As I have written before, I'm not really sure what made me pick this book up in the first place. I was less than impressed by the author's last novel but for some reason I still found myself in a bookshop handing over my hard earned cash for her latest offering - it is indeed the silly season!
The Book of Tomorrow centres around 16 (almost 17) year old Tamara who with her mother is forced to move from her high society life in Dublin to living in the countryside with her less than promising aunt and uncle following the sudden death of her father. Tamara's mother is consumed by grief and is pretty much a non-existent presence in the book but Tamara manages to run into plenty of other characters to spend her time with, Marcus the mobile library hottie, Sister Ignatius the beekeeping nun who lives nearby, Aunt Rosaleen and Uncle Arthur, various adolescents from the local area and a mysterious hidden person living in the house next door. A lot of characters but very little substance unfortunately. The book of tomorrow of the title refers to an old fashioned book that Tamara borrows from the mobile library that is more than it first appears - it is obviously meant to be the crux of the plot but I found it to be quite contrived and silly.
I am not sure if the author was meaning to write an adult or adolescent novel here - even though the main character is only 16 herself there are some adult themes explored. The book is definitely readable and I was probably prepared to give it a go right up until the last 60 pages or so where the conclusion of the book completely lost the plot for me - it felt rushed and predictable with the consequences of certain actions unexplored or unexplained.
Glad to have finished this one now!
