Barbara Taylor Bradford-Letter from a Stranger

Barbara Taylor Bradford has been described to me as the Danielle Steel of the UK and I am inclined to agree with that statement.  Barbara Taylor Bradford has released probably over 20 novels since the sixties or seventies, perhaps even more than that.  Over the years I've read many of those.  I think I've read all of her older novels and most of of her newer stuff.  Like Danielle Steel, she's formulaic-she writes about upper-crust families who have a tie of some sort to England but have connections to New York as well as other places in Europe.  Often they have had difficult childhoods and difficult relationships with their children or parents.

So basically this was the overall concept of Letter from a Stranger.  The novel is written mainly from the point of view of Justine, a young woman with a twin brother.  She is a cinematographer who has been working on documentaries.  Her brother is an architect.  Their father passed away while they were in high school and their mother is bat-shit crazy.  They don't have that much contact with her anymore, other than the rare phone call or strained visit.  Really the only thing the two have in the world is each other and Richard's 5-year old daughter, Daisy.  His wife had died as well.

They believe that their beloved grandmother was killed in a plane crash just prior to them graduating college and this is also something devastating to them as there was no body so they were unable to have a funeral. Imagine their surprise when they get a letter addressed to their mother at their Connecticut home.  Justine decides to open the letter since their mother has asked them to take care of the property and business to do with the property as she lives in California.

The letter says that their grandmother is very much alive and is so missing her daughter but mostly her grandchildren.  It is written by a friend named Anita.  Unfortunately there is no return address on the letter and only a postmark from Turkey.  Holy Batman, a mystery!  Since Justine is between projects she decides that she must go immediately to Turkey and figure out who Anita is and how she's connected to her grandmother, oh and figuring out where her grandmother is if she isn't dead!

This was actually a very good book but for some reason the snark has come out in the review.  I guess I get a little mystified as a I grow older as to how these people are able to survive with such flexible jobs and disposable income.

I especially loved reading about Turkey, a culture that fascinates and that I would love to visit one day.  A good read if you're looking for that formulaic, feel good read with a quick cry involved.