The Soldier’s Wife is a very readable novel about life on the ‘patch’, and focus’ on one particular family, the Riley’s. Dan, a major, in the British Army has just returned from a 6-month tour of Afghanistan to his wife, Alexa, two daughters and step-daughter. And, as many of us know, once the sex is out of the way, huge readjustments have to take place.

To be fair, I have never lived on the ‘patch’ so cannot comment on how realistic Joanna Trollope’s portrayal of this phenomena is. However, her account of the interactions between husband and wife really do strike a chord. There is the difficulty of trying to reconnect with your other half, when although you know what they have been through, one does not really ‘KNOW’: Dan’s preference for hanging out with his mates, for working within the structure that he is so familiar with and trying to negotiate the minefield of family emotions when all his concentration for the previous six months has been on trying to stay alive and keep his men in one piece. Sound familiar?
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This is the story of a young girl who is abandoned by her father and then forced to move with her family from the city back to her grandfather's village.

Sounds a tad dull, but the story is based in Africa! The family are forced to move from Lagos to a poor country village which is torn apart by gangs and fighting. It tells the story of Blessing, her mother and brother in Blessing's words.
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