One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

One Plus One is the story of Jess, her daughter Tanzie, stepson Nicky and Ed, a man who begins as a client of Jess's cleaning business, but eventually becomes a friend and more to this misfit family. The story is told from the perspective of all four characters, who narrate both different parts of the plot, and occasionally the same situation from different points of view. It would be an understatement to say that Jess is down on her luck, but when math-genius Tanzie is offered a scholarship to a prestigious private school, needs $5000 to begin, and is told winning a math Olympiad will help her get money, the family embarks on a trip from England to Scotland chaperoned by Ed, a computer coder who inadvertently gave insider trading information to a lover and is facing legal issues. They make quite a group, and during their trip everything that can go wrong does, and things seem quite hopeless. Jojo Moyes tells this tale of multi-layered characters who don't seem to quite fit in anywhere with humor, candor and tear-inducing frankness. It is well-crafted, the characters very authentic, and an extremely compelling story of what it means to be human. A gripping, uplifting tale, well worth the read. ARC provided by Netgalley