"Is there any other novelist quite such a carer as Joanna Trollope? The committed way she writes about the difficulty of reconciling the pursuit of individual happiness with the harm it can inflict on others makes most of her contemporaries look oddly feckless...The Other Family is highly involving, deeply humane. You catch yourself wanting it to go well for the characters, caring for them indeed…" David Sexton, London Evening Standard Feb 2010

‘The clash between Richie’s first and second families, and the emotional fall-out when they meet, forms the heart of this clever novel…Joanna Trollope has many, enviable skills but perhaps her greatest is for identifying and illuminating the emotional truths of contemporary life.’ Gill Hornby, They’re Behind you, Literary Review Feb 2010

‘The new Joanna Trollope is well up to standard….Like her namesake, Anthony, Joanna Trollope is very good at waving a story around a legal technicality… Another distinctive touch is the way in which our sympathies shift – away from the London family to his widow and son in Newcastle. ’ A.N. Wilson, Books, Reader’s Digest, Feb 10

‘Trollope is brilliant at swooping on a modern dilemma and showing it form every angle….Inventive, surprising and fascinating. ’ Kate Saunders, The Times, Feb 10

‘The prolific Trollope skillfully engineers a heartwarming story of renewal and hope as she brings the two families closer together. Hurt feelings and issues of abandonment vie with the impulse to forge ahead and to heal in this intelligent and moving novel of modern family life. ’Joanne Wilkinson, Book List Touchstone USA Feb 2010

‘It’s a tale of shocks, wills, pianos and adjustment to reduced circumstances, all threaded together with the acute social and psychological detail of which Trollope is such a master (or mistress)’ Wendy Holden, Daily Mail 5 Feb 2010

‘She writes as observantly as ever. There are always those brilliant brief glimpses of some detail which ring wonderfully true and pinpoint a person or a place exactly. Amy wears ‘ballet slippers so shallow they were like a narrow black border to her naked feet.’ Perfect. ’ Susan Hill, Spectator

‘The odd business of family inheritance comes under the magnifying glass, and the thoroughness of presentation lends the book a solidity and craftiness that much easy-reading contemporary fiction lacks ... She is also a master of character – the clash between the two families here is rendered with great poignancy and realism. Old resentments, feelings of abandonment and loss and old love all have to jostle with the noisy banalities of money and property. As family dramas go, this one is a rich, satisfying and – ultimately – uplifting read. It’s the work of an author at the top of her game ’ Zoe Strimpel, City AM

‘Jane Shilling finds comfort in The Other Family by Joanna Trollope, a tragic yet uplifting story. When it comes to fiction, Trollope is a diligent researcher and a thorough technician – two admirable qualities in a novelist. She understands how the framework of fiction should be made, and her novels are excellent, sturdy artefacts as a result.’ The Telegraph, 30th Jan 10

‘One of the things that makes reading a novel by Trollope such a pleasure is her ability to make you feel her connectedness to her characters…. Even at their least appealing, her fictional creations are invariably depicted with warm humanity.’ Penny Perrick, Sunday Times Review 14th Feb 10

Audiobook reviews:

'Trollope explores, with infinite delicacy, the strands that make a family and Fenella Woolgar’s superb reading enhances it in every way.' Daily Express.

International Reviews:

'Trollope tests our assumptions about human behavior in times of crisis and invites her characters to meet enormous changes in their lives open-heartedly so that they may learn what's truly important....' Read More
The Washington Post

'Where there's a will … Joanna Trollope's novel brilliantly explores an aging singing star's two families' Read More
The Globe and Mail

'Her genius is to take a social problem and discuss it through the everyday lives of everyday people. It's not her style to editorialise, nor to preach, she just lets thoroughly believable characters play out the dramas, page by page.
Trollope describes both families with equal understanding. Her description of the way Chrissie's once-ordered house falls into confusion after the funeral is so understated it's brilliant. The broken-off and often disjointed conversations between the mother and her daughters have the ring of reality.
Instructive, mannered and beautifully written, this is a book that focuses on a modern predicament with an eagle's eye. Grief, love, jealousy, half-buried loyalty, and plain old cowardice are examined from all angles with the writing talent of a modern Jane Austen.'
Carroll du Chateau, New Zealand Herald

'Both Margaret and Chrissie are finely drawn, and their children are splendid creations. Chrissie's youngest daughter, Amy, is a total charmer. She is intensely curious about the "other family," even though her mother and sisters think her interest is somehow a betrayal. Amy is about to write her A-levels, but like her father, she loves music, and Trollope shows how Amy faces challenges head-on -- a little foolishly, but understandably given her age. The person who helps her the most is a great surprise ...  The supporting characters are equally realistic. Margaret's employee Glenda, a long-suffering, tea-drinking mouse, cares about Margaret and works to please her. Chrissie's best friend, Sue, pours glasses of wine and tries to help Chrissie clear the house of Richie's clothes ...
Everything in this novel is completely believable. Tragedy strikes and people react. The twist in the plot is that Richie has left his piano to Margaret and that bequest sparks jealousy on the part of Chrissie, relief for Margaret, and new relationships for them all.
Once again with The Other Family, Trollope delves into ordinary life and reveals its uniqueness and humanity. People love, and people die, and people go on with their lives.'
Candace Fertile,  Edmonton Journal, Canada.

'Trollope is known for her well-drawn characters, offering empathetic glimpses into the lives of the English middle class. The Other Family will engage readers on many levels—its truths universal, and even its tragic moments delivered with Trollope’s trademark underlying humor.'
Deborah Donovan, Book page, USA

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