Books & Java

Hello From the Gillespies

by Monica McInerney 

Synopsis:

For the past thirty-three years, Angela Gillespie has sent to friends and family around the world an end-of-the-year letter titled “Hello from the Gillespies.” It’s always been cheery and full of good news. This year, Angela surprises herself—she tells the truth....

The Gillespies are far from the perfect family that Angela has made them out to be. Her husband is coping badly with retirement. Her thirty-two-year-old twins are having career meltdowns. Her third daughter, badly in debt, can’t stop crying. And her ten-year-old son spends more time talking to his imaginary friend than to real ones.

Without Angela, the family would fall apart. But when a bump on the head leaves Angela with temporary amnesia, the Gillespies pull together—and pull themselves together—in wonderfully surprising ways....

My Review:

What a wonderful book. What is in the water in Australia that it produces such great writers? Such brilliant story lines that are about real people with real lives who make good and bad decisions, who have insecurities and whose lives are not perfect. The Gillespies are a family who immigrated from Ireland to Australia some generations back. They settled land in Australia where they have a sheep station which has been run by the Gillespie family for several generations now. Nick, however, has not fared well with his turn at running the station and has come into hard times. He has gotten rid of the once 10,000 sheep that grazed the land and is $1 million in debt. He becomes distant and depressed. He feels he has failed his entire family and its heritage. His proudest moment has been marrying Angela when he was 22. She was a tourist from London, England whom he meets at a bar in Sydney. They fall in love immediately and he moves her to Australia's Outback where they will run the family Sheep station. They have a set of twin girls (Victoria and Genevieve), one more daughter (Lindy) and a surprise in their 40s. A son named Iggy. Every year, Angela writes an a letter to all of her friends all over the world to tell of her adventures in Australia - "Hello from the Gillespies..." The recipient list has grown over the years as she has had many guests stay at the Station to experience life in the Outback. Little does Angela realize that no one reads her letters as they find them boring and cliched. This year, however, things are just not the same. Nick has been distant and she doesn't know why, the twins (who are now 33 years old) are leading lives that are far from conventional. Lindy is an insecure mess who moves back home. And, Iggy (who is 10 years old) is an odd kid who still talks to an imaginary friend. Angela realizes that she is unhappy. She daydreams about an imaginary life with William, the boyfriend she left behind when Nick swept her off her feet some 30+ years before. She imagines her life with him and their imaginary daughter, Lexi, as the ideal life she could have had. When she sits to write down her letter, she decides to let all of her feelings and fears and wishes out and drafts an email that she intends to later delete. Things happen, there is a moment of confusion and chaos and without knowing what is in the email, Nick fires the email out to over 200 recipients thinking he is doing Angela a favor. The email is not sugar-coated with pleasantries but rather scathing and honest about every single member of Angela's immediate family... This is where the book gets amazing. What happens next!

I can't recommend this book enough. It is such an enjoyable ride. It is a lengthy read but never boring. Much like Liane Moriarty does with Big Little Lies, Monica McInerney injects a great deal of humor to bring to light some rather poignant issues that everyone can relate to. I did not want this story to end, but since it had to, at least I am pleased that the ending was so gratifying.