Conditional love (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

On the whole, I enjoy the novels by Cathy Bramley. They’re character-based, mostly light-weight, and well-written. I have several of them in paperback form, but when I saw a couple of them on offer for the Kindle at 99p, I decided to download those rather than add them to my wishlist. 

I read ‘Conditional love’ while I was travelling, in part on my Kindle and in part on the app on my phone; I find it very convenient to do this, as a downloaded book can be read when offline, and dipped into at any odd moment. And it’s not the kind of novel that I found difficult to put down, nor to pick up again and continue after a gap of a day or more.

Sophie is the main protagonist of this book, which is told in the first person. She’s in her thirties, and at the start of the book she’s in a comfortable relationship with a good-looking man called Marc; so much so that she is half expecting a marriage proposal at any moment. She wakes up on Valentine’s Day after they spent a night together… so she’s devastated when, in contrast to her expectations, he announces that he’s breaking up with her. 

Appleby Farm (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve been reading books by Cathy Bramley for a few years now, and have liked them all. So I added a couple more to my wishlist last year, and was given ‘Appleby Farm’ for Christmas. I picked it up to read a few days ago, and was quickly engrossed.

Freya is the main protagonist. The story is told from her perspective, in the first person. We first meet her working in a café, training a new employee. We quickly learn that she’s been helping out a friend who had been injured, and that this is temporary. But she isn’t really sure what she wants from life. She’s in her late twenties, but hasn’t yet settled into anything long-term. 

Out of the blue, Freya gets a phone call from her aunt, saying that her uncle has fallen from his tractor and they wonder if she could come to help out for a few days. She drops everything to travel to the Lake District, to Appleby Farm. She loves the place. She spent more time with her aunt and uncle there when she was growing up than she did with her parents. 

The sunrise sisterhood (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve liked all the books I’ve read so far by Cathy Bramley. She’s quite a prolific writer, and I regularly put one or two more of her books on my wishlist. However, it sometimes takes me a while to get to reading new books. I received ‘The sunrise sisterhood’ for Christmas 2023, and have only just read it in the past few days.

The story revolves around three women, with each short chapter headed with Liz, Clare or Skye. I found this a tad confusing at first, but gradually found I could remember them and their backgrounds. The author does a good job with characterisation; they’re not entirely three-dimensional, but quite distinct, with their own voices.

Liz is the owner of a catering company, but she’s done very little in the past few months. Her best friend, and partner in the business, Jen, died in a car crash over a year earlier, but she is still grieving. She’s also lost her enthusiasm for everything other than a few small events.  She has lunch with Jen’s ex-husband Mike, who is also an old friend of hers, and he says he needs repayment of a large loan he gave her company when it started out…

The summer that changed us (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve liked all the books I’ve read so far by Cathy Bramley. She’s quite a prolific writer of thoughtful, character-based women’s fiction. Every so often I add a few more of her books to my wishlist, and I was given ‘The summer that changed us’ for Christmas a couple of years ago. It’s been on my to-be-read shelf since then, and I’ve finally read it.

It took me a little while to get into this novel, which focuses on three quite different women. The youngest is Katie, who’s in her late twenties and runs a lingerie shop in the seaside village of Merle Bay. It was founded and run for years by her beloved aunt, who passed away a year or so before the story begins. Katie is now making a success of it by herself, with just one assistant. Then, out of the blue, she receives an anonymous letter with a scandalous photo of herself ten years previously, and the threat of sending it to the newspaper. 

Then there’s Robyn, who is happily married to Finn. They are in their thirties. They live in Merle Bay, next door to Finn’s brother and his family. We learn quickly that Robyn had a double mastectomy, but don’t learn until a bit later in the book why this has happened. She is coming to terms with her reconstructive surgery, and is regaining her health. But Finn is very stressed due to business and money issues, and Robyn has not been able to work for a while. And Finn doesn’t seem to be attracted to her any more. 

Grace is the oldest of the three, in her mid forties. She was widowed some months earlier, after fifteen very happy years of marriage. She’s very well off, due to the sale of a successful company, but is sad that she and her husband never did the travelling they had hoped to do. She’s decided to have a few months’ break in Merle Bay, in a new property designed and built by her old friend Ned. She’s going to miss her sister, but she needs to get away from her memories. And then she gets a phone call from her solicitor, telling her that her stepchildren are challenging their father’s will… 

Each of these three women feel unable to talk about their worries, until a minor incident throws them together, and they realise that, despite huge differences in background, they somehow click. They determine to meet regularly and to talk about their worries. 

I thought the book very well written with believable people, and realistic conversations. There are other people too, in particular the local newspaper editor Barney and his delightful daughter Amber, who is fourteen. I liked them very much, and thought Amber an excellent, feisty teenager who wanted to be more grown-up, and yet was extremely intuitive and kind. Barney’s wife had died a year or so previously in a nasty accident which nearly took Amber too. 

Once I had the three main protagonists in my mind, I found myself reading at every odd moment, eager to see how the different stories progressed. Katie receives more letters, Grace has a worse shock when her husband’s ex-wife gets in contact, and Robyn begins to think she’s unattractive to everyone. But their support for each other is believable and quite moving at times. Perhaps it’s a cliché that sharing problems reduces them, but they all begin to get them a little more in perspective. They also help each other to make plans for trying to resolve them, or at least to open communication lines.

I could see where some of the storylines were going fairly early on. I had guessed what had happened to cause the shocking incident Grace learns about. I had also guessed at least part of why Finn was reluctant to get physically close to Robyn, too. I had begun to have an inkling about what might have caused Katie’s issues, too, although I wasn't expecting what transpired; I kept mentally urging her to talk to people, including Barney, so that if the worst happened they would at least know. It’s indicative of how much they all got under my skin that I was rooting for them, trying to push them to talk more to other people. 

It’s perhaps a tad unrealistic that all three of the stories reach some kind of a climax and resolution (positive or negative) around the same time. But I didn’t mind. I quite like the ends of different subplots in fiction to be tidied up with hope for the future. There’s even a short epilogue spelling out what happens in the future, which I very much appreciated.

Definitely recommended if you like this kind of character-driven women’s fiction. 

Review copyright 2025 Sue's Book Reviews

Ivy Lane (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

On the whole I’ve liked the books I have read by Cathy Bramley over the past few years. So when I saw ‘Ivy Lane’ available inexpensively for the Kindle, it was an easy decision to download it. I’m away from home at present, so my Kindle is invaluable. 

Ivy Lane, like many of this author’s books, was apparently written in four separate parts as ebooks. I would have found it a bit frustrating reading just one part at a time, so I always make sure I acquire complete editions. But it’s still presented in four parts: in this book, they were named after the four seasons, beginning with Spring.

Tilly is the main protagonist. When we first meet her, it’s clear that she’s grieving; we don’t learn the details until much later in the book, but it’s quickly clear that she lost her husband James over a year ago. She has decided to move, to start a new life without people who know her. She’s just moved into a new house, and accepts a part-time job as a teacher at the local school.

Then Tilly decides to take on an allotment. She knows nothing about gardening, but she wants to do something different. She hopes it will help her get some fresh air and exercise, and also some fresh vegetables.

Most of the story takes place on the allotment, as she gets to know her neighbouring plot holders, and learns a lot about cultivating land and plants. It could have been a bit overly educational, but it isn’t: the snippets of information are introduced so casually into conversations or Tilly’s thoughts that they feel realistic and interesting. 

Tilly is an active person who’s good at organising. She’s also decided to avoid romance for a while - I didn’t understand why she kept her past such a secret, as she had nothing to be ashamed of. I understood that she didn’t want people feeling sorry for her, or awkward. But I couldn’t quite see why she found it so difficult to say that she was widowed, or the circumstances that caused her tragedy.

However, other than that she’s transparent and a likeable person who is unafraid of hard work. She quickly makes friends with Gemma, the woman who has the other end of her allotment, and who works as a beautician. Gemma has a teenage daughter Mia who appears from time to time, usually grounded, but doesn’t add much to the story. 

There are other folk on the allotment whom Tilly quickly befriends, but I found it quite hard to distinguish some of them. I liked Alf, the oldest person there, who moves slowly but has good advice for everyone. Christine, too, is easily distinguishable: she’s Gemma’s mother, and also the chair of the Ivy Lane committee. She’s very good at persuading - sometimes manipulating - people into helping out at events.  

Then there’s Charlie, a likeable young man, who is divorced. He does a lot to help Tilly and they develop a good friendship which she appreciates very much until it becomes clear that he would like rather more…

An important strand to the story is a TV crew who want to film the allotment for a popular series. They are interested in everyone involved, but particularly Tilly; they record her through several months as she plants and eventually harvest produces, learning a lot as she does. And Tilly is rather attracted to the director, Aidan…

I would not have expected a group of allotment holders to provide so many interesting threads and subplots in a novel, but Cathy Bramley manages it very well. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t always remember who was whom amongst Tilly’s new friends and acquaintances. I liked Tilly and several of the others, and if some of the romantic threads were a bit obvious, it wasn’t a problem. 

The writing is good, but there’s nothing too gripping. So it was easy to dip into the book at random times when I had twenty minutes or so to myself. It’s ideal holiday reading, in my view. It’s not deep, although there are a few poignant moments including one or two unexpected shocks. There’s plenty to hold one’s interest, and a refreshing lack of either expletives or details of bedroom scenes.

I don't think I'd have paid full price for this; the Kindle version is now higher priced, and the link above is to the paperback. But if you can find it on special offer again, or second-hand, I would recommend it, if you like light women’s fiction with an emphasis on gardening. 

Review copyright 2024 Sue's Book Reviews

A Patchwork Family (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve liked the books I’ve read so far by Cathy Bramley, so I put a couple more on my wishlist towards the end of last year. I was very pleased to be given ‘A Patchwork Family’ for my birthday a few months ago. The cover is appealing, and the novel is quite long. As with others by this author, it’s in four parts, which are available separately for the Kindle. This volume, however, contains them all.

The narrator of the story is a young woman called Gina who works as a childminder. She’s evidently a very good one, popular with children and parents alike. She’s recently been divorced, but it was quite amicable and she still sees her ex-husband from time to time. She rents a small cottage that’s part of a bigger estate, and she’s very friendly with the three elderly residents of the main house: Violet, Delphine and Bing.

The novel is set in a village, where everyone seems to know everyone else. One or two people from previous novels by this author appear, including one small boy is sometimes looked after by Gina. It was nice to recognise names, although I didn’t recall any details of ‘The Lemon Tree Café’; but then it’s three years since I read it. It’s certainly not necessary to have read other books by Cathy Bramley, as this one stands alone.

The village school has a new head, a rather good-looking and friendly man called Beau Colby. He asks Gina if she would look after some twins, Isabel and Lisa, who have also recently arrived in the village with their mother Cat. The family has suffered a terrible bereavement and Lisa has not spoken a word in months, although she manages to communicate to her sister.

Then another unexpected shock happens, and it looks as though the estate where Gina lives is going to be sold. She and her elderly friends will be homeless - possibly within a few months - and it’s likely the house, which is somewhat ramshackle, will be completely redesigned as offices.

So there’s a lot going on, and rather a large cast of characters; I never did manage to remember who was whom amongst the children Gina looks after, other than the twins. The others all have their own voices, and one is a baby, but they didn’t feel particularly real. However Gina is clearly fond of them all, and somehow manages to keep them all occupied, introducing themes and crafts and activities in a way that leaves me open-mouthed in admiration. My own foray into child-minding, over twenty years ago, was much more relaxed and spontaneous.

It’s a good story, one that I felt picked up the pace and became more interesting about a third of the way through. If I’d bought just the first part, I’m not sure I’d have bothered with the rest. While the writing is good, and the story moves at the right pace, the characters - other than the twins, and the elderly, sometimes naughty Bing - felt rather two-dimensional. Still, it’s more of a plot-related book than a character one, and I could at least somewhat relate to Gina.

There are some interesting issue that arise. As well as the serious problems related to bereavement that affect people in different ways, the book covers, in story form, the legalities of child-minding, the ease with which a good reputation can be damaged, the loneliness of old age, the way parents can all too easily make their children think they’re not appreciated, and more. I thought they were all handled sensitively, although it was quite a lot to be included in one novel and at times I felt a bit breathless with so much going on.

Although it took a while to get going, by the time I was two-thirds of the way through I found the book hard to put down and I finished it much more quickly. Several different threads are nicely tied up, Christmas wishes granted - the book takes place over just a few months - and a couple of romances start to blossom. I do appreciate the way that Cathy Bramley avoids all but the mildest bad language, and all bedroom scenes, with just a few hints about what happens as relationships progress.

So overall, I liked this book very much and would recommend it if you don’t mind a large cast, and prefer story-based rather than character-based women’s fiction. I particularly appreciated the way that, unlike some other books I've read, being a talented child-minder is considered a positive, career-minded option.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews

The Plumberry School of Comfort Food (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

I have very much liked the other novels I’ve read by Cathy Bramley, so I added a few more to my wishlist over a year ago. I was given ‘The Plumberry School of Comfort Food’ for my birthday a year ago, and finally read it in the past few days.

Verity is the main character in this book. She narrates the story, and I found her increasingly likeable as the book progressed. We meet her in various situations in the first chapter, which is quite action-packed for a light women’s fiction read. Verity is first in the kitchen with her flatmate Rosie, making junk food. We quickly learn that she doesn’t eat properly, in stark comparison to her super-fit flatmate Rosie.

Then we learn that Verity is a marketing expert who has come up with an excellent idea for the company she works for. However she’s in competition with her boyfriend Liam… and she’s shown him her ideas. Rosie thinks that’s a very bad idea. Next we see Verity panicking - although with a tinge of excitement and hope - as she thinks she might be pregnant. And if that weren’t enough for one chapter, we next meet her on a bittersweet visit to her godson, four-year-old Noah, and his father Gabe. Noah’s mother Mimi was Verity’s closest friend, but she died a couple of years earlier.

Although I found that chapter a tad confusing with so many changes of scene, it turns out to be an excellent introduction to Verity, as we see different people and situations through her eyes. She likes to have a full calendar, she’s full of great ideas, she doesn’t really look after herself… but she’s full of compassion and will do anything for those she loves. She’s also rather easily persuadable, and she’s very trusting.

The bulk of the book is about Verity’s visit to Mimi’s mother Gloria, who was almost like a second mother to Verity when they were growing up. Verity’s own mother is in Canada, and they have a somewhat strained relationship; there are hints about why this is the case through the book, but we don’t learn the full story until near the end.

Gloria is quite similar to Verity in character; although technically retired, she likes to keep active and has always wanted to run a cookery school. She’s finally able to realise her dream, and it’s soon to open… but she’s lacking technical and marketing skills. And it just happens that Verity is able to help her, initially for a few weeks as the school prepares to open.

There are other characters who appear as part of the school: there’s Gloria’s delightfully caricatured neighbour Mags, who dresses in bizarre and colourful ways, and sees innuendoes in almost every conversation. There’s Tom, the michelin-starred chef who has agreed to teach some of the early classes, but has very regimented ideas about food, and doesn’t quite understand the idea of comfort food, or cooking with love. And there’s Pixie, a girl who is eager to help out, and very hard-working, but has no background at all in serious cooking.

So there are many strands to the story, many gradually developing relationships, a low-key romantic thread that isn’t resolved until nearly the end of the book, and changes in many of the characters as they learn from each other, and are able to move beyond some of the episodes in their pasts. There are a few surprises, and some sadnesses, though the author built up to the pivotal one with sufficient hints that I found myself almost relieved when the anticipated traumatic event occurred.

It took me a little while to get into the book; there’s almost too much going on in the first few chapters, and I found it quite hard going. But then I found myself reading at every moment, thoroughly enjoying the different characters, and Verity’s gradual relaxation and enjoyment as she becomes part of the Plumberry School. She and several other people in the book got under my skin so much that after I’d finished I found myself wondering what they were getting up to, and how things were progressing before remembering that the story was over.

As with many books of this kind, there are recipes at the back, but they’re quite dairy-heavy, or contain ingredients we don’t use, so I’m not going to try any of them. Still, it’s always good to see recipes for dishes mentioned in a novel, and there are quite a few of them so it’s a nice touch.

Definitely recommended if you enjoy character-based women’s fiction. It's mostly light-hearted but covers some quite serious issues too.

(Note that this was originally published in four separate parts, so make sure you are ordering the entire novel if you buy it online.)

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews

Hetty's farmhouse bakery (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

I loved the first novel I read by Cathy Bramley, so I added a few more of her books to my wishlist. I very much liked the next one I read, too I was given ‘Hetty’s farmhouse bakery’ for my birthday last year, and finally picked it up to read at the start of the year. I assumed it would be like the others: gentle women’s fiction with a bit of low-key humour, some good characterisation, and a satisfying conclusion.

It’s certainly gentle fiction; the story revolves around a woman called Hetty, who is her thirties, and a farmer’s wife. She loves her husband very much, and they have a delightful daughter called Poppy, who is nearly thirteen. We meet Hetty and Poppy at a parents’ evening at Poppy’s school. She’s clearly bright but not very interested in school work. She’s already running a small business selling eggs from the farm, and she is determined to be a farmer herself.

However Hetty does not appear in a good light at the parents' evening - I had to re-read some of her conversation with one of the teachers, as it seemed so immature - and it didn't add to the plot. Hetty has a great relationship with Poppy, but in the first chapters she comes across as flaky and irresponsible, and it was hard to like her at the beginning of the book.

We also meet Hetty’s best friend Anna, who works as the school nurse. I never entirely believed in Anna. Her rather flamboyant and promiscuous character does not seem to match with any nurses (at school or otherwise) that I have known. She is a single mother and is very protective of her son Bart, who is just a year older than Poppy.

Hetty is busy but seems quite contented in her role working at the farm, and also baking. Her speciality is pies, both sweet and savoury. She would like her daughter to admire her more, but Poppy’s role model is her aunt Naomi, her father’s sister, who runs a farm shop nearby. Since Hetty likes Naomi very much, this isn’t really a problem.

So they’re a nice group of people, and as the novel is told in the first person I was eventually able to empathise fairly well with Hetty, seeing events from her perspective. But other than Poppy, and perhaps Hetty’s husband Dan, it didn’t feel as if most of the other characters were three-dimensional. And when something sad happens, it didn't trigger any emotion in me at all - unlike similar situations in other books I have read.

I would hate being a sheep farmer. So I didn’t really appreciate the details of farming life that were included, but it was easy enough to skim those. And the life seems to be working fairly well for the family. We get a bit of back-story here and there, and mention of some conflicts but they all seem to have been sorted out. And here’s my problem with the book: there isn't any real issue at stake. Hetty is feeling a little frustrated, but an opportunity to expand her horizons is handed to her unexpectedly. She rises to the occasion without too much difficulty, and while Dan is not supportive at first, there’s never any serious problem when she goes ahead and follows her heart.

There are a few secrets from the past, which become relevant nearer the end of the book. But by the time they’re revealed, they are obvious to the reader. It’s quite a clever device to drop hints that readers can pick up while the viewpoint character is oblivious; but in this case I felt as if Hetty were being a bit dim - how could she not guess, given all that had been said?

There’s a lot of baking in the book. Some of the pies sound very unappealing to me, although others sound good: but only one recipe is given in the back. On the whole it’s a likeable enough book, and certainly an easy read. It has an entirely satisfactory ending, after a dramatic climax, although some would disagree with Hetty’s decisions. There are themes of loyalty and integrity, and the importance of honesty… but they’re quite low-key. There’s no violence, nothing explicit, and no seriously bad language, all of which are plus points to me.

And yet, somehow it didn’t grab me like the other Cathy Bramley books I’ve read. It could make a good holiday read, and I appreciated it in a few quiet days when I had a cold and needed something light-weight. But for someone interested in trying this author, I would recommend instead the one I read first: 'Wickham Hall'.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews

The Lemon Tree Café (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

I so enjoyed the first book I read by Cathy Bramley (‘Wickham Hall’) that I put a couple of other books she had written on my wish list last year. I was delighted to be given them for my birthday this year, and have just finished reading ‘The Lemon Tree Cafe’.

The story is narrated by a young woman called Rosie. She’s clearly a person of strong principles, as we learn in the first chapter. She works for a high-powered social media company, where she’s considered an expert in some fields. But she refuses to compromise what she believes is right, and walks out of the job.

She has some savings, and expects to find another job fairly easily, as she has been head-hunted before. But first she pops into her grandmother’s village café. It’s a popular place, selling home-made light meals and cakes, as well as high quality teas and coffees. For many, it’s a focal point or meeting place.

However, the two women who work there consider that Maria, Rosie’s grandmother, is getting a bit absent-minded. She doesn’t keep proper accounts, and she has been muddling up some of the recent orders. She doesn’t notice when things need thorough cleaning, and won’t allow her assistants to stay behind after she has left.

So Rosie offers to help out for a few weeks. She knows that Maria is stubborn and resists any hint that she needs more help; she’s a feisty Italian 75-year-old who won’t acknowledge that it may be time to slow down a little…

A lot happens in the course of the month. Rosie, who clearly has a very unpleasant memory of a former relationship, meets someone she finds attractive but she keeps backing off. Maria, too, has a suitor: the elderly Stanley. But she, too, doesn’t seem to want to get too close. She won’t talk about her past either, nor does she seem to have any photos of Rosie’s grandfather.

Then the owner of a local business dies unexpectedly, and his wife is persuaded to sell at a low price. The property is taken over by a mega-store selling cheap plants, stationery and more - and is going to start a cafe, too, which is likely to rival Maria’s café. So Rosie’s social media skills are put to good use as they put up a fight to save the local village shops.

There are lots of characters, a tad too many for my liking, but apparently at least one of them had a book of her own, so it might have helped had I read that first. I mostly managed to remember who was whom; some of them are a little caricatured, but I liked Stanley very much, and also four-year-old Noah. I liked Maria, too. I wasn’t entirely sure that her somewhat stilted English is realistic after living over forty years in England, but her malapropisms are very amusing in places.

I became quite fond of Rosie too, although she’s a very different kind of person from me. But I admired the stands she took, albeit feeling that she was as stubborn as her grandmother at times…

There are some ‘issues’ covered in the book making it a little deeper than many books in the popular cafe/restaurant genre. It would be a spoiler to say what they are, other than the initial one in the first chapter when Rosie refuses to change a model’s appearance artificially. Perhaps some of them are touched on too lightly; almost as a token offering to those who expect ‘minority’ themes. But they’re mostly done sensitively.

It took me a while to get into the book. It’s pleasant light reading, somewhat informal but that isn’t too much of a problem when it’s a first person narration. However nothing really grabbed me until around half-way through, when I realised that some of the characters were getting under my skin. I wanted to know what Maria’s secret was. Rosie’s was fairly obvious, although the eventual resolution of that has an unexpected twist.

Overall, I liked it very much. As with the first book I read by Cathy Bramley, I particularly appreciated that there’s almost no bad language and no overt scenes of violence or intimacy, despite a few hints of both. The ending ties everything together perhaps a little too neatly, but I don't mind that. I want a book to have a positive ending, and for as many threads as possible to be resolved.

Recommended, if you undemanding light women’s fiction. There's a bonus of some rather tasty-looking recipes at the back, too.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews

Wickham Hall (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

On a recent trip to the UK, I was browsing a charity shop when I saw a carousel with women’s fiction novels at a pound each. I picked up four that looked interesting, based both on the blurb and the cover, although I had not previously read anything by three of the authors. One of the books was ‘Wickham Hall’ by Cathy Bramley, an author I had not previously come across. I started reading it on my flight back to Cyprus a few days ago.

I was immediately drawn into the story. Holly narrates the book; she’s a highly organised young woman who applies for a job as assistant event manager at a stately home. She’s visited it several times with her mother, and it’s her dream job… so it’s no surprise (given the title) when she’s offered the job. She’s rather thrown in at the deep end, as her boss Pippa isn’t there on her first morning, but she gets on remarkably well and is clearly competent in her new role.

Holly’s mother is a hoarder - of all kinds of things, much to Holly’s dismay. She likes a clutter-free, streamlined life, but can barely get into their shared house due to piles of random things that her mother cannot possibly get rid of. This is an ongoing source of conflict which takes a significant part in the plot as it progresses.

It’s very much a character-driven novel, covering about six months of Holly’s new job, and involving quite a number of different people. She gets along well with most of her colleagues, other than the gift shop manager Andy, who had hoped to be offered the post as assistant event manager, and treats her with hostility from the start. However it never really escalates into anything too serious; when it comes to a head, after a near tragedy, Andy turns out to be quite a reasonable, likeable guy after all.

Writing books say that there must be ongoing and significant conflict in a novel, and it’s something I struggle to create, so it was very reassuring and encouraging to read this book. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and it’s highly rated in reviews elsewhere - yet the conflict, such as it is, is pretty low-key. Holly has to learn to let go of some of her insistence on structure and organisation, but it turns out to be easier than she expected. The conflict with her mother evaporates as her mother gets help with her obsession and meets a new man. Holly has questions and worries about her unknown father, but that all gets resolved in a satisfactory way.

There’s a love interest for Holly, but despite an initial misunderstanding and some embarrassment, and notwithstanding a miscommunication in the middle, and a snooty parent, everything progresses happily without too much stress. Indeed, it’s a very readable book partly because the tension levels are so low. Yet it was sufficiently interesting that I wanted to know what was happening, and found it difficult to put down.

‘Wickham Hall’ was apparently published initially as a four-part serial, and I can see that it would have worked well. The book I read is complete but divided into four sections; each of the first three ends with a question and something of a cliff-hanger. However I’m very glad that I had the whole thing, so I could finish it in a few days. I was quite sorry when it ended; several of the characters had got under my skin, and I felt as if I were saying goodbye to friends.

I particularly appreciated the lack of bad language and the absence of any ‘intimate’ scenes. There is nothing stronger than kissing, and most of that is fairly quick, with interruptions. At the end of the book we see a glimpse of a ‘morning after’ but there is no unnecessary detail. I found this family-friendly level of writing refreshing and look forward to lending the book to friends.

At the end, as with several other books I’ve read in recent years, there is a selection of recipes relevant to the story. They all look good…

I would recommend this highly to anyone who likes light women’s fiction with a strong main character. It’s a ‘feel-good’ encouraging story of human relationships which appealed on many levels.

As soon as I’d finished the book, I went immediately to Amazon to put more of Cathy Bramley’s books on my wishlist.

Review copyright 2018 Sue's Book Reviews