Book Review - Under One Roof by Samantha Tonge

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Title: Under One Roof

Author: Samantha Tonge

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 9th February 2022

Rating: 4 Stars

One forgotten discovery will change three women’s lives for ever…

Robin hasn’t been home for decades. After running away to London, she never expected to see her cantankerous mother, Faye, again. But when Faye has a fall, the two women are thrown together once more.

The years apart have not made their hearts grow fonder and the ground between them is unsteady. Then Robin finds an unopened scroll – the last of the treasure hunts her much-missed father used to take them on every Sunday. A hunt he believed might change everything.

Yet, not even this gift from her beloved father can smooth the way until Robin’s daughter, Amber, arrives to meet her grandmother for the first time. Amber is determined that the decades-old mystery be solved.

Can a 30-year-old treasure hunt really 'change everything'?

A fabulous story of three generations of the same family that have been fractured for years, and seeing how they learn to get to know each other again, and see each other in a new light. 

Robin is the central character, she has barely seen or heard from her mother Faye since she ran away aged 16, but has agreed to return home to look after her after a fall. Faye is not overly welcoming, but grudgingly allows Robin to stay until she is able to do things for herself again. 

Then there is Amber, Robin's daughter who took her dad's side in the divorce and has been on rocky ground with Robin since. She is having a tricky time at uni, and the suggestion is that she moves in with Faye and Robin until she makes up her mind about the future. 

So three women in one family, under one roof, but find common ground with the treasure hunt that Robins's beloved late dad had left them, promising it would change everything. 

I was hooked on trying to work out how a treasure hunt could change their lives, and it's worth every moment of the book, every time you want to reach out and knock some sense into the characters, for the conclusion.  It's so fitting and touching, and just wonderful. 

We get to re-live the 1980s (or experience it properly for the first time) as Robin's bedroom was left as it was, so there are plenty of 80s references, fashions etc..  Between chapters we get a real idea for what teenage Robin was like, as we see her old letters to the agony aunt in her favourite magazine and the personalised replies too. 

Which is big reminder of how painful your teen years can be! 

At times I found this a bit tricky to read, purely because I have a not exactly smooth relationship with my mother, but it did mean I was able to empathise a lot with Robin. 

It's another incredibly good book from Samantha Tonge who continues to surprise and impress as the direction of her writing evolves with each book. 

Thank you yo Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.