Carol Anshaw's Carry the One was part of my library haul from the other week.
The Plot: Returning from a wedding, a car filled with drunk and stoned guests accidentally run over and kill a child on a country road. The consequences of that night reverberate for the next twenty-five years, shaping the lives of all those involved. Siblings Carmen, Alice and Nick all react differently to the tragedy, and the novel follows their relationships and guilt.
If you enjoy novels about family dramas, this would be a good choice. The sibling relationship is beautifully observed, and anyone with brothers and sisters will recognise truths in Anshaw's novel. Carmen, the eldest, is an over-achiever, maternal and has strong convictions. Alice, is creative and talented, but has a disastrous love life. Nick is intellectual but self destructive.
Carry the One is good at balancing the small dramas of everything day life (marriage, parenthood, divorce etc.) with the far-reaching, life altering event of the car accident. Through a whole cast of well-developed characters, Anshew portrays a whole range of reactions to tragedy.
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