JUSTIN CARTWRIGHT - TO HEAVEN BY WATER

Review by Babs on show 13 th Jan 2011.
Justin Cartwright is the author of 'The Promise of Happiness' which was one of Richard & Judy's choices a couple of years ago and a very well deserved best-seller. This book is another beautifully written novel with a compelling story and I was disappointed only when I reached the end and realised it was over!
It tells the story of David Cross, a retired TV news anchor who specialised in reporting from war zones and other difficult places and his family. His wife has died in the last year and he and his children, Ed & Lucy, are coping in different ways.
Ed is married to a former ballet dancer, Rosalie, who is desperate for a child and Lucy has recently broken away from a boyfriend, Josh, who is beginning to be a problem to her.
It is a deceptively straightforward story but the way it is written makes it utterly compelling. All the characters are believable, interesting and intelligent, and you warm to them all good and bad.
David Cross goes to South Africa to see his brother, a deeply spiritual man who has been living among the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert and this episode particularly is quite extra-ordinary, the reader feels the heat, desolation and silence of the desert in a unique way.
Ed gets caught up in a regrettable affair, while Lucy's ex-boyfriend turns out to be deeply scary! The ending is very satisfying too.
I would urge anyone who enjoys a really well-written novel to get this as soon as possible. There's a quote on the cover of the book by Allen Massie "I doubt if there's a better English novelist of his generation" and although Mr Massie is unfamiliar to me, I wholeheartedly agree with what he says.
review by Babs