Return to Drumveyn (by Alexandra Raife)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve been enjoying re-reading Alexandra Raife’s novels, interspersed with others. I just wish I hadn’t left such a long gap in the middle. I re-read the first of her books, ‘Drumveyn’, in 2007. But it’s taken me until now to reach the tenth of her books - seventh in the ‘Perthshire Cycle’ - ‘Return to Drumveyn’. It includes most of the people who were introduced in the first book, albeit rather older, but my memory of them was a little hazy.

Not that it particularly mattered. This book is about Cristi, who is 23 when this novel opens. She lives with Archie and his rather younger wife Pauly in Scotland. But she has a Brazilian mother who abandoned her when she was nine. There has been no contact at all with her biological family until, out of the blue, she receives a shocking letter from a lawyer.

Cristi, who has just finished a degree in fine arts, flies to Brazil to find out more about her family and a ranch which she has inherited. She leaves behind not just her foster parents, but her adopted brother and sisters, and - most importantly - Dougal, one of the workers on the Drumveyn estate. He has begun to feel that there’s too big a gulf between himself and Cristi to continue their childhood friendship, and she doesn’t understand his pride and the envy of her circumstances and education.

Much of the book happens in Brazil, where Cristi is at first overwhelmed with colour and sunshine, and the apparent welcome from her cousins and other relatives. She feels as if she belongs - no longer does she look ‘different’, and she fits effortlessly into their luxurious, materialistic lifestyle. At first, anyway. But she becomes uncomfortable with the delay in sorting out her affairs, and starts to push for resolution. Her handsome cousin Luis is very attentive and she finds herself drawn to him in a way she doesn’t fully understand.

We also see cameos of her loved ones back in Scotland, receiving news via letters, and worrying, increasingly, that she might never return. Or, if she does, only as a visitor. And, indeed, it seems for a time as if Cristi may be drawn into her new environment; she is delighted with the ranch, rather to her cousin’s surprise, and even starts to learn some important skills, such as roping cattle.

The pace is gentle, the story character-based primarily, contrasting the openness of the Scottish family, and the prevarication of the Brazilian one. Cristi sees a great deal of her country - poverty as well as wealth, and matures in many ways before making a decision about where her future is to be.

There’s plenty of cultural ‘educational’ value to this book, both in Brazil and in Scotland. It’s presented through Cristi’s eyes, in such a way as to be interesting. It makes a nice background, a good contrast to the primarily character-based nature of the novel. Every so often the viewpoint changes, sometimes mid-scene, but somehow Alexandra Raife manages this without it feeling awkward or annoying.

It’s the kind of book that’s easy to put down at first; it’s not a book to hurry through. I wanted to savour the atmosphere, and take it slowly, reading the descriptive passages, seeing the people in my mind’s eye. But once I was over half-way through, I found myself rooting for various characters, hoping Cristi would follow a particular path, but really not remembering how the book ended.

Overall I thought it a lovely book, an excellent ending to the ‘Perthshire’ series, but one that stands alone: it certainly isn’t necessary to have read any of the earlier books in the series, although having read ‘Drumveyn’ before, albeit over ten years ago, gave me the feeling of returning to people I had known and liked in the past.

Definitely recommended. Not currently in print, and rather pricey second-hand; but it can be found in Kindle form at reasonable cost.

Review copyright 2018 Sue's Book Reviews