Alice, Eva Hanagan

The inaugural meeting of the Hillside Book Club discussed this novel written by one of the previous occupants of No 4.  Three members of the group remembered Eva who passed away in 2009 a couple of years after leaving Hillside.

The the jacket picture and blurb on the back of the edition I have (we all seemed to have the same one) doesn't do the book justice.  To me they are suggestive of a light 'chick lit' frivolous sort of romp and I don't find that to be an accurate description of this short literary novel.  The characters are well drawn, most being rather flawed and consequently quite believable.  I loved the archetypal headmistress who seems to have a lifelong hold over her erstwhile pupils.  There are some quite farcical funny scenes involving  lawnmowers and a mole crazed man shooting himself in the foot but the main gist of the story seems to be a sort of right of passage for a middle aged woman learning to deal with the loss of her husband.

Overall the book seemed to score 7 - 7.5.  I liked it very much and found the ending satisfactory although others would have been happier with a more eventful ending.