The Only Way is Up

by Carole Matthews

[Leah]

Lily and Laurence Lamont-Jones are used to having it all: flash holidays in exotic locations, the perfect family home in Buckinghamshire and two children who attend the best school in the UK. However, after they return home from a holiday, they find out that not only has Laurence lost his job, but the Lamont-Joneses have lost everything after it’s all repossessed by the bank. The entire family ends up in Netherslade Bridge, one of the roughest estates in Milton Keynes with nothing but the clothes on their backs. As Lily tries to make do with her lot, she can’t help wondering if it might be possible to get back her plush life, but the Lamont-Joneses soon learn that money doesn’t buy happiness, and their fall from grace could teach them about what really matters in life.

I’m a huge fan of Carole Matthews and whenever a new book of hers comes out I’m the first to get excited about it. I’ve read the majority of her previous novels, enjoying some more than others and I’ve found that her books are getting better and better and she racks them up. Since Carole now brings out two books a year, it’s a great thing for her fans and I love knowing I’ll read two Carole books per year so I was really thrilled to receive her latest book The Only Way Is Up and I couldn’t wait to start it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t such a huge fan of the book.

When Carole Matthews decides on a plot for her books, she attacks the theme with gusto. It’s Now Or Never dealt with what it meant to turn 40, That Loving Feeling was about a couple trying to re-ignite their spark after being married many years and The Only Way Is Up is no different. Carole embraces the Lamont-Joneses fall from grace with the same gusto as her previous novels and, at times, it’s just a bit nonsensical; everything that happened was like one extreme to the next. First we have the Lamont-Joneses happily spending £20,000 on a two-week holiday (I am not kidding) and 10 pages later they’re slumming it in Netherslade Bridge in a council house. There was no middle ground for the family and they went from being insanely rich (or so they thought) to being dirt poor and it was a just a bit unbelievable and I don’t think that could realistically happen in real life (yes, I know the book is fiction but there’s usually a whisper of real life to books).

Don’t get me wrong, despite the unbelievability of the situation the Lamont-Joneses found themselves in, there was a lot good about the book. I absolutely loved the resolve Laurence showed to try and get his family back to some semblance of normality. Yes, it was his fault it had all caved in on them but he knew that and wanted to make it right and I admired that in him. I also found all of the myriad of characters at Netherslade Bridge really brought the book to life. Despite not knowing the Lamont-Joneses from Adam, everyone was eager to help them out and welcome them to the estate. It showed that despite what rich snobs like the Lamont-Joneses thought, people who live in council houses aren’t chavs and are actually decent people. I liked how being in the council house showed Lily and Laurence how normal people, without City jobs, cope with life.

My main problem with the book was Lily. I just didn’t really like her. She has a few good moments, and I liked her friendship with Tracey her next door neighbour, but she spent the majority of the novel wanting her big posh house back and it grated on me after a while. She wasn’t dying and she still had her family together, all that had happened was that they were a lot poorer yet it was as if it was the end of the world. She then does something totally appalling, of which I’ll discuss more later and that put me off her for good. Despite it being Laurence’s fault that the Lamont-Joneses were stuck in a council house, I actually liked him. He was in the wrong about a lot of things but as I said, he knew that, and tried his best to put it right. But my favourite characters were those who lived in Netherslade Bridge including Tracey the next door neighbour who bubbled with life along with Skull who despite his name was a very friendly man, and Len Eleven Dogs who, as you can probably tell, owns eleven dogs. They were a diverse bunch and they made the book for me.

The book is written in both first- and third-person, as is the way with Carole’s novels. Lily narrates in first-person whereas the third-person narrative is told from husband Laurence’s point of view. I liked the alternating points of view and found the book easy to motor through. My only annoyance with the writing was Lily’s constant need to be reassured that it would all be OK. I assume it was meant to be a reassurance, that she was needing that ‘yes’ answer but I found it annoying to see her repeat herself constantly. There was a minor plot twist as the book came into its final quarter, featuring Lily and her boss at the jewellers and I found it completely unnecessary which was the final nail in the coffin of me ever liking Lily. There was no rhyme or reason for what she did, except her own greediness, and no matter how many times she tries to justify it, it didn’t sit with me at all and is why I’m only rating the book 3/5. It was a solid 4 stars until that ridiculous plot device and the book could have done well to have had it removed. Overall The Only Way Is Up is another solid Matthews novel, and her fans will devour it, but there were a few things I didn’t really agree with. It’s worth reading just to meet the council estate characters though, they’re legendary!