It’s far too long since Christine Webber appeared here on Linda’s Book Bag with a guest post all about older characters in celebration of her book So Many Ways of Loving which is still waiting for me on my TBR. I’m delighted to rectify the fact that Christine has been missing by sharing my review of her latest book Watching From the Wings. My enormous thanks to Christine for sending me a copy of Watching From the Wings in return for an honest review.

Watching From the Wings was published on 23rd April 2023 and is available for purchase here.

Watching From the Wings

Watching From the Wings is a heartwarming tale of devotion, friendship, joy and passion, but also one involving disappointment, duplicity and betrayal. We all have our own journey of love. Katharine’s is more complex than most. And she comes to realise that she has always chosen the wrong door whenever she had the chance to exit by a more promising one.

At the age of 62, can she make a fresh start, or is it too late?

My Review of Watching From the Wings

Katharine is an aspiring actor.

What a smashing book. I thoroughly enjoyed Watching From The Wings because it is a well paced, involving and engaging story that has a resonance of truth making it highly entertaining and satisfying. The plot feels authentic and realistic even though it’s set in a theatrical world most of us know little about. Incidentally, I think Watching From The Wings would make a brilliant television series because the plot has depth and some real surprises along the way. 

I always know how much I’ve enjoyed a book and how effective the characterisation is when I have an emotional reaction to the people in the story. I this case, I absolutely loathed Nicholas. I wanted to climb into the book and punch him. Hard. As a result, initially I was incredibly frustrated by Katharine. She infuriated me as she lost sight of her individuality in her relationship with Nicholas. Katharine is an absolutely fabulous character because Christine Webber gets right inside the head of a young woman and then again when she is older in the story, giving readers of any age something relatable. There’s true development here. I loved it when I reached the later timescale and Katharine had matured, even though she remains a flawed person. She’s so true to life. 

And Moira was a triumph of loathsomeness. One of the real pleasures in reading Watching From The Wings was absolutely hating some of the characters. Equally, watching their growth and development was also thoroughly entertaining and I adored Simon and Cleo from the start. Indeed, everyone needs a Cleo in their life. Even the most minor characters have a vitality that makes them lifelike and realistic. 

There’s also a convincing flavour of realism through cultural references to actual theatre productions, television and actors so that Watching From The Wings feels true and engaging. The reader gets a vivid insight into the world of theatre that I found fascinating. I also thoroughly appreciated the exploration of a marriage and of relationships, friendships and family, control and trust and manipulation and self-doubt. These felt like grown up themes that added very pleasing depth. Most of all I loved the message that the time to start living your life to the full is now, regardless of your age or past experiences.

Filled with warm humanity, experience, emotion and entertainment, Watching From The Wings is an engaging narrative that I thoroughly enjoyed. I really recommend it.

About Christine Webber

Christine Webber tried various careers in her younger days – she was a classical singer, a Principal Boy in pantomimes, an undistinguished actress as well as a piano and singing teacher. Fortunately, for her, when she was thirty, she managed to get a job in television as a continuity announcer, and shortly thereafter she became a news presenter at Anglia TV. Finally, she had found an occupation she liked that other people thought she was good at. This was a massive relief.

In her early forties, she married the love of her life, David Delvin. Soon afterwards, she decided it was time to leave news presenting to train as a psychotherapist and she also became a problem page columnist for various publications including TV Times, Best, BBC Parenting, The Scotsman and Woman. In addition, she regularly broadcast relationship advice on Trisha, The Good Sex Guide …Late and from the BBC’s Breakfast sofa.

In her fifties, she and her husband set up a practice in Harley Street, and they worked together there and collaborated on several books. They also wrote the sex/relationships content on http://www.netdoctor.co.uk and penned a joint column for the health section of The Spectator.

Over the decades, Christine was commissioned to write ten self-help books including Get the Happiness Habit, How to Mend a Broken Heart and Too Young to Get Old.

Now, in her seventies, her focus is on the issues of mid and later life. She makes video podcasts on positive ageing and writes a column for various regional papers on that theme. She is also a life coach specialising in health and ageing. But she has no plans for any more non-fiction books. Instead, for the past five years she has concentrated on writing novels for and about older people. Previous titles in this genre have been Who’d Have Thought It? and It’s Who We Are.

So Many Ways of Loving, which made the shortlist of 2022’s Selfie’s awards, is about the major life changes we have to expect as we age, the possibilities of new beginnings as well as our crucial need for good friends and family.

Christine’s latest book, out in April 2023, is Watching From The Wings, a heart-warming tale of a woman finding her real self in her sixties.

You can follow Christine on Twitter @1chriswebber, visit her website and find her on Instagram and Facebook.