Mandy has been holding her family together, but is coming to realise that her husband Gary is boorish, unpleasant, and unfair. He gets along well with three of their sons, bonded by a shared love of football. But he has no time at all for eight-year-old Tom...

Tom regularly gets into trouble at school. He can't sit still, he can't concentrate, and nobody seems to like him much. Then, almost by chance, Mandy discovers that he has an unexpected talent...

The characterisation is excellent, the pace just right, and there's a lot of poignancy in this book. It charts, as well as the deterioration of Mandy and Gary's marriage, a growing friendship between Tom and Mandy's elderly employer Elizabeth.

Definitely recommended if you like women's fiction with a fair amount of depth.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-legacy-by-sue-jones.html ( )