Margaret Forster

[Nightynight]

can someone who likes her please tell me what is her best book and why?

I have tried several of her books, but they are just so boring. It is like listening to a particularly tedious person rabiting on about their life.

I am currently reading Ladys Maid. I am extremely irritated by Elizabeth Barrett, to the point where I really dont understand why the heroine of the book is so devoted to her. And I dont understand any more about EB's mysterious ailments than I did before.

And I have yet to read a single sentence that has any other meaning than its face value.

so what exactly does differentiate Margaret Forster from Danielle Steele??

Have you tried Hidden Lives or Precious Lives? I like them, but I tried to read Lady's Maid and couldn't finish it.

thank you nevada, but why do you like them?
(am off to a meeting now, will look back later)

She's talking about her own life and her maternal line in Hidden Lives. In Precious Lives she talks about her father and her sil and death.

Maybe I just like a window into other people's lives and the way they think. And, knowing it's true (at least from her perspective) makes it more interesting for me.

You say you don't understand why the heroine of EB is so devoted to EB - well I didn't either! This is where fictional motives don't work for me because I can't believe in them if they're too extreme/far away from my own thinking. If you know the real life motivations of a character, I seem to be able to understand it more easily.

There is another book of hers I liked. Have the men had enough? Didn't think I'd like it, but quite addictive when I got into it. Definitely draws on her life experience there.

The book club I go to really liked 'Mother's Boys' but we have all been disappointed with other books of hers. Broadly, 'Mother's Boys' is about the contrasting lives of 2 mothers whose lives intersect because of the actions of their sons; and there's an element of the thriller to it too.

i gave Lady's Maid back to the library without finishing it too, my eyelids were dropping shut!

I think I knew her sister!!

Gosh I must be strange I really enjoyed Lady's Maid and didn't want it to end. I loved all the details about their lives, I suppose I'm just very nosy.

Have the Men Had Enough? Is a wonderful and very, very sad book. Well worth a read but not if you are a bit depressed. It is a novilsed treatment of her MILs alzheimers. Excellent and very 'true'

thank you for your opinions and experiences!
I have dipped into Have the Men Had Enough in the library, but I just couldnt hit the magical captivation level, to borrow it. I lived though my grandmother's death, so it did seem profoundly depressing to me.

Nightynight I feel the exact same about her books, there is nothing to catch me as a reader it is all very tedious as you said.

I haven't bothered even looking at any other book with her name on it.

I love margaret forster books!I've read most of them and I like the way she is interested in the way womens lives have changed over the generations.I have just reread Hidden lives as it's our book club book this month.I enjoyed it but this time felt she was slightly condescending about her mother's life and choices.
I'm hopeless at remembering what I've read before but I really enjoyed diary of an ordinary woman.I like the characters. She explores history through peoples lives and that is what I find interesting.