Meeting Lydia by Linda MacDonald

Meeting Lydia explores the very relevant topics of childhood bullying, midlife crises, the pros and cons of internet relationships, and how the psychological effects of these affect the main character and those around her. Readers will be gripped by the turbulent life of Marianne who navigates the onset of menopause, an empty nest, a suspected errant husband and a demanding new obsession that pulls her in deeper as the story unfolds. Those interested in the psychology of relationships will enjoy this novel, as well as those who delight in an enthralling story with relatable characters and the powerful question of what happens when the past catches up with the present. This second edition has reworked the early chapters of the first edition, making for a pacy and shorter version more in line with the audiobook.

Marianne comes home from work one day to find her husband talking to a glamorous woman in their kitchen. Old childhood insecurities resurface, stemming from a time back at school when she was bullied. Jealousy rears its head and her happy marriage begins to crumble. Desperate for a solution - and introduced by her daughter to social networking - she tries to track down her first schoolgirl crush, the enigmatic Edward Harvey. But Marianne is unprepared for the power of email relationships ...

Title: Meeting Lydia
Author: Linda MacDonald
Published By: Matador
Publication Date: 22nd March 2018
Links: UK: Amazon

Our Review

Marianne is a woman that I have a lot in common with in that we are both pre-menopausal, we both have university aged children and loving husbands and neither of us like the M word (menopause) or the thought of getting older. Also I have a daughter called Lydia so that drew me to the title of the book.
With this in mind I found it really easy to relate to Marianne and completely understand why she would not be happy when her good looking husband Johnny brings home his colleague, busty blond Charmaine.
Him doing this gives her permission to use Friends Reunited to seek out a man she knew slightly at school and a lot of the book is told in emails to and from herself and Edward.

Marianna had quite a lot of angst to work through with regards to her school life as she was often bullied there and she clung on to the memory of Edward because he was a nice person. She told him things that she hadn't told her husband.
I enjoyed their conversations and also the conversations that Marianne had with her psychology class as I found them quite interesting because they explained possible reasons for people doing certain things, especially as the subjects she discussed threw up things that she was trying to work through in her personal life.

Holly was Marianne and Johnny's daughter and she was the bond that held them together. I really enjoyed their relationships.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it especially to women of a certain age as they will definitely recognise their own actions in some of the things that Marianne says and does.
The outcome of the book will provide hope to anyone in a similar situation and hopefully will encourage people to open up to their nearest and dearest.

A fun and intelligent read.

Sincerely
Book Angel x

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Linda MacDonald is the author of four novels: Meeting Lydia and the stand-alone sequels, A Meeting of a Different Kind, The Alone Alternative and The Man in the Needlecord Jacket. All Linda's books are contemporary adult fiction, multi-themed, but with a focus on relationship issues.

After studying psychology at Goldsmiths', Linda trained as a secondary science and biology teacher. She taught these subjects for several years before moving to a sixth-form college to teach psychology. The first two novels took ten years in writing and publishing, using snatched moments in the evenings, weekends and holidays. In 2012, she gave up teaching to focus fully on writing.

Linda was born and brought up in Cockermouth, Cumbria and now lives in Beckenham in Kent.

Follow her on Twitter @LindaMac1

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