Other People's Children

Nov 28, 2025 9:01 PM

Author:Joanna Trollope

Readers of Erica James, Elizabeth Noble and Amanda Prowse will love this wonderfully thought-provoking and moving novel of family dynamics from multi-million copy bestselling author Joanna Trollope. It really is Trollope at her very best.

'A gripping read - as shrewdly observant of psychological and domestic detail as anything she has written' -- Daily Telegraph

'Wonderfully and compulsively readable... She can be as subtle as Austen, as sharp as Bronte. Trollope's brilliant' -- Mail on Sunday

'Trollope has shown herself capable of such emotional depth, that although you turn the pages quickly, it is with trembling fingers' -- The Times

'One of the very best stories I've ever read' -- ***** Reader review

'Superb' -- ***** Reader review

'A compulsive read' -- ***** Reader review

'I loved every moment of this book' -- ***** Reader review

'Couldn't put it down...' -- ***** Reader review

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TWO PEOPLE IN LOVE DON'T NECESSARILY MAKE A FAMILY

For eight-year-old Rufus life has become complicated. His parents, Josie and Tom, have divorced and are setting off on separate paths.

But now, other people have had to become involved, like his mother's new husband Matthew and his father's new friend Elizabeth. What's even worse is that there are other children too, Matthew's three teenagers, who have been conditioned by their mother Nadine to hate his mother Josie.

Matthew's children come to their father for weekends and make it clear how much they loathe Josie. Rufus secretly prefers to be with his father, in his peaceful flat in Bath, where he realises that he doesn't actually hate the idea of a stepmother, if she is peaceful and sane like Elizabeth.

But where other people's children are concerned, neat solutions seldom occur ...

Reviews

This compelling, and at times heart-rending, novel is Trollope at her very best

—— Ideal Home

A gripping read - as shrewdly observant of psychological and domestic detail as anything she has written

—— Daily Telegraph

Wonderfully and compulsively readable... She can be as subtle as Austen, as sharp as Bronte. Trollope's brilliant

—— Mail on Sunday

Trollope has shown herself capable of such emotional depth, that although you turn the pages quickly, it is with trembling fingers

—— The Times

Its questions about marriage and eroticism, grief and the frightening blankness of nature, have made it one of our century's most popular novels

—— Financial Times

Absorbing, uplifting and truly impressive

—— Daily Express

This is a great story...Malouf's beautiful language puts fresh flesh on to these ancient characters

—— Claire Allfree , Metro

Few writers possess the natural lyric grace of Malouf

—— Eileen Battersby , Irish Times

Malouf's poetic yet muscular prose is wonderful

—— Ronald Wright , Times Literary Supplement

A marvel- beautifully written, surprisingly moving, quietly rather brilliant

—— Harry Ritchie , Daily Mail

While Malouf's chief interest is in the human impulses that lie behind the epic deeds, he remains faithful to the beliefs and values of the ancient world

—— Edmund Gordon , Times Literary Supplement

immensely moving, modern novel

—— Elizabeth Speller , Independent

A dignified performance ... in writing this novel Malouf is honouring a great work and also making a great work of his own ... his graceful fiction deals in truth and is always beautiful

—— Eileen Battersby , Irish Times

Beautifully written and very moving, Ransom is a reimagining that respects Homer's original while expanding expertly on its themes.

—— Alastair Mabbott , Herald

Malouf captures the moving humanity of Priam's grief

—— Robert Collins , Sunday Times

Lyrical reworking of the final scenes of The Iliad

—— Metro

This superb novel goes by in a heartbeat, so smooth and engrossing is David Malouf's prose...It is a touching tale, full of pain, but rendered beautifully by Malouf's humanity

—— Lesley McDowell , Independent on Sunday

An audacious reworking of Homer's Iliad.

—— Holly Kyte , Sunday Telegraph

David Malouf...has given Homer's epic fresh life in this haunting mood piece...a graceful, eloquent text dominated by rage and sorrow

—— Eileen Battersby , Irish Times

This novel explores the timeless motifs of epic, in miniature

—— The Times

You know it ends in death, and so do Malouf's haunted protagonists, but this telling, at once unfussy and wonderfully poetic, breathes warm life into a great epic

—— James Smart , Guardian

Breathtaking skill...an extraordinary emotional charge.

—— Colm Toibin , Guardian, Christmas round up

A finely honed, writerly and wise revisiting of one of the most famous episodes in The Iliad, when Priam the King of Troy goes to bring home the body of his dead son Hector. No-one in prose has managed to better Malouf's imaginative recreation of the Homeric world.

—— Robert Crawford , Sunday Herald, Christmas round up

a potent new yarn... Beautifully written in simple language freighted with meaning, Ransom explores a king's impulse to act as a mourning father.

—— James Urquhart , Financial Times

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