A very interesting and different choice of subject to write about for a first published novel but it was absolutely brilliant!!

The title A Long Goodbye certainly gives a hint as to the author’s intentions of the book and to me it certainly covered a lot of the important aspects of the subject.

This is a contemporary romance in the unusual setting of a residential care home and romance was definitely not the first thing I thought of. Instead my thoughts and concerns were with poor Simon with early onset dementia at the age of 40!

The book is written about three main characters. Emma, manager of the care home, Simon with Alzheimer’s, who admitted himself into the care home while he could still make rational decisions, and Emma’s husband Michael who originally ran the care home then went onto be a director for the company which owned several homes including Orchard Care Home. Michael was so busy working he was spending more and more time away from Emma his wife.

The idea and theme of the book is unusual but enhanced my knowledge of this cruel disease, written in a clear and convincing language. It has a sad, emotional and dark mood in places but it is balanced with a lovely romance which came in exceptional circumstances. The characters became very real to me, with my feelings changing towards Michael for the better as I read through the book. A very easy emotional read, good pace and the plot unfolded nicely. A very good page turner with a wide range of feelings through out the book.

A different, difficult subject to write about which was told so well. Well done Anthony Le Moignan, I thought you told a remarkable tale and it certainly gave me so many emotions, I didn’t want to put it down and it left me with lots to think about.

I am definitely recommending A Long Goodbye to everyone and I’m now look forward to reading more from this author.

About the Author

It was both a shock and a delight when Anthony Le Moignan received The English Prize at end-of-term assembly. He was 11 and in the 6th form, his final year at Prep.

The celebrations carried on for years – five in fact, at which point he was expelled from senior school (‘asked to leave’ was the official jargon). However, a lifelong lesson was learnt (even if an avoidance of alliteration wasn’t) – he was clearly unemployable.

So through a series of almost absurd luck which he cannot begin to over-emphasise, he seems to have successfully ploughed himself to this current moment in time.

He won’t excuse his love of Cambridge. Having travelled around the world playing croquet for a couple of decades, this little city is just about his favourite place on the planet. He’s not entirely sure why, but he seems to love being surrounded by people far brighter than himself, and buildings older than God (welllll, sort of…).

So, a lot of his novels are going to be set in or around Cambridge and London, all of which he hopes will be glanced at in the fullness of time. For now, he’d like to mention that all of the characters in his books, every single one of them, human and otherwise, are based on actual persons; fragments maybe, but they all truly exist. Quite how any author can claim otherwise is a complete mystery to him.