Rosie
is an agency nurse living in London with her boyfriend Gerard, who is summoned
to the Derbyshire Dales to look after an elderly relative. Feeling put upon and
against Gerard’s wishes, Rosie is not looking forward to her time away from the
city. After a while though she realises that this time away might do her and
her relationship some good…
One
aspect of this story that I really liked was that Lillian, the elderly
relative, has her own story to tell throughout the book which was very
touching. Reading about her life as a young woman as well as her life now definitely
added to the book making Lillian just as much of a main character as Rosie. I
also felt that Jenny Colgan dealt with both the issues of growing old and those
of looking after an elderly relative, in a very thoughtful and moving way. There were, however, a number of other supporting
characters throughout the story that I felt could have been developed slightly
more, but this is my only real negative point.
I
also enjoyed the setting, but being a Derbyshire girl myself I may be biased! I
felt that ‘Lipton’ the fictional village setting of the book, acted as a really
good backdrop to the story. It was easy to picture village life, and understand
how all the characters fit into the story without too much need for the usual ‘coincidences’
that feature in a lot of books.
Overall
I thought the story was well written and a lot less predictable than I imagined
it would be, but still with a very satisfying ending. I would recommend this
book, especially to anyone with expewrience of village/country life!
08/10
