📖 Book Review ~ The Secret Orchard by Sharon Gosling

Simon&Schuster
12 September 2024

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book 

Can a return to the past be the start of something new? 

Bette and Nina Crowdie have never been close – they’re too different, the ten-year age difference doesn’t help, and Bette’s rarely been back home since she left for university at eighteen. When their father passes away and unexpectedly splits the family farm between them, Nina is furious and afraid. She’s been working at the farm for the past five years. It’s the only stable home her young son Barnaby has ever had, and she’s convinced that Bette, who never wanted anything to do with the family business, will sell at the first chance she gets. When they discover the huge debt their father has been hiding from them both, Bette reluctantly agrees to help her sister. But that means they have to find a way to work together, and Bette must face up to the real reason she left all those years ago. Could the discovery of an ancient orchard on their land be the key to saving the farm – and the sisters’ relationship?

📖My Review..

When Bette Crowdie returns to the family farm after her father’s death she meets with the usual animosity from her younger sister, Nina. The Crowdie farm has been in the family for generations but with their father’s death, and much to Nina’s annoyance, both sisters now have an equal share.  However, with the farm in financial difficulties, it would appear that Bette, with her lawyer background, is going to have to figure out a way to save it from ruin. 

What then follows is the story of the fight to save the farm and the way in which the sisters must not only reconcile but must also pull together if they are to have any sort of future. Delightfully combining little snippets about the history of the farm, the fascinating insight into cider production and with its very own super hero, there is so much to enjoy. I especially loved reading about the secret orchard and the way in which this took on a whole personality all of its own. The author writes with such careful detail, and perfect characterisation, carefully blending snippets about the past, with their connection to the present.

Totally immersive, and with a smattering of danger and intrigue, everything weaves together so beautifully into a delightful family drama and into a story which captures the imagination from start to finish.

About the Author 

Sharon Gosling is the author of multiple middle-grade historical adventure books for children. She is also the author of YA Scandi horror as well as adult fiction. Sharon lives with her husband in a very small village on the side of a fell in the far north of Cumbria.

Twitter X@SharonGosling #TheSecretOrchard

X@simonschusterUK