by Kate Atkinson
First published in Great Britain in 2013.
Ursula is born but dies minutes later. Ursula is born and lives. Second chances, the ability to change the future and deja vu are all themes of this story, set between 1910 and 1967. It concentrates mainly on the 20s and 30s and has great detailed accounts of the second World War in both London and Germany.
I was given this book as a Christmas present by a friend and it is brilliant. If you've ever wished you could change something in your past, or wondered how your life might be different had something been changed, then give this a read. I could write a pages long essay on this book; it is full of events, characters and places so detailed I really felt like I was there in the story. I know that sounds incredibly cheesy but I just got lost in this book. The ideas of dreams, deja vu and second chances are explored in a way that makes you think about your actions and their consequences, without being too heavy handed. It made me think about my place in the world (cheese again!).
The story follows Ursula from her birth to her death. She grows up in the English countryside with her mother, Sylvie, and siblings. When she is young, Ursula tries to stop bad things happening in rather childish ways, for example pushing the maid down the stairs in an attempt to stop her going to London where she contracts Spanish flu. As she gets older Ursula understands more the consequences of her actions but continues to try to protect the people she loves. We see her go though several relationships and I was hoping that one in particular wouldn't be the lasting one (no spoilers!) The relationships were very well written, with the different men bringing out different sides to Ursula's personality.
The only characters I didn't like were Derek (no spoilers so I won't go into it) and Sylvie. She seemed cold and distant, even towards her children. When I finished reading I did think that perhaps she also had the ability to go back in her life and change things like Ursula. I thought it was hinted at that she had once had a fancier life with a gentleman in a hotel, but for some reason this didn't stay as her real life, so perhaps she was bitter about this.
There were several parts of the book which hinted at pretty dark, grim things happening. Not enough to be graphically obvious straight away but disturbing when thought about. I felt this gave the timelines a lot more depth, especially the smaller storylines. I think that the fact that not everyone gets their 'happy ending' shows that whatever you do to help one person may end up backfiring, even if it is not immediate.
The account of the London Blitz is one of the best I have read; it is so detailed and realistic and certainly doesn't hide from the grimness of the time. I found it really interesting to read and compare Ursula's experiences in London and Germany during the war and the fact that her different experiences were caused by the simple act of her returning to England or not was striking.
The ending is rather vague and at first I was unsatisfied because it didn't give a roundup of each character. Looking back on it I think that, although I'll always find it frustrating because that's just who I am as a reader, everytime I read it I'll probably interpret it differently.
I know I'll be reading this book again and again, and I definitely want to do so with a notebook so I can try to keep track of the back and forth a bit more!
