I’ve read a lot of Deborah Moggach’s books over the years - she’s had a long writing career - and they’re always a very good read. Here, James, a once distinguished professor, is struggling after a fall - and possibly teetering on the edge of dementia. His children Phoebe and Robert can give only limited support, so when live-in carer Mandy comes along she’s a bit of a godsend.

Mandy, with her pudding-bowl haircut and casual racism, isn’t like them... but James seems to be having the time of his life, eating at Nando’s, gossiping about the neighbours and people-watching at the Bicester Shopping Village. Indeed he seems, observe his children, to be becoming a completely different person, and they begin to question Mandy’s motives.

When the truth comes out, though, it’s a surprise to everyone, not least the reader.

The Carer is really more about Robert and Phoebe than either James or Mandy, though we do see a bit of the backstories of both. It’s also about marriage, class divisions, and finding your place in the world, with more than a dash of humour and sadness.

The incidental characters - Robert’s newsreader wife Farida, Phoebe’s part time lover Torren - are convincingly drawn, as is Mandy herself. Stella’s animal charm and living-for-the-moment nature is perhaps a little overstated but she was easy to visualise.

The title sounds exactly like one of the current crop of psychological thrillers - they all seem to be called The Something - but it’s certainly not that. It’s an insightful, humorous and often unexpected story about family - and other - relationships.

The Carer by Deborah Moggach is a novel about family secrets and people not being who you think they are. I preferred the first part and lost interest after the twist reveal.