The Michaelmas Daisy - Paul Marriner - ★★★.½
AUTHOR: Paul Marriner
NARRATOR: Colleen MacMahon
GENRE: Contemporary Fiction
PUBLICATION DATE: June 30, 2025
RATING: 3.5 stars
In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction with an element of magical realism. Didn’t like the main narrator but the other characters make up for her judgemental attitude. Themes of found family and caregiving explored well. A good option for those looking for a realistic story narrated through otherworldly eyes.
Plot Preview:
2019. Beverley Cooper has been dead since eight years, but she hasn’t yet moved on. She watches over her eighty-nine-year-old widower Kevin as he is struggling through Alzheimer’s and dementia, and her fifty-eight-year-old divorced daughter Philippa as she willingly looks after her ailing father’s needs at the cost of her own requirements. When a new thirty-something caregiver named Kaska enters the household, Phillippa finally acknowledges that it is okay to have some me-time away from her dad. But Kevin’s health isn’t getting better.
The story comes to us in Beverley’s first-person perspective.
Bookish Yays:
🌼 Philippa – the best character in the book. I felt so sorry for her in the first half and happy as she learnt to pay attention to her own emotional needs as well. Her attitude was amazing!
🌼 As the sole caretaker of her dependent dad, Philippa’s track shows us the trials and tribulations of caregiving without external help. Caregivers rarely get the physical and emotional support they need.
🌼 The bond between Philippa and her dad Kevin. Every “I know who you are” uttered by Kevin got me to tear up. My dad is in a similar boat, though his situation isn't as bad as Kevin’s yet. As I too am my father’s pet, the love between this fictional father-daughter pair touched me greatly.
🌼 The portrayal of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Very accurate and hence, very heartbreaking. Might be triggering to some as it doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of the illness.
🌼 Kaska – a ray of sunshine in this otherwise melancholy book. Her character brings the necessary emotional balance to this story.
🌼 The found family trope, used well without seeming forced.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
🌹 Beverley’s memories of the past in between her observations of the present. While I liked how her anecdotes offered us a great insight into her lived life, I also felt like it took away from the present narrative. In some scenes, her reminiscences happen in between a serious situation for Philippa, which broke the intensity.
🌹 The ending. Not exactly where I thought it would go, but quite good for where it stopped. I would have loved an epilogue this time, to see how life continued for the characters.
Bookish Nays:
👻 Beverly as a narrator. Sad that the long-dead character couldn’t infuse my heart with sympathy. Beverley’s narration left me flat. I don’t know whether to attribute this to the infamous British reserve, but her emotions just don't come out strongly. She does make some humorous remarks at times, but the more intense emotions are mostly missing.
👻 Beverley as a character. An even bigger disappointment. Philippa was her own daughter and yet she doesn’t often feel sorry for her situation. When she expressed relief that she wasn’t the one taking care of the debilitated Kenny instead of feeling sorry that her daughter was struggling alone with such difficult work, I found it tough to keep calm. Her comments on Philippa’s weight and physical shape and broken marriage, and on several other topics, were too judgemental. She also keeps passing comments on other characters’ hairstyles and outfits and accents – so shallow!
👻 As Beverley is speaking from some kind of afterlife, I would have expected at least a part of her narration to talk about her unnatural situation, like how she moves or what she does when the household is sleeping. But she keeps those details vague throughout. And when she does comment on it, she is inconsistent; sometimes, she can’t see things from her spot, and sometimes, she can move wherever she wants. She can't feel the weather, but this doesn’t stop her from remarking things like it “looks warm” or “looks cold”. As a result of this approach, most of the book doesn’t even sound like it is being narrated to us by a soul/spirit.
(Dang! Three nays are about Beverley! 😬)
👻 Please let’s not have scenes where a dog is given chocolates. Chocolates are toxic to canines! Some unaware readers might misunderstand such inclusions and start giving chocolates to their own dogs.
🎧 The Audiobook Experience:
The audiobook, clocking at 7 hrs 25 min, is narrated by Colleen MacMahon. She does a pretty good job, though it took me some time to get used to her voice. As I didn’t like Beverley and the story was in her first-person POV, my enjoyment of the narration was obviously somewhat impaired. But as the story is mostly linear except when Beverley goes into nostalgia mode, the audiobook is a good way of trying this novel.
Overall, I expected this story to impact me more emotionally. As I too am currently a caregiver, I felt Philippa’s struggles in every sense of the word. But Beverley didn’t endear herself to me through her mostly detached narration. It should be quite evident that Beverley is the main reason my rating isn't higher. I might have liked the book better if Beverley’s first-person POV sounded more like a soul’s voice than like an old lady peeking into her neighbour’s house. I would also have loved to have heard Philippa’s POV; it would have held so much more depth!
That said, the book is still worth a read for all the characters except for Beverley. Through them, we get several life lessons relevant to most of us, caregivers or not.
Recommended to readers of emotional up-lit. Again, note that the content connected to Kevin’s medical issues could be triggering, especially if you are an early-stage dementia sufferer or a caregiver to one.
My thanks to Love Books Tours, Bluescale Publishing, and author Paul Marriner for a complimentary copy of 'The Michaelmas Daisy', and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blurb:
The Michaelmas Daisy: a contemporary story of loneliness, loyalty, love, finding new friends, and hope.
Beverley may be dead, but that doesn’t make it any easier to let go. She watches over her husband and daughter, sharing their pain, laughter, fears and dreams. As she watches, memories of her own life and love for her husband bring comfort and tears in equal measure.
Her daughter, Philippa (58, divorced), looks after her ailing father. She does so willingly, but caring for him 24/7 takes great patience and compassion, and such devotion is isolating.
Into their home comes Kaska (39). She provides respite care, brings kindness and energy, and helps Philippa realise it’s ok to still want some life of her own.
As her father’s condition worsens, Philippa’s dedication is tested to the full and difficult choices are necessary.
The Michaelmas Daisy: written in honour of those in need of care, and those who care for them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author Paul Marriner:
Paul grew up in a west London suburb and now lives in Berkshire. Married with two children, he is passionate about music, sport and, most of all, writing, on which he now concentrates full-time. Paul has written six novels and a collection of short stories and his primary literary ambition is that you enjoy reading them while he is hard at work on the next one (but still finding time to play drums).
Connect with him on:
X/Twitter: https://x.com/marriner_p
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marriner66/?hl=en
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check out this book:
Purchase from:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This has been a stop on the #TheMichaelmasDaisy blog tour conducted by Love Books Tours. (@lovebookstours on Twitter and Instagram.) Thanks for visiting!
Comments
Post a Comment