Inheritance, By Nicholas Shakespeare

Written in 2010, this is Shakespeare's sixth novel, but the first of his books that I have read, and I am eager to read more!

Some people just seem to fall into their lives and Andy Larkham is a perfect example. When he is late for his professor's funeral and rushing to arrive before the ceremony is completely finished, Andy ends up at the wrong funeral service. It takes a while to realize the eulogy is not for his professor, but for a man he doesn't know. It's an even bigger shock when he finds out he is inheriting millions of dollars for merely showing up to the funeral regardless of his lack of relationship to the deceased.

When the furious daughter of the deceased finds out her inheritances is threatened by Andy's appearance, she befriends him and in embarrasment or perhaps fear of her contesting the will, he creates a fictitious relationship with the deceased. To assuage his guilt, he finally starts researching the deceased's history and ends up on a roller coaster trip through the history of Armenia, immigration to Australia, and finds the true rags-to-riches story of the man whose past life now guides Andy's path even though they never met.

This is a wonderful story, very original and has terrific character development. While the plot does digress here and there, we are drawn along with the story because the characters are so believable. In the end, we learn a bit about different cultures and a lot about human nature.