Kirsten:
I haven’t been reading very much lately – I’ve been wrestling with proposals and second drafts and teenagers – but one book I have read and very much enjoyed is Bonnie and Stan by Anna Stuart. It’s a story of mature love and the premise is that after over 50 years together, Stan – who still adores his wife – starts dating again.
In a dual time-line. Bonnie and Stan met during the Swinging Sixties, to the soundtrack of The Beatles and the Merseybeat scene. Bonnie’s the only woman on her architecture course and Stan is in a band. This bit is great fun –music and fashion and energy and sex and working out which one of the band members will end being Stan because they all have nicknames.
In the present day, the two have grown old together, had children and grandchildren. This bit happens at the beginning so I’m not giving anything away but Stan has cancer and is running out of time, and can’t bear the thought of leaving Bonnie on her own so, with his teenage granddaughter Greya, he sets out find Bonnie a new love. And it must remain a secret …
I thought it was a fabulous book – ultimately uplifting but with moments of real terror and fury and vulnerability.
Susanna:
One of the things I love and admire about books by Carol Rivers is that, while some authors get a bit stale and produce books that feel samey, Carol always writes something fresh, using new ideas, at the same time as remaining true to the drama and strong sense of personal relationships that characterise her books. Christmas Child is a story for any time of year, not just for the festive season.
An emotional and enthralling tale, it follows Ettie as she faces up to life’s dangers and challenges and learns the hard way that not everyone deserves to be trusted. I love stories set in Victorian times and I’m delighted that Carol Rivers has, for this book, left behind her customary 20th century setting and moved into the 19th century. I hope there will be more Victorian stories to come from this wonderful writer.
Jane:
I went on holiday last month and as such had a little more time than usual to read, so a couple of books I’d been wanting to get my teeth into for a while came to the top of my TBR pile.
The first was Liz Fenwick’s The Path to the Sea, a truly absorbing book, well researched with the strands of the story pulled beautifully together. It is set in 1962 and 2018, with a clever structure that means the action is set over the same three days of both years, flipping between them, but taking events sequentially in both. It must have been an absolute sod to write, but it’s so beautifully managed it never feels contrived and I was caught up in the story rather than the way it was told, which is exactly how it should be.
Three generations of women come together at Boskenna for the last time, both bound together and torn apart by the secrets and lies between them. It’s a fabulous story, but what I loved the most was that important thing wasn’t what had happened, but why.
The second book was Jen Gilroy’s The Cottage at Firefly Lake. Far more of a traditional holiday read, it’s a heart-warming small town romance set in Vermont and featuring realistically scarred characters you want to alternately hug then knock their heads together. Two sisters return to Firefly Lake after eighteen years to sell their late mother’s cottage and more than just old passions are ignited in this beautiful place. The book’s just perfect for readers who love a truly emotional romance.