This is a rich story, with layers of characters and secrets, time periods and struggles, places and relationships, all tied together beautifully. At the center of this story are Joan and her daughter Eloise. As Joan grows older and becomes unable to live alone, Eloise struggles with the decision to move her to an assisted living facility. Despite her busy career as a hedge fund manager, Eloise decides to take Joan on a final trip to her childhood home in South Africa before the move. While there, Joan begins to learn more about her family's struggles during the Boer War. Through flashbacks, Mason weaves historical events into the story, even as a present day business crisis calls Eloise back to London. The story moves on like this, as Eloise and Joan struggle with the present and remember the past, until the tensions that build throughout the book come to a head. While the plot carries the story forward, it is Mason's ability to communicate Joan's inner life as her dementia worsens that made this book stand out to me. I'm thrilled to have found another talented new-to-me author. ( )

excellent read like all of this author's books ( )

This was a rather interesting, different novel, but it tried to be too many things at one time. There are many intersecting stories from the past and present, and also amongst various family members. At its core, this is a story about a driven, professional commodities trader (Eloise), going through menapause and her Mother Joan, who is on the edge of age-related dementia of some sort. The story delves into possible diagnoses of the Mother (one from a doctor near the end), but we are never sure what is wrong exactly. The story begins with two stories, one Eloise's search for the best assisted care for Joan, the other Eloise's dangerous financial gamble on a metal on a tip from her old and first lover, Claude. In addition, Joan's dementia leads the reader back to her history in South Africa and her decendents' horrors of being victims of the English during the Boer supression/violence. Lastly, is the beautiful friendship between an outcast teenager, Paul, and his friendship with the ailing Joan ~ as they discover the past together. Some of the parts add up and some are a bit silly, but the character development is wonderful. The caustic nun at the assisted care facility, Joan, Paul and the old lover Claude, were wonderful. Eloise and her brother George were a bit flat. I just think it was too much for one novel and the ending was goofy, with, of course everything falling into place. That said, it clearly a well researched novel, in terms of the Boer "War" in South Africa, caring for an aging parent, dementia (the precarious balance between medicating a patient who cannot communicate well and care is VERY well done here) and the metals/commodities market in London. I learned a lot. I didn't "love" this book though, but I think the author has great promise. ( )