A nice ending to 'The Shouting Wind' trilogy, tying up loose ends and throwing an optimistic hand out to the future. Kay is now an old lady, Abigail is finally starting to rekindle her faith in love and - the focus of this novel - her daughter Tamsin, the product of the naive teenage romance recounted in the previous book, is about to go away to university for the first time.

Whilst she is there she will undergo her own transformation, making new friends, starting a new course, meeting her wayward father for the first time, and finding love. Settling into student life, she joins a walking group and meets Jim, a slightly older student with all the right things in common with her. But their blossoming romance is marred by Tamsin's fear of heights, which gets her into trouble on one of their walks and leads to a difficult situation and a blazing row. But ultimately Tamsin realises that only by conquering her fears - of heights, of Kay dying, of her mother not coping without her, of her family's bad luck with men - can she move on into the future as her own woman, and be happy.

I definitely got more out of the novel this time around, thanks to having been away to university since last time - it added vibrance and meaning to the novel, and also made it more thought-provoking. What could I have done differently? Did I make the most of the opportunities on offer (no!)? This is a lighter, more humorous book than its predecessors, but nevertheless explores teenage issues and family loyalties as fairly as ever. A neat and hopeful end to the series. ( )