Simona's Corner of Dreams: Learning to Speak American

Sunday, 24 July 2016

Learning to Speak American – by Colette Dartford

Original Cover

My own copy

The blurb:

"Having suffered in silence since the tragic death of their young daughter, Lola and Duncan Drummond's last chance to rediscover their love for one another lies in an anniversary holiday to the gorgeous Napa Valley.

Unable to talk about what happened, Duncan reaches out to his wife the only way he knows how - he buys her a derelict house, the restoration of which might just restore their relationship.

As Lola works on the house she begins to realise the liberating power of letting go. But just as she begins to open up, Duncan's life begins to fall apart.

Colette Dartford's debut novel, Learning to Speak American, exploring whether a parent can ever truly move on from the death of a child. And, after all the heartbreak, whether Lola and Duncan can learn to love again."

My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Learning to Speak American is Colette Dartford’s debut novel and I have to say I really enjoyed it.

It follows the story of Lola and Duncan, who have lost their young daughter a few years ago. They both have their own way to deal with the situation. Lola would actually like to talk about it, but Duncan shouts her out. Their life is sad, miserable and boring, until they go to America.

Lola falls in love with a house their and they make it their project. Well, it’s actually more her project, Duncan is distant and after a while doesn’t even join her on the trips to see the house. He is buried in his work and starts to look for a different way out. Lola spends a lot of time with her neighbours in the States, as well as Cain McCann, with them she seems to open up and she is even able to tell them about what happen. Also Duncan finds someone to do that. That means that they grow even more apart and their love is really tested. They have to learn to love again and that’s not easy.

I adored the scenes in America, especially Napa Valley, this gave the story a different atmosphere and it was kind of like a totally different world to the one back in England. Colette’s descriptions were on point, I really had a vivid picture in my mind.

The topic is a very sensitive and touching one and I think Colette found a great way to include the character’s feelings in the story. We knew exactly what they felt and it came across really well. Another think I didn’t really like was though that some characters were not well lined out. They were there, but some depth was missing to them.

I really like Colette’s style of writing, I got hooked right away and the storyline has a great flow. It could move a bit faster at times, but all in all this is a wonderful debut novel about family, love, loss and big emotions.

Rating: