Terms of Inheritance, by Michelle Upton

Queensland hotel and casino tycoon Jacki Turner has a diagnosis of terminal cancer and gives each of her four daughters a task to achieve in the next year, in order to inherit her multi millions. All must succeed, or her money goes to an animal charity. Youngest daughter Jess, who runs her own design business, must sustain a relationship for longer than three months. Disability support worker Mel, who is overweight and massively in debt, must run a marathon. Mum-of-three Rose, a widowed accountant who has been estranged from her mother since her husband died, has to write and publish a children’s book. Eldest Isla runs her own chain of jewellery stores and idolises Jacki, so is baffled to be told to find her real self. An intriguing premise is not well executed, slabs of exposition managing to omit key details. Switching points of view between all four sisters, and sometimes Jacki, serves well to demonstrate the tensions and nuance of mother-daughter relationships, but there is sloppiness in the detail, particularly around timelines. Rose is the only fully-fleshed character; her sisters a somewhat sketchy support act, although the outcome of Jess’s relationship woes is neat. It’s all about mothering, or the lack of it, but love and good intentions win out, apparently, in a resolution that is eye-rollingly nonsensical.