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Other People's Children

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About this listen

When a man and a woman get married, things can get complicated. When they have children from previous marriages, "complicated" can become the understatement of the year. From the grown daughter who insinuates herself into her widowed father's romantic life, to the sullen teenager whose loyalties lie with her estranged mother; from the awkwardness of tense celebrations to the discovery of surprising sources of strength, Joanna Trollope reveals the laughter and tears, the tension and the tenderness, that live behind the statistics and stereotypes about stepfamilies.

Read by Clare Higgin.

©1998 Joanna Trollope (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction
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Nice enough story about the complexities and dynamics of family life. Well written. Very character driven. Each character has their own complex life, personality, outlook, motivations and feelings so you really get to connect with each one.

The narrator was fine but the audio quality was pretty bad.

Other People's Children

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Less dated than some of Trollope's novels, this novel explores the dilemmas of blended families, from viewpoints of different generations of family members The children are sensitively depicted.,. I found the characters of Elizabeth and Rufus particularly interesting and surprisingly moving.
I did not enjoy the final chapter of the novel which neatly attempted to bring closure and tie up loose ends of a messy far reaching family saga.

Sensitively written and performed

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The quick ending which I felt left the story unfinished and lacked a feel good vibe to an otherwise interesting story

A sad ending as I had guessed a much happier finale to the story

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The book explores interesting themes around the relationship between stepparents and stepchildren, and there are some engaging and interesting characters. However, the author expresses concerning views around gender and social status. Poverty is portrayed as a lifestyle choice of the feckless, and individuals in deprived areas are depicted as only capable of 'communicating through violence.' The affluent professionals, on the other hand, are presented as the most honest, kind, and emotionally stable characters, while the behavior deteriorates as you descend the social ladder. Men are portrayed as passive, benign bystanders during conflicts between reasonable and unreasonable women. They are shown as incapable and therefore not responsible for dealing with the emotional turbulence in their lives.

Relatively engaging but expresses dubious views

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Probably my favourite Trollope work. Accurately portrays the complex mess caused by forming relationships ( or not), with ‘other people’s children’. Spoilt only slightly by Amy’s odd accent - Hartlepool is NOT part of Geordieland, and the accent is totally distinct.

Accurate dissection of complex family relationships

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