Review: Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
I picked this book up in my most recent library haul, because I had seen it last year I believe, in a number of videos on Booktube. It had been nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2015. So maybe it was in 2015 I saw it on Booktube…time flies! This is about a woman who loses her family in a freak accident on the eve of her daughter’s wedding. Her boyfriend, her ex-husband, her daughter and her soon to be son-in-law all die in a fire caused by a gas explosion. The woman, June, finds it difficult to cope and almost immediately after the funerals she picks up and leaves in her car with no luggage and no plan. Meanwhile we follow the rest of the inhabitants in the small town where tragedy struck, who all seem to be connected to the deceased in some way or other. Friends and family of course, but also the caterer and the florist for the wedding. We slowly unravel the backstories of a number of the main characters and discover what led to the explosion. We get ...