The Other Family

By Joanna Trollope

From the superb storyteller and quintessential women's fiction author Joanna Trollope comes a moving and wonderfully observed new novel about two families who must confront love and loss as an inheritance hangs in the balance.

The trouble with dying is that you're not around anymore to explain what you meant to the people who love you…

Richie Rossiter, a crooner and piano man still popular with his loyal fans, is anyone's idea of a lucky man. In his forties, he abandoned his first wife and son in Newcastle for a young woman who believed she could bring him stardom in the south. Not only does Chrissie rejuvenate his career, she gives him twenty-three years of happy domestic life and three lovely daughters.

But then he dies suddenly, and at his funeral Chrissie and her daughters cross paths with Richie's other family for the very first time. And the uneasy truce that has held over the years between Richie's past and his present loves breaks down into open animosities, fanned by certain bequests he has made and certain secret loyalties he has kept. Grief, loss, jealousy and love rewrite the relationships of both families in ways Richie never could have imagined.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 2, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307374264

Joanna Trollope

Joanna Trollope is the author of many highly acclaimed and bestselling novels, including The Rector's Wife, Marrying the Mistress, Daughters in Law and City of Friends. She was appointed OBE in 1996, and a trustee of the National Literacy Trust in in 2012. She has chaired the Whitbread and Orange Awards, as well as being a judge of many other literature prizes; she has been part of two DCMS panels on public libraries and is patron of numerous charities, including Meningitis Now, and Chawton House Library. In 2014, she updated Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility as the opening novel in the Austen Project.

Reviews for The Other Family

[janglen_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An enjoyable and very readable study of two families and the relationships within and between them following the death of the husband/father. Several of the characters are not entirely likeable but it is impossible not to feel for them all as they adjust to a different world. The ending is a little too tidy and convenient altogether. While not Joanne Trollope's best novel, it is, however, worth seeking out.

[moonshineandrosefire · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Richie Rossiter is a famous singer-songwriter and pianist based in England who has millions of loyal fans all over the world. To those fans, Richie is living the type of life they could only dream of; he is an extremely lucky man. What the world at large could never imagine was that Richie Rossiter is actually living a secret life.In his late forties, Richie abandoned his first wife Margaret and their young son Scott in Newcastle - in northeast England - for a young woman who believed that she could bring him stardom in London. Not only did the young woman, Chrissie, rejuvenate Richie Rossiter's career, they lived together for the next twenty-three years in domestic bliss - and had three lovely daughters: Tamsin, Dilly and Amy. However, the trouble with death is that it comes quicker than anyone might suspect, and leaves so many unanswered questions in its wake.When Richie dies unexpectedly, Chrissie realizes she must finally tell her daughters the truth: that their parents were never married, and that the girls' father had another family. However, this is only the first of many revelations that come to light with the reading of Richie's will. It seems that he never truly forgot the family he left behind so long ago. Now two grieving families are left to confront their losses - as well as each other - and no one will ever be the same.I must say that I absolutely loved this book. Ms. Trollope is a remarkable writer, her writing style is so poignant and insightful. Her characters are well-developed and so true to life, that I couldn't help feeling for them all. I give this book an A+! and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

[lynleys-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this as an audio book. The story was read by a very adept voice actor, who managed to switch up Estuary and Northern accents along with male, female, young and old alike, without seeming to have a problem. Joanna Trollope has a writing style which lends itself well to audio.As usual, Joanna Trollope has created a cast of believable characters, and over the course of a snapshot in their lives, manages to show their good points as well as their weaknesses. I would recommend to anyone who likes 'domestic drama'.

[lyzzybee · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

KindleA Trollope "issue book", this one about the current, but not married, family of a man who dies, warring with the original wife and son. The research - on music and Newcastle - show itself clunkily and it's all a bit contrived and tells rather than shows, of course. Passes the time.

[timswings · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

After the sudden dead of London based popular singer Richie Rossiter, the life of his manager and not official wife Chrissie and his nearly adult three daughters fall apart. They have to cope with the emotional, but also economical loss as Richie earned their wages with his wife as manager. They have to come to terms with the fact that he never divorced from his former wife who lives with his adult son in the North. In Tynemouth (near Newcastle). His dead also means that Chrissie is awaiting a huge amount of tax paying because the law does not her equal to an officially married person. The family has also sell their house, Chrissie has to find a new job and the girls (age 18, 20 and 23) has to grow up very fast and make a life for themselves. Put in the will is the wish of Richie that his piano goes to his son. The connection with his first life and his former career in the North. Amy the youngest girl, who is as musical as her father an who plays the flute, lay a link with her fathers son and later his former wife, while her mother and sisters are resentful. Astute and observant story about dilemma's and emotional turmoils and about finding new ways after the dead of a person who has been central in the lives of two familys.

[jennymcb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was easy to dislike the departed. The families he left behind struggled in their grief to move on in their lives. I actually felt that his first family was fortunate to learn to live without him before he died. As a professional musician, the father came across as very spoiled and manipulative. I thought that the author captured the immediate grief and family turmoil well with each character reacting differently to the changes in their life.

[kiwifortyniner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Joanna Trollope is an author I like and I have read many of her books. Her stories are of families and the issues that they face. They are studies of people and the way that they react to the situations that life throws at themIn this case it is a story that stems from a death, the death of Richie Rossiter, a musician. It is the story of two families. Richie was first married to Margaret, his childhood sweetheart. They grew up together in Tynside and married and had a son Scott. Later however Richie left her and moved to London to be with Chrissie with whom he had three children - Tamsin, Dilly and Amy. But Richie never divorced Margaret and never married Chrissie. Just before he died he changed his will and left his piano to Margaret and Scott which brought relief to them because they realised they had not been forgotten but caused jealousy, and friction in the other family.The youngest daughter Amy is the only one to be curious about the other family. It is her who breaks the news of Richie's death to them and her and Scott that arrange for the piano to be moved north. She is the one that wants to go north to meet Scott in particular and learn more of where her father grew up, and by the end of the novel she has a plan for the future as she seeks to enrol in a music course there. The others have their struggles. Chrissie and her other two daughters cannot understand why Amy would want to go and visit the other family and feel betrayed. Chrissie is having to cope in reduced circumstances because Richie did not, through thoughlessness or selfishness, see fit to provide for her. The book chronicles well her journey and the small steps that she takes so that by the end of the novel she has with the encouragement of her friend Sue, been able to deal with Richie's clothes and sell her house, and get a flat and a job. Margaret has her workmate Glenda who wants the best for her and Bernie Harrison who wants her to join him in a new business venture She is a music agent - a good one. But she has her journey to make before she feels ready to take on this new challenge.There is so much detail in this story and all the characters are well drawn, even the minor ones of Glenda and Sue and Bernie. By the end of the book Chrissie is able to tell her other two children Dilly and Tamsin that she wants them to be able to strike out on their own, that she does not want them to move in with her. Tamsin needs to move in with her boyfriend Robbie as she has been talking of, and Dilly needs to get a job and a flat. It is to be hoped that hey can take these steps themselves.

[ccayne_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is not one of her best. It's an enjoyable way to pass an afternoon or two but lacks the resonance of her earlier work. Some of the relationships which develop in this work are not believable.

[dianaleez · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Trollope once again scores with the aftermath of a husband/father's death. When an aging pop musiciandies suddenly, he leaves behind not only the three young adult daughters and beautiful blond wife of his second family, but also his legal wife and adult son. Each character's life is affected by his absence as allegiances shift and change and goals must be rethought.The bottom line: Thought provoking and sympathetic rendering of the effect of loss on a family.

[triscuit_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Trollope is the consumate explorer of the modern British professional class family. She has moved from Aga sagas set in the country to more urban settings and from busy but forward thinking plots to blacker, more disappointed situations. Still a great read. Here she looks at two families who revolve around one great man, a recording and concert artist, who dies suddenly leaving them all at a loss.

[annebrear · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've always wanted to read a book by Joanna Trollope. A friend gave me The Other Family and I read it on the weekend. Sadly after a few hours I just felt distracted by the style of writing. The dialogue felt stiff and unnatural to me. I did enjoy the premise of the book, but the characters were disjointed in movement and speech, making the flow of the story awkward. I didn't feel connected to the characters. Sadly, I lost interest.

[teeth_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The premise of this story is interesting but lost interest as story unfolded. The style of writing was not to my liking.

[nyiper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although I really like the way Trollope writes, this seemed a little slow---yes, good to read but just not pulling me along rapidly, page by page. I liked the concept of a sudden death and things left undone, to be faced by two separate but related families.

[porte01 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Irritating self-absorbed characters, with the exception of Scott, Amy and perhaps Margaret. And even these characters are very incomplete and not fleshed out enough to feel real. Not my favorite Joanna Trollope.

[garyseverance-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Other Family is a very good story of two families anchored and in many ways dominated by a man with two identities, Richie. He was born and raised in the “North” of England but was drawn to live and sing in the “South” by musical ambition. The ambition caused him to abandon one family and take on another as he permanently changed his location.I liked the careful structure of the novel that focuses on the survival of the two families after Richie’s death. I particularly liked the descriptions of British family life in different locales detailing the communication problems common in British and US cultures. Differences in conversational styles and living conditions provide a feeling of the exotic to US readers.Ms. Trollope reminds me of other British writers with her masterful control of dialogue, plot, and theme in her novel. I did not encounter an awkward sentence or break in narrative style in the interesting story. I had the impression that the writer is a consummate professional with years of successful experience writing fiction.I recommend the novel to readers who like the “cozy” style of British writing but who also like in-depth character development and the psychology of family interaction. The writing style puts readers comfortably in the kitchen and sitting rooms of the characters. The novel was fun to read with increases in tension and interesting resolutions.