ON TOP OF EVERYTHING
Sarah-Kate Lynch –Black Swan - $29.00

I reviewed this title on Radio New Zealand National this morning.

First off one must say that On Top of Everything is the story of a woman who is definitely not on top of everything.

Florence and Harry Dowling were childhood sweethearts, married as teenagers, and now after 20 years, Harry is leaving Florence for a man. Florence is heart-broken. At the same time Florence and her business partner in their Maida Vale, London antique business have an almighty dust-up and go their separate ways which leaves Florence in a state of high tension because as she says at the beginning of chapter two “rotten things happen in threes in my family. They always have”.
Soon she experiences what she regards as the third catastrophe, her much loved 19 year old son Monty comes home from his gap year in Australia, and when he emerges from the crowds at Paddington Station he is not alone. He is with Crystal, an older woman whom he introduces as his wife. She is 34, a massage therapist who specializes in reflexology.
Unfortunately for Florence things continue to go downhill. She has decided to convert the ground floor of her canal-side house in Little Venice into a tea room but the builder’s estimate of 30,000 pounds, which she has just gained as her share of the antique business, proves to be well off the mark when dry rot is discovered.
This may all sound a bit bleak but in fact there is a lot of Lynch’s trade mark humour sprinkled liberally through the story.

Lynch tells the story from Florence’s point of view but there are skillfully employed brief asides from most of the main characters.
There is a great deal of intense sadness in this book but there is equal amount that is uplifting as well.

I was at the launch of the book earlier this week when the author said that this book is about smelling the roses and really that is the story in a nutshell.
Life can be unfair, awful things do happen, but in the end Florence comes to the view that every day, indeed every second is precious, certainly too precious for questions that can’t be answered. And why worry about things that may never happen.

I should say something about the cover too which features a beautiful cup cake. There is quite a lot about afternoon tea and cakes and sandwiches in the book because Florence is setting up her tea room of course and also during the tough times she finds solace in baking. There is a wonderful description of afternoon tea at Claridges.

This is Lynch’s sixth novel and you know I think it might just be her best yet. That is really saying something because I still recall the pleasure I received from reading some of the earlier titles, especially By Bread Alone, which was set in a French bakery and The House of Peine which was about a Champagne house.
A thought provoking and at times moving story, more than 300 pages, a good solid read.