Isa and May - Couverture souple

'A compelling story, sometimes funny, sometimes painfully sad ... All family life is here, messy, insistent and, as the author convincingly shows, as essential as breathing' Sunday Times

Isamay's unusual name comes from her two very different grandmothers, Isa and May, who were both present at her birth and who have both formed and influenced her whole life in very particular ways. Now almost thirty, Isamay is trying to write a thesis about grandmothers in history but is instead constantly ambushed by the startling secrets her own family has been keeping. When disturbing truths are revealed that force Isamay to examine her own certainties, will her grandmothers be able to build a bridge across the generations?

'Margaret Forster has always had the enviable gift of making her characters spring to life, and both Isa and May do just that' Allan Massie, Scotsman

'A sensitive and intelligent novel with passages of beautifully modulated pathos, while being in part, hugely funny' The Times

'A whole, rich, fascinating novel' Kate Saunders, Literary Review

"Margaret Forster has always had the enviable gift of making her characters spring to life, and both Isa and May do just that" (Allan Massie The Scotsman)

"A deliciously observed, dilemma-and-drama-packed read" (Helen Brown Daily Mail)

"A compelling story, sometimes funny, sometimes painfully sad... All family life is here, messy, insistent and, as the author convincingly shows, as essential as breathing" (Penny Perrick Sunday Times)

"A sensitive and intelligent novel with passages of beautifully modulated pathos, while being in part, hugely funny" (Matthew Dennison The Times)

"[Forster] has written so brilliantly about female relationships...she can encapsulate a whole scene in a single sentence... [A] whole rich, fascinating novel" (Kate Saunders Literary Review)