Haunting and humane, "The Loss Adjustor" speaks of grief, forgiveness and redemption. Caro is a Loss Adjustor, tallying grief for an insurance firm, she finds relief in the fact that the human cost is never itemised in her inventories. The present is two dimensional for her, but history is loaded with colour and scent. Sometimes she tries to force a little perspective with a spare summary of event: Estelle died two weeks after her fifteenth birthday. It was sudden, violent, explicit. Afterwards, Cormac left and never returned. Now she waits for resolution, which comes in the form of an unlikely alliance. Aifric Campbell's second novel is a quiet hymn to childhood, grief and the redeeming power of friendship.
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Editorial Reviews
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"* 'A storyteller of really immense gifts. She combines a unique sensibility with a prose of shimmering beauty' Joseph O'Connor, author of Star of the Sea * Written in glistening prose... a major talent' Irish Independent"
About the Author
Aifric Campbell was born in Ireland. As a convent schoolgirl in Dublin, her greyhound won the Irish Derby and a hymn she co-wrote won a national TV song contest. She moved to Sweden where she worked as an au pair, completed a Linguistics degree and lectured in semantics at the University of Goteborg. She spent 13 years as an investment banker in the City of London before leaving to study psychotherapy and creative writing, most recently at the University of East Anglia. She now lives in Sussex with her husband and son.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Coping with deep loss,
This review is from: Loss Adjustor (Hardcover)
This book abounds with examples of loss and mourning. It is perfectly paced and beautifully structured and -written about the idyllic youth of 3 children who live in adjoining houses. Caro lives in the middle house with her taciturn parents. She often eats and spends the night next door on either side with Cormac's and Estelle's warmer and noisier families. The three spend their childhood and youth exploring the wilderness around their isolated hamlet, until puberty begins to cause frictions.
Then, at age 15, fate strikes suddenly and repeatedly. Caro's father dies of a heart attack; his desperate border collie Spike senses more trouble and runs under a passing car; then Estelle meets with violent death and her family moves away almost instantaneously; soon after, musical prodigy Cormac waves goodbye to Caro to fulfill his dream. Caro, the I-person in the novel, stays behind, traumatised, filled with loss. According to specialists, three months of mourning is normal, quite OK. After that it should be clear to the mourner that life without the deceased is meaningful and possible. If it is not over after three months, treatment is opportune, necessary. Caro is 35 when she writes about the break up of the trio and her struggle to live a life without them. Professionally, she has done well. She is a brilliant claims adjustor with a major insurance company, but even to her closest associates she remains an enigma. A chance meeting with pensioner Tom in Estelle's cemetery marks the beginning of a new phase in Caro's life. This is a book full of spirituality, esp. regarding Estelle. It is perhaps a woman's book, but male readers are advised to read Tom's account of passing the sins of fathers onto the children. Rich, engrossing novel. Will buy her debut novel and hope Aifric Campbell will write many more great books like this.
4.0 out of 5 stars
lonely,
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This review is from: Loss Adjustor (Hardcover)
A catching story; some questions remain unanswered. You really feel for the main character. How can one go back and fix problems from the past? It is impossible to go back.
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