Book review: Stand by Me by Sheila O’Flanaghan

(From the back cover) Dominique Brady is working as a waitress in a burger restaurant when she falls for Brendan Delahaye and his charming family. Dominique soon becomes Mrs Delahaye, and, in time, glamorous wife to an incredibly successful business man. Through thick and thin the Dazzling Delehayes stand by each other, but when Dominique’s carefully constructed world suddenly falls apart, she is faced with problems no one else can solve, especially not the family she has come to think of as her own. It’s time for her to take control of her own destiny…

Stand by Me is the first of Sheila O’Flanagan’s books that I’ve read but is actually Sheila’s eighteenth novel to date and I’ll certainly be reading more of her books in the future. Before I get into the content, I have to say that I love the cover for the paperback release of this book, which came out last week. It feels very fresh and modern and I think it compliments the story well.

The novel is set in Ireland (mainly in Dublin and Cork) and although narrated in the third person, it mainly focuses on Dominique Brady (Domino) as she grows up, marries into the Delahaye family and lives a semi-celebrity life as wife to Brendan Delahaye, who works his way up to become a very successful business man.The story tells of Domino’s life from being a schoolgirl to around the age of 4o and I loved learning how her life progressed over this period. One of the things I liked most about this book was the sense of time and family history – I felt like I really got to know Domino well as I read and I was sad to leave her at the end of the book.

The story opens with an intriguing prologue as main character Domino prepares for a party. As we first see Domino through the eyes of a young caterer delivering food for the party, we discover that there have been dramatic changes in her life; that she is no longer ‘Dazzling Domino’ and that there is much speculation about the state of her marriage. With many questions waiting to be answered we are whisked back in time to find out how Dominique met Brendan Delahaye and to discover the chain of events that led to their fall from grace.

There is a lot packed into the plot. At almost six hundred pages, Stand by Me has a good pace but at the same time lets the reader really get to know the characters and their relationships with each other and I found it an engrossing read. Domino is a very likeable character and it was interesting to see how she changed as the story progressed. I found her story very inspiring in parts.

This is very much a story about relationships; exploring how they change over time and the impact of life’s ups and downs on couples and families.  I have to admit that I wasn’t as enamoured with Brendan as I was with Domino – his reactions to some of the situations he and Domino find themselves in didn’t impress me and as the book progressed I found myself having less sympathy for him. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the rest of the Delahaye family who were written with warmth and humour and I loved the contrast between them and Domino’s own very religious family.

There are a number of sub-plots running through the story which add even more drama and spark to Domino and Brendan’s tale and Stand by Me tackles some serious issues including, infidelity, depression, loneliness and forgiveness but treads just the right line between seriousness and warmth making this a very enjoyable family saga and feelgood read.

Sheila’s next book All for You will be released in July and I’m already looking forward to it.

4/5

I’d like to thank Emily at Headline for sending me a copy of Stand by Me to review.

You can find out more about Sheila and her books at: http://www.sheilaoflanagan.net/