Second Honeymoon

By Joanna Trollope

Meet the Boyd family and the empty nest–twenty-first-century style. Ben is, at last, leaving home. At twenty-two, he's the youngest of the family. His mother, Edie, an actress, is distraught. His father, Russell, a theatrical agent, is rather hoping to get his wife back. His brother, Matthew, is struggling in a relationship in which he achieves and earns less than his girlfriend. And his sister, Rosa, is wrestling with debt and the end of a turbulent love affair. With her characteristically perceptive observation and spot-on characterisation, Joanna Trollope explores the dilemmas that face both parents and children as they cope with finding new ways to live, both with and without each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 9, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307373861

Joanna Trollope

Joanna Trollope is the author of twenty highly acclaimed contemporary bestselling novels, including The Other Family, Daughters-in-Law and The Soldier’s Wife. She has also written a study of women in the British Empire, Britannia’s Daughters, and ten historical novels published under the pseudonym, Caroline Harvey. Joanna was appointed OBE in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours List and was the Chair of Judges for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2012

Reviews for Second Honeymoon

[readingfiend_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Story about a husband looking forward to spending alot of alone time with his wife now that their remaining 20-something child has moved out of the house. However, the wife can't get over her empty nest sorrow.Their 3 children are dealing with relationship and living situation issues of their own as well much to the annoyance of the father.It's an interesting story about family and relationships but there were so many characters (and some with the same first letter in their names which I hate) you had to almost have a scorecard to keep track.

[cecilturtle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A quick enjoyable read. Trollope looks at a mother's difficulty in letting her children go into the wide world and the children's incapacity at dealing with the wide world. A novel of the times with a few good insights.

[picardyrose · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Actress bewails the loss of her children, till they all move back in again. Who thought that was a good idea?

[binniebee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The title is quite a different matter than the book, although (without giving too much away) at least one character in the book envisions "A Second Honeymoon". I enjoyed reading this book very, very much!

[imbookingit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an enjoyable and thought provoking read.This book is about a woman whose youngest child has finally left home. Edie has defined herself as a mother for so long that she has no desire to be anything else. Her husband has his vision of how life will be now, and is eager for her to conform to his view.Edie half-heartedly auditions for a role in a production of an Ibsen play, and (to her great surprise) gets the part. Just as she is rediscovering the actress in herself, who she had put in the backseat for many years, her children return home. As much as she's wished for this, the experience isn't what she expected.Each child had their own story. I was particularly interested in Matthew, the oldest. In many ways, he is the opposite of the rest of his family-- neat where they are messy, organized where they are scattered, ambitious where they are laid back. He's got a successful girlfriend that is ready to move up in the world, and is going at a pace he can't keep up with. He's having a very hard time dealing with this.Ben and Rosa are both much earlier in the process of finding out who they are and what they should be doing with themselves. Rosa is fairly newly out of an intense relationship that left her significantly in debt. Ben is moving in with his girlfriend, who isn't quite ready to leave her mother.These characters and more are what made the book work. They had interesting stories. They were each flawed while still being sympathetic. I was interested in where they ended up, even while recognizing the mistakes they made in getting there.To me, the book reflected the importance of control over ones own life. The characters making their own choices about how they were living had a much easier time coping than those at the mercy of circumstances.

[callmejacx · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found this to be a very slow start and difficult to get into. After awhile it grew on me. Nearly 3/4 of the way through I had to admit to myself that I was really enjoying it. I could relate to the characters. There were times when I had to stop and laugh because it sounded so much like my family.One looks forward to when the children grow up and move out of the house, but when the time comes it's a different story. I think many of us have felt this way or is going to feel this way when that day comes for them.

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have said this before....I love the way Trollope writes and I continue to be amazed at her ability to weave a story and develop her characters and in, now, SO many books she has written. Her characters have personalities that are so easily pictured with her descriptions---from Edie, to Russell, to Rosa...to Lazlo---even the cat, Arsie, is a cat with opinions! I do wonder if there is an age factor at work in those of us who love her books---she's writing about people we can relate to.

[stonelaura · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A perfectly nice story about how a family matures and grows apart. In this story it’s easier for some family members than for others, but everyone has issues. The story starts with the mother, Edie, grieving over the exit of her youngest, Ben from their rambling, messy, agedly comfortable home. Russell, the father is excited to have his wife back to himself, to the point where he’s willing to alienate his own children when circumstances in each of their lives makes it such that they must return to the nest. In addition, Edie’s sister, Vivien thinks her husband, from whom she’s been separated for four years, is ready to return a changed man, and Lazlo, a fellow actor of Edie’s accepts some of Edie’s overabundance of nurturing. As we learn, some people can change and accept that nothing stands still, and others (Max, Vivien’s ex) really are incapable of change and need to be left behind.

[limelite_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was curious about this book because of the author who is a direct descendent of Anthony Trollope. After having read it, I can say that the genes for good writing (though not political writing, per se) have been transmitted unto this, the ultimate living generation.Everyone is given a second chance at life, when frustrated by their first chance at it. The question is: Will the second chance prove to work out better for them?Devoted mum and retired actress gets a part now that she’s a woebegone empty-nester; her hubby gets a chance to have his wife all to himself – oops! The kids come home; eldest daughter loses her job, her apartment, her self-esteem, but will she recover any of those when she gets a new boyfriend? Eldest son has the perfect job and perfect girlfriend who earns more than him until she buys a flat he can’t afford to go in on, causing their separation. That girlfriend has the perfect job and the perfect flat but loses her boyfriend, then discovers she’s pregnant. Finally the devoted mum’s sister is separated from her husband, who after forays into wild oat sowing, wants to return, asking for a second chance to prove that he’s changed.Will the frayed strands of their lives re-knit themselves again?It’s a romp of a book, well constructed, and well written, of obvious entertainment value, but Trollope will need a second chance to write a book of lasting literary value.

[nancyjak · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Story about a husband looking forward to spending alot of alone time with his wife now that their remaining 20-something child has moved out of the house. However, the wife can't get over her empty nest sorrow.Their 3 children are dealing with relationship and living situation issues of their own as well much to the annoyance of the father.It's an interesting story about family and relationships but there were so many characters (and some with the same first letter in their names which I hate) you had to almost have a scorecard to keep track.