Forget me not (Forget Me Not - Isabel Wolff)

Member Name: superstar1212

Product:	Forget Me Not - Isabel Wolff
Date:	24/04/07 (649 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great read for those that like Sophie Kinsella

Disadvantages: none

~ Background ~

Isabel Wolff was born in Warwickshire and studied English at Cambridge. Her first novel was The Trials of Tiffany Trott it was an international bestseller. This was followed by three further bestsellers - The Making of Minty Malone, Out of the Blue and Rescuing Rose (due to be released in hardback in may) all of which have been published worldwide. Her latest novel Forget me not was released in march 2007.


~ Story ~

This book is based around Anna Temple. Anna was very close to her father who decided to move to London so that he was closer to her and to escape the memories of his late wife. Mark her brother lived in San Francisco and she also had a sister Cassie who she didn’t really get along with. After the sudden death of her mother Anna decides to have a career change she goes from working in the city hedge fund in the Equity Research department to designing gardens as a tribute to her green-fingered mother.

After Anna’s leaving party at work she had arranged to have supper with her colleague Sue, towards the end of the meal Sue had managed to convince Anna to go along to the Iso-bar for a few drinks. This is where Anna met Xan they got on really well and spent the rest of the evening chatting and drinking champagne. They shared a cab home where Anna out of character asked him in for a coffee. Their chance encounter changes her world in more ways than she can ever have imagined.

Nine months later Anna had given birth to her beautiful baby girl Milly. Whilst pregnant Anna attended antenatal classes where she met Jenny, they were the only two single mothers in the group and quickly became good friends. She was just beginning to realise how difficult it was to juggle her newborn baby and the new business especially on her own as Xan had left her for a job in Indonesia being a foreign correspondent.



Her father very kindly organised a maternity nurse called Elaine to help her with Milly, she was like the Angel Gabriel and Florence night gale rolled into one. As Anna’s work load increased she decided that she needed a builder so Elaine introduced her to Jamie her nephew.

Anna started a relationship with a guy called Patrick when everything seemed to be going well for her, Xan decided that he wanted to be part of her and Milly’s life which just made the situation difficult for everyone apart from Milly who loved to have her dad around. Xan moved back to London and started visiting Milly every day, which had a negative impact on Anna’s relationship with Patrick.

When Anna was looking through one of her mum’s old gardening reference books she discovered a long buried family secret. She tries to talk to Mark her brother about it but he refused to discuss the issue and told her to take it up with her father. There was a photo of a man with her mother and an old letter which lead her to believe that Cassie her younger sister was not her fathers child!

The story has a wonderful ending but who will Anna end up with? Is Cassie her real sister? And find out all about Jenny’s big secret.

~ Characters ~

Anna Temple - She is the main character aged about 36 yrs old, single mother.

Milly Temple - Anna’s beautiful daughter

Xan - Anna’s ex lover and Milly’s father

Mr. Temple (Anna’s father) - Mid fifties man recently lost his wife and has a deep dark secret.

Cassie - Anna’s younger sister, she travels around a bit and has had many weird and wonderful jobs.

Mark - Anna’s brother who lives in San Francisco and is a eye surgeon.

Jenny - Anna’s friend who she met in her antenatal classes they became best friends and could confide in her.

Jamie - The builder that Anna worked with in her new garden designing business.

Patrick - Anna had a short relationship with Patrick, he was a bee keeper.

Luisa - The au pair with terrible English

~ My opinion ~

I only actually discovered Isabel wolff last year when I had finished reading all the Sophie Kinsella books, I was finding it difficult to find another author that wrote the way Sophie does. I was recommended this book by a close friend.

The story line is touching and compulsive to read, you won’t want to put it down. I would lay in bed and say I’ll just finish this chapter then I’ll switch the light off but I couldn’t help myself I had to read more it was very gripping.

I really liked the characters in this novel and I personally feel connected to Anna as i have been in a similar situation myself. I also liked the way ther are a few hidden tips throughout the book about gardening. I learnt that if you put a two pence in a vase of flowers they will last longer and the flowers react to the copper.

The style of writing is very similar to Sophie Kinsella and Cecelia Ahern both quite easy to read and great for the female readers from the age of 18 yrs +
I have also read most of Isabel’s other novels which are also very good and have similar characters.

Similar authors: Marian Keyes, Sophie Kinsella, Jill Mansell, Cathy Kelly and Cecelia Ahern



~ Price ~
I paid £6.96 for my paperback copy from Tesco

ISBN 978-0-00-717829-2 Harper Collins Publishers

RRP. £11.99

~ Previous books ~

The Trials of Tiffany Trott, The Making of Minty Malone, Out of the Blue, Rescuing Rose, A Question of Love and Behaving Badly.

Summary: Pure feel good escapism book from a bestseller author