Review: The Terrace

The Terrace by Maria Duffy

Format: ebook
Pages: 394
Published: August 1, 2012
Publisher: Hachette Book Group (Ireland)
Genre: Fiction, Chick Lit

My Rating: 5/5

Summary (from amazon.com):

Nestled in the heart of Dublin city, St Enda's Terrace is like any other close-knit community: warm, colourful, looks after its own. But behind closed doors lie secrets . . .

In Number Eight he wants a baby, she doesn't. The guy a few doors down just wants to find love. Across the street a single mum struggles to cope. While the people next door might appear to have it all, their mortgage holder knows different. When the street syndicate wins the National Lottery, it seems that things are looking up. Enter a New York production company on a mission to document a 'quintessential' Dublin community - just as it becomes clear that the winning ticket is nowhere to be found.

Facades begin to crumble in the scramble to uncover the missing ticket and, as the gloves come off for the once unremarkable residents of St Enda's, it's game on with everything to play for.

Review:

Can you imagine winning the lottery and then losing the ticket?  I am still not sure if that would be worse than knowing you forgot to play altogether... either way, find me the closest bridge and my jumping shoes because I am headed for a swim!!

Last Winter I was introduced to Maria when I read her debut novel, Any Dream Will Do, and I knew from that moment that we would be longtime friends in this wonderful world of writing - her writing, me reading! 

The Terrace lived up to every one of my expectations and I found it to be a fabulous story about a group of characters who are so loveable, so welcoming and yet so unique.  Brought together in a setting like St. Edna's Terrace, Maria Duffy transports her readers to a place of wonder.  Throughout the entire novel I found myself dreaming of one day living on a street just like Edna's.  Since being a small child, I have wanted to live in a small town on a friendly neighbourhood street and reading The Terrace has allowed me to realize that, in someone elses mind, these places exist as well.

One of the things that Maria Duffy does so well in The Terrace is create story after story with her characters.  Never too over the top and extremely relateable, I found myself fully immersed in each of their lives as if I too were living on Edna's.  The quote 'Oh what a tangled web we weave' came to mind many times while reading as there were so many layers to this story.  I simply loved it!!

Overall, Maria Duffy has created magic... The Terrace is a wonderful story that I will forever remember and think back on often!!