Staying On

Tony Metcalf and his wife Laney, originally from Yorkshire, now run a bar in a mountain village close to Benidorm, Spain. Through the years and now with Brexit their other expatriates‚ˋ Britsˋ have left and returned to England. Tom also wants to return but Laney steadfastly refuses and wants to stay on. The surprise arrival of his son Nick with wife Jo and small son Fred brings many issues to the surface. This serves as catalysts for change. It is a thoughtful book written with understanding and feeling how different people deal with tragedy in their life.
I found it a quick, fascinating read and would recommend this book.

A wonderful read expat living family secrets so well written multilayered l.Life is never what it seems each of these characters come to life with secrets that will surface.Highky recommend, #netgalley #stayingon #ducksworth

I love this book. Being of the same age group, I could easily relate with the character of Tony. Home is where your heart needs to be. Family secrets once discovered can take on different meaning. Thanks to Duckworth and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a good read following an elderly couple trying to live the dream of a bar and the good like in Spain post Brexit, as all their friends go home (wherever home is after 20 years in the sun) or die.

A different type of story, about British ex-pats in Spain, the Metcalfe family with a secret that has impacted their lives. Nick’s wife Jo decides it’s time to visit with Nick’s parents in Spain and face up to some difficult truths impacting her relationship with Nick. Tony, her father in law, wants to return home as many were doing in anticipation of Brexit, but his wife does. It want to return to Yorkshire. Emotional, moving with humor too, I liked this one..

Follow this heartbreaking story of love and loss as two British ex-pats living in a small mountain village in Spain are forced by their daughter-in-law to come to grips with the emotional baggage they have been carrying for years.

With the effects of Brexit looming on the horizon and several of their ex-pat friends returning to England, Tony Metcalf dreams of selling their small (failing) pub and returning to Yorkshire, while his wife Laney is unaware of their financial situation and refuses to return to the place that brought so much grief into their lives.

Inhabited by an appealing community of characters whose stories will twist readers up in knots, STAYING ON manages to catch many of the sweeter moments in life that prove you can teach an old dog new tricks and that home is not necessarily a place on a map or the town you grew up in, but any place where there is the love and support of family, friends and neighbors.

I enjoyed Staying On – far more that I expected to from the synopsis, to be honest.

It is the story of Tony and Laney who have been living as ex-pats in Spain for many many years, where they own and run a pub. Tony is now seventy and as both age and Brexit take their toll, very few of his ex-pat friends remain and the pub is struggling. Tony wants to return to the Yorkshire of his youth while Laney refuses to set foot in England again. As their son, his wife and their 3-year-old son come out to stay after many years, old tragedies and guilts which have lain beneath the surface emerge and have a profound effect.

Frankly, it sounds rather familiar and not really like my kind of thing. However, C.M. Taylor writes very well, he creates convincing characters and structures the story very nicely, so that within a readable and engaging story, the book makes important points about families, the meaning of home, friendship, class and other things. I found it touching rather than profoundly moving, but that’s fine with me. I thought it was an unsentimental but compassionate view of a somewhat insular community of Brits abroad and Tony made a very recognisably human protagonist.

I liked the note in the acknowledgements: “I was told by men with expensive educations that people don’t want to read about the working classes. I’d like to thank those men for the motivation.” For me, Taylor has proved them wrong with this book and I can recommend it.

(My thanks to Prelude for an ARC via NetGalley.)

When I started to read Staying On I was not sure if I was going to enjoy it or not as to start off there were a lot of references to Brexit and I had to wonder if this was going to be a bit of a politically charged book. I can honestly say that thankfully this was not the case and I totally loved it. It is not the typical type of book I read but as I was actually looking for something different to get my interest this was the perfect read.
Tony and Laney had retired out to Spain but with Brexit looming they had seen many of their friends return home. Although they were part of the community in some respects they were still considered outsiders in others as despite having been out there for quite some time they had never learnt the language.
On the surface of it they appear to be the stereotypical ex-pats but Tony wants to go home but he knows that Laney doesn’t. The reason for this isn’t known for quite some time and when you do find out you can kind of understand why. Despite his grumpiness Tony does love Laney and lets her get away with most things but part of me just wanted him to tell her the truth about how he felt and what was going on just to see if she really was as selfish and self-centred as she sometimes appeared.
When their son Nick and his wife Jo turn up things start to come to a head and the fractured relationships between them all are finally dealt with. I will admit that initially I didn’t take to Nick as he seemed a little selfish and only looked at how things affected him which often left his wife as piggy in the middle of it all. Not that she was an innocent bystander as she had reasons of her own for getting them out to Spain.
Despite there being some quite heart-breaking moments, there were also some chuckles along the way. What on the surface seems like a tale of retirement in sunny climes is actually a story about family secrets, repairing relationships and learning to move on from the past. If you are looking for something different then you can’t go wrong with this book in my opinion.

A novel about middle class expats in Spain at the time of Brexit. Why does Laney refuse to return to England? What is the Metcalfes' secret? What does Jo, the daughter-in law, know? A wonderful story of family dynamics in the present time.

A book of familial relationships, emotions, emotional turmoil and secrets. An enjoyable, multi layered book. Well crafted with credible characterisation and people that you will begin to care for as you read on. An engaging read.

A very good read. I found this book to be very interesting in light of what is going on with Brexit now. The best part of the book were the relationships between the family and community. I found the characters to be endearing and the book enjoyable. I received a copy from NetGally and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

Staying On is a moving family drama about a demographic we don’t see much of in this kind of fiction - expat working class baby boomers. I wasn’t sure whether to expect a comedy, a satire or lad lit, but this is none of these, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Tony Metcalfe is stuck. His English bar in a small Costa Brava village is losing money as his clientele, Brits who’ve spent years enjoying a boozy retirement in the sun, are forced home by Brexit and shrinking pensions. He’d love to sell, so he can move home to his beloved Yorkshire, but his wife Laney won’t hear of it, and anyway there are no buyers. When his snobby son Nick unexpectedly shows up with his posh wife Jo and young son Fred in tow, Tony resents the added strain, but Jo, hiding secrets of her own, is determined to shake the Metcalfe’s out of their misery and save them from themselves.

This was a Lovely Book - a fast easy read, fluidly written and surprisingly emotional. I loved Jo, and not just because she’s my namesake - she’s strong and brave and resourceful despite a horrible childhood, and she stands by her man, even when he really doesn’t seem to deserve it.
Tony was also a great character - initially frustrating with his stoic passivity but kind-hearted and generous. I wanted to throttle selfish Laney and Nick, but when the tragedy that has haunted their lives is finally revealed it makes their behaviour more understandable. There are some very funny moments - Fred the toddler with the unerring ability to pick up swear words, and the bonkers hedonistic expat friends star in most of them, but it’s actually quite a sad book until the happily predictable heart-warming ending.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. Staying On is available now.

Not Tuscany

In the midst of the ex-pat Brexit exodus a couple is having a mid-life crisis. Steeped in angst and misery, he misses home and she won't consider leaving the Costa Blanca of Spain with its vineyards, heat, and harsh beauty. But start digging and there's more to it--much more. As the family drama unfolds, replete with British slang and sensibilities, the sense of who and what constitutes "home" becomes central to all the anger and loss and mourning churning beneath the surfaces. This is much edgier than I'd expected but it drew me in and under.

This was something I requested on an impulse, I liked the cover and story seemed to be different. I am glad I got a chance to read this book. 

This is a story of a family, who have been harbouring resentments and dysfunctional for years and this is the year when everything boils over. Although the beginning of my review may seem a little dreary, the book was not. A couple in their late sixties have spent a large part of their retirement in Spain. They live as expats, with that demarcation clear since they do not 'assimilate'. There is trouble brewing with Brexit hanging over them and people opting to go back to England. Their daughter-in-law decides to bring the family to visit for the summer and what happens next is the book in its entirety.

I have been living in a foreign country myself without 'assimilating' the last few years so I know some of the emotions that happen to make their way in the heads of Tony and Laney. Their mode of communication with each other and expressing themselves is not refined but heartfelt. It was easy to actually see the events unfolding in reality. None of the people are perfect, some more annoying than others but overall they are a family. I recommend this to people who enjoy seeing family dynamics at work and like reading character-driven tales.

An unexpected, engaging read. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it, but I did. Family drama is definitely not one of my interests ( too much of that IRL and I read to escape). Well crafted characters in a different setting. Four out of five stars