A really delightful read, but then I am a Joanna Trollope fan. A Spanish Lover is a hugely enjoyable page turner.

This is my second read, and more gratifying than the first time around.
Trollop has created smashing characters that are recognisably real from stern Barbara Shore to easy-to-please William Shore and their twin daughters.

Lizzie and Frances – mature in age, live their own lives. Lizzie is married with four children and tends to live her life through Frances, being the married one and the mother, her nurturing and bossy characteristics try to rule over Francis, if only in action.

Lizzie is open and honest and presumes Frances is the same with her. She thinks all her desires for Frances to be happy –meaning to find the right man are charitable. Until Frances breaks out of the mould, starts her own travel business and finds a man.

Lizzie while undergoing financial problems quickly finds herself jealous of Frances, for the first time. Even though she has a husband, children and parents nearby, its Frances she feels the closet too, unaware that these feelings are all on her side. So when Frances steps out and discovers herself in love, Lizzie feels bereft.

Poor long-suffering Robert, Lizzie’s husband begins to struggle with his wife’s attitude and their business, and life together starts going rapidly downhill.

The story, even though I knew the ending kept me on the edge of my chair.
Believable characters and situations, with a few real-life Spanish settings thrown in make this book another good one from Trollope.

English born, Trollope dishes out some gems from county living, and great insight into emotional relationships and ties, she plays the Englishness and Spanishness brilliantly, looking at the differences between the lovers upbringing and culture.

I love the fact that the father William had a relationship on the side for twenty-five that everyone knew about. When his wife finally left him, he went to see Juliet his “friend” who admitted that she didn’t want to live with him, and never had. So after having two women for so long, he finds himself with neither of them, and is left scratching his head at how life has treated him.

No sex, no violence, a great tale and a satisfying read, apart from being sad that it’s ended.
Can I say more?
It’s in my top ten enjoyable novels.