Next of Kin by Joanna Trollope

I wanted a book that I could read online while watching the cricket!!! I found another free e book site and since I've always loved Joanna Trollope once I found this one, I had to read it.

Like all her stories, this deals with human relationships of the closest kind. Mother, father, children, siblings. The most basic one because it is one we are born with and so with adulthood these relationships can disintegrate, dissolve or simply disappear. Sometimes the bonds formed by birth strengthen sometimes they do not. Trollope always makes me think of these relationships long after I've put the book away. This was no exception.

Set in a farming family we have Harry and Dilys and their two sons Robin and Joe. Each with their own farm, each very much loving the land and everything it involves. Events unravel with the death of Caro Robin's wife of cancer. Further unraveled with the totally unexpected suicide of Joe - random and seemingly without meaning so soon after Caro's death. The disintegration of the businesses along with the breakdown of the strength of the remaining family members complicated by small town gossip and attitudes adds to the story.

How families and individuals cope with the heartbreak of loss is part of this story and of course the final survival of all which is the very human part of the story.

Trollope at her entertaining best.