The Favour

A tangible and refined novel about the need to make yourself fit in to the life you think you are owed...

I really enjoyed reading this book as it was set in parts of Italy I have visited so it was very easy to imagine the settings and surroundings and the heat. It was elegantly written, pared back in words and emotion and yet insightful.

Throughout the book there is a very tangible connection to the neediness of Ada, who is the storyteller. She has delusions that her past 'owes' her this lifestyle and believes that she should have inherited this type of living because of her childhood and her stepfather who was a renowned author and the wonderful old house Garreg Las they used to live in and which had to be sold after his death.

Ada subconsciously lives in the past, it's where she feels safe and secure, it's what gives definition to who and where she is now (a life which in reality she ignores and cannot accept).

When disaster strikes at the end of the Italian tour Ada sees the chance to take charge and sort it all out and in doing so pulling in a few favours and debts that will be to her benefit in the future and bind this group of people to her once they all return to England and go their separate ways.

However, did she actually interpret the story that wove itself around her in Italy correctly or not? Did she see the truth as she thought she did? All is not always as it seems as Ada will eventually find out.

JUDITH WARING

An elegant and incisive read about family, secrets and dangerously dark obsessions.

When Ada Howell loses her father as a teenager and moves to London, her sense of loss is compounded by her loss of identity, the sudden termination of the life she thought she would lead. With her ancestral home sold and her university future in doubt, she enthusiastically embarks on a cultural and educational trip suggested by a kindly relative. Feeling sure she will once again be immersed in ‘her’ people, she sets off to Venice with a calculated plan in place. And when one of the group dies in suspicious circumstances, Ada seizes the opportunity to bind herself to her affluent new friends.

This is a compelling story about family, secrets and obsession. Reading it I was sometimes intrigued and sometimes horrified by Ada’s desperation to fit in with the group. You are never quite sure whether to feel sorry for her or dislike her needy machinations. It’s elegantly written and the Italian setting is beautiful and incredibly evocative.

Clare Wilkins

This is a “slow burner” and the reader is drawn into the claustrophobic atmosphere of this book and the group of people involved.

This is a “slow burner” and the reader is drawn into the claustrophobic atmosphere of this book and the group of people involved.

The main character is Ada Howell who is rather unpleasant and needy. The large, fairly grand family house where Ada lived was been sold following the death of her father and Ada his been taken from her boarding school, and is educated at a local secondary school. Ada finds this hard to take and aches to return to this society.

When her Aunt dies the small legacy she receives allows her to travel to Italy and join a study tour run by Dilletante. Discoveries. Ada changes her life story and her accent to ensure she belongs in this higher society. Ada twists the death of a group member to become an essential part of the lives of the Dillentantes

As the story that Ada constructed begins to unwind. What Ada thinks she saw is far more complicated than she imagined and at first the reader feels that Ada has lost….but everything is not what it seems!

Kathy