Learning To Swim

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I am so glad I did, I really enjoyed the story and the way events unfold from the perspective of Abigail, the main character. An intelligent and escapist read - well written and funny" Daily Express "Modern, intelligently observed and highly original" Daily Mail "A spirited account of growing up and falling in love" Good Housekeeping "This delicious novel - is a joy from beginning to end - a perfect novel" Lisa Jewell "Engagingly written" Prima You may also be interested in.

After leaving primary school, she meets Francis and her very different and family, thrusting her headfirst into a lifestyle she could only have imagined before. I wish the author had spent more time developing the part of the story connected with Abigail's discovery of a previously unknown family member - but I cannot explain further for fear of spoiling the novel for those who have yet to read it. A lovely, often very funny story about a girl cursed with an embarassing surname (Onions) and unhappy parents with a deeply suburban life style, who finds an escape from home by her friendship with the wildly bohemian Radley family. The Radley's were extraordinary, captivating creatures transplanted from a bohemian corner of North London to outer suburbia, and the young Abigail found herself drawn into their magic circle- the eccentric Frances, her new best friend; Frances' mother, the liberated, headstrong Lexi; and of course the brilliant, beautiful Rad. In fact after I finished reading I was prompted to turn back to the beginning and examine the first 60 or so pages to make all the connections.The smart wit and brilliant characters remind me a little of Kate Atkinson but comparisons are in some ways unfair because this author has her own unique voice and style and should be recognised in her own right, which now after the success of Small Pleasures I hope and think she is. As well as a perceptive, witty look at the pretensions of suburbia, Learning to Swim is a quirky, moving story of friendship and love, peopled with irresistible, unforgettable characters who haunt the reader's mind after the book has ended. I also felt that Abigail let Rad off with way too much-I'm not sure I would have been that forgiving. I enjoyed it, although I found it rather long and it had what would now probably be described as a bit of a YA feel to it. Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit.

Raised in a very conservative household, only child Abigail lives out a dull life with Mother and Father in suburbia filled with net curtains and clipped lawns. As in life, the events in her books are at once comical ,endearing , brutally realistic and often tinged with some tragedy . Clare’s gift for storytelling and her quirky but incredibly accessible style make her novels a sheer joy to read. There are moments of beauty as Abigail observes these colourful characters, never quite realising the significance of some of her interactions. It starts with a present situation and then goes back in time for most of the book until everything is explained and you get back to where you started.Abigail, when we meet her, is a cellist in an established orchestra and it is not until she attends an after show party and is introduced to Marcus Radley that we start to get a glimpse into the life of this young woman. The fact that they completely contrasted with her own family is a factor, but it doesn't seem enough. She has a talent for creating characters who are not only lifelike and eccentric, but immensely believable, and who have stayed with me long after I closed the book. We follow Abigail as she eagerly embarks on new adventures throughout her teenage years in the Radley household.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. On the other hand certain episodes seemed unlikely to me, even for the Radleys, in particular the scene which causes Rad to be so angry with Abigail. Although set in the 70s and 80s, it doesn't hark back to the cultures of the time but you get a feel for simpler times and the joy of an innocent childhood.

In dramatic contrast to her own conventional family, the Radley's were extraordinary, captivating creatures transplanted from a bohemian corner of North London to outer suburbia, and the young Abigail found herself drawn into their magic circle: the eccentric Frances, her new best friend; Frances' mother, the liberated, headstrong Lexi; and of course the brilliant, beautiful Rad. When her three children were teenagers, inspired by their reading habits, she produced two YA novels, Bright Girls (HarperCollins 2009) and Burning Secrets (HarperCollins 2011). Just finishing up an inadvertent rereading of this after 20 or so years, and had no recollection of it at all until I reached a line on page 323 - “She wears so much face powder nowadays it’s a bit like kissing a bap” - and I remembered having to look up what a bap was and appreciating the tactile impact of that image.