It has quite sinister undertones in places and the character of Matt is especially well created - starting out as the local friendly builder and gradually getting darker and more threatening as the story evolves. Yes, this is the same Matt who desperately wants The Spanish House for himself and although he is instantly attracted to Isabel he is determined to sabotage the house (literally, with shoddy worksmanship) while charging her extortionate amounts for the privilege. But when they arrive, they realise that the house is much more than they bargained for, and the amount of work it needs is enormous. As it is, it passes to his niece and children, Isabel, Kitty, and Thierry, struggling with the death of her husband and their new financial issues they move to the country and learn a new way of life.

Die Charakteren sind ebenfalls eher schwarz - weiß gezeichnet, mit wenig Tiefgang und bleiben an der Oberfläche ihrer Darstellung. Diesem Buch merkt man an, dass es 2008, also früher als die letzten Bücher von Jojo Moyes, geschrieben wurde. Isabel’s unique talent helps her endure her pain but it also drift her apart from her burdens needed to be handled immediately. I like there to be more than one POV, and feel it often helps to round out the story and flesh out the figures.Losing her husband and having to confront her problems made her grow up immensely and let her prove a better mother to her children as a result. Two men who each like her - one is wealthy, sleeps around and doesnt care about his family, the other is the strong silent type who obviously has a past. I found myself almost pulling my hair out in frustration with her merely accepting his behaviour and thought their toxic marriage brought a sinister edge to the novel, something I’ve never seen before in a Jojo Moyes book.

Matt is an awful character and has cheated on his wife multiple times yet she continues to stay with him. Her 15 years old Kitty misses her friends from her old place and Thierry is still keeping his silence after dealing with tragedy of losing his father. He was killed in a car accident, and has left her in debt, floundering to survive in the world of realities which, up to this point, she has mostly ignored. Isabel Delancey finds herself in dire straits when she realizes that her money is running out, and with two children to support, she has to face some harsh realities. Still wrapped up in the grief of losing her husband, her children have clearly suffered, she makes poor choices that impacts them and seems to take an age to come together.The worst thing about Isabelle was the fact she chose to get married and have kids when she knew she couldn't ever love and support them how they needed. When she finds out that she has inherited a house in the country, it seems like a great new start for her and her two children.

I wish that the rest of the book flowed as well as the first section because I was super bored most of the time. But when her husband dies suddenly, leaving her with a mountain of debt, she and her two children are forced to abandon their home and move to the Spanish House, a now-dilapidated manor Isabel inherited in the English countryside.A talented violinist Isabel and also widow inherits a dilapidated house named Spanish house at the close knit country village , moving there with her two kids after she’s suffering from the trauma to lose her husband at tragic traffic accident. Her novels have been translated into forty-four languages, have hit the number one spot in twelve countries and have sold over thirty-eight million copies worldwide. She developed such grit and determination throughout the story, and though it wasn’t the life she had wanted, she learned to take pride in it.