Isa and May Book

Margaret Forster in this engaging intriguing novel about a young woman and two grandmothers uncovers the shocking truths that family history reveals. The curiously named Isamay a would-be academic is trying to write a coherent thesis about grandmothers in history - from Sarah Bernhardt and George Sand to the matriarchal Queen Victoria and other influential grannies - while constantly ambushed by the secrets her own family has been keeping. An only child she is named after her grandmothers Isa and May who were there at her birth and who have formed and influenced her in very different ways. Jealous of each other they both want to be first in their granddaughter's affections. Isa has an edge in that young Isamay looks like her but Isa's reserved and elegant exterior hides startling surprises that could undermine her granddaughter's certainties. May on the other hand is plump indomitable and opinionated and it's from her that Isamay inherits her stubborn determination. Isamay almost thirty has never wanted children but suddenly considers changing her mind. Her live-in lover Ian (always mysterious about his own family history) is sure that he does not want a child.Engrossing set in the present but with hooks into the past this is an unusual story about grandmothers and their potentially powerful role in family life about nature vs nurture bloodlines and bridges across generations.

Isamay's unusual name comes from her two very different grandmothers, Isa and May, who were both present at her birth and who have both formed and influenced her whole life in very particular ways. Now almost thirty, Isamay is trying to write a thesis about grandmothers in history but is instead constantly ambushed by the startling secrets her own family has been keeping. When disturbing truths are revealed that force Isamay to examine her own certainties, will her grandmothers be able to build a bridge across the generations?