know How She Does It!
  Ask what 'happens' in this novel and you have to say 'Not much', in terms of a runaway plot, that is. But Forster's gift is to write about 'ordinary' people and events so that the reader keeps reading avidly. Her theme is the coping with loss, and the effects on others of the strategies we employ to do this. I have enjoyed all her work, and am a fan, so perhaps this is biased, but I rate it the best book I've read in many months

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