Going into Not a Happy Family, I will admit to being apprehensive. I've had a hit or miss relationship with Lapena, so had no clue how this one would be for me. When the storyline was recircling, many times I felt that the text was repetitive and drawn out, like the author had a word count to meet. As the story reveals itself we are given snippets of life for Ah Goong when he first arrived in the UK. With dreams and ambitions, he was very much in love with his wife. Together they could conquer this strange new world. But life has a way of throwing curve balls and Ah Goong’s journey was to change dramatically in those early years, which was to have a huge impact on his daughter, Joan, Amy’s mother. The family theme was ‘More is More’ with the knowledge that a conviction would create a greater monetary share for the others with the portion being forfeited. Casting doubt became an occupation as they folded in on each other. Happy Families is your definitive guide to understanding your child's mental health, so they can survive and thrive. Whether you're afraid that anxiety is controlling your child's life, struggling with getting your child out of a low mood cycle, or you just want support on how to communicate with them, this book is here to help.

Yeah, their father was big bad wolf and their mother were mostly silent to his terrible actions against his children. She didn’t do anything to protect them and now that’s how she got paid for herself: being strangled to death!Alternating between everyone, you get a full picture of what being a part of the Merton family was actually like. It wasn't pretty. It’s been said there are four motives for murder: Lust, Love, Loathing, or Loot. There’s no shortage of the latter two here. There are no tears shed for Fred and Sheila, but plenty of anticipation and elation at the thought of the inheritance. I loved how the author dropped little secrets/bombshells throughout the book about the characters, that made me see each of them with new eyes. A well developed cast of characters were delightfully malcontent and rotten to the core which meant that I was on board with any one of them being held culpable for the misdeeds happening here.

Good thing is that it was easy to read, but a bad thing is that it was too repetitive, so many things that were already said were mentioned again and again...There are a few others who had a stake in the early demise of the Mertons, giving us plenty of suspects to choose from, and what was really unique was that almost ALL of them were women! Julie Ma has written a truly wonderful piece of fiction. There is a genuine humour running through this novel supported by a very natural style of writing. Authentic is the word that can best be used to describe this marvellous debut. It is a very warm and fulfilling story about the everyday dramas and secret pasts of an immigrant family living in Wales, who also happen to own a Chinese takeaway. What is there not to love about that?