Briony McAllister, surviving the current recession, finds a letter in an old photo album - addressed to herself, though she never received it. Her grandmother had written to her hoping to restore contact. Briony confronts her mother Valerie Harris and the tale comes out at last. Valerie and her boyfriend Jeff Egan, a medical student, found that they were expecting a baby, but Ireland at the time was very conservative and they would be the talk of the village. Valerie and her father were already on bad terms and her mother was meek. Jeff's mother had hoped for a better class of wife for her precious son so unusually did not encourage the young pair to marry, saying Jeff should concentrate on qualifying first. Valerie, who had an office job, moved to busy Dublin to have the baby and rear her daughter in the 1980s. While this meant she was not subjected to gossip, and little Briony to stigma, there was at that time no lone-parent support and she had to continue working. She cut off communication with Jeff's parents after an unpleasant scene and the situation remained uneasy for everyone.

Most of the book is taken up with memories of the times, the young people going to a Queen concert, having a whirl in Dublin, the different family situations. Valerie and Briony feel their relationship shattered when the truth Valerie had concealed comes out and Briony realises she has been missing out on knowing her grandparents. Now it is up to Briony to make decisions that could change the nature of her own child's future.

Patricia Scanlan has written many novels of Irish women's life starting with City Girl and while her earlier works dealt with coming of age and succeeding, or bouncing back after a devastating marriage breakup, this more contemplative tale focuses on family connections across the generations and marriage boundaries. I did feel that the last quarter was somewhat repetitive, and could have done with tighter editing. But this author's many fans will doubtless be pleased to get their hands on WITH ALL MY LOVE.

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