Review ~ A Country Escape by Katie FForde

Century
22 February 2018

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Even though Fran is frightened of cows, she has always wanted to be a farmer. So when the opportunity arises for her to take over the running of a dilapidated Cotswold farm, she does so with a certain amount of trepidation. Her Aunt Amy has had to go into a nursing home and has informed Fran that if she makes a success of running the farm she will inherit it and all the responsibility that goes with it. With a little help from her best friend, Issi and also the support of Anthony, her eligible and wealthy neighbour, Fran does her best to make things work out but then something unexpected occurs which scuppers her plans and puts the farm under threat.

What then follows is a charming story which incorporates all the trademarks of this talented writer. The delightful characterisation sits comfortably alongside wonderful descriptions of farm life and Fran's venture into cheese making made me long for a golden slice of cheddar and a crisp green apple. The countryside comes gloriously alive and the distinctly pastoral feel combines perfectly in a story which is both warm and witty and then happy and sad. I loved getting to know Fran and such is the charm of her personality that I couldn't help but want her to succeed, and as the story progressed I become totally immersed in Fran's life at Hill Top Farm.

Curled up in my favourite reading chair, cup of tea in hand, I knew that from very start of A Country Escape I was going to love spending time at Hill Top Farm in the company of Fran and her friends.

About the Author

Katie Fforde lives in the beautiful Cotswold countryside with her family and is a true country girl at heart. Each of her books explores a different profession or background and her research has helped to bring these to life.

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Review ~ Sandlands by Rosy Thornton

Sandstone Press
July 2016

A bit of blurb..

This beautifully written short story collection is inspired by coastal England, by the landscape and its flora and fauna, as well as by its folklore and historical and cultural heritage. Several of the stories focus on a bird, animal, wildflower, or insect characteristic of the locality, from barn owl to butterfly. The book might be described as a collection of ghost stories; in fact, while one or two stories involve a more or less supernatural element, each of them deals in various ways with the tug of the past upon the present, and explores how past and present can intersect in unexpected ways.

My thoughts about the stories..

You know that feeling when you reach out and open a storybook, that indefinable something which tells you that this is going to be something special, well, that happened when I opened Sandlands. I think partly, it was due to the glory of its cover as I can never resist an owl, but mainly it was down to the content, which drew me in from the beginning.

When it comes to short story reading, I am a bit of a butterfly; I flit and fly from story to story, never in sequential order, choosing stories at random simply because I like the sound of the title. So true to form, I was first drawn, in this collection, to the short story, The Watcher of Souls, as it spoke to me of the heart shaped faces of barn owls, a bird forever shrouded in mystery and all too often the harbinger of doom. I wasn't disappointed, far from it,  in fact, I was enthralled by a story that had me on the edge of my seat. Neither was I disappointed with my next choice which was The Witch Bottle, a dark little tale about the power of witchcraft and the threat of superstition.  I was so engrossed in The Witch Bottle that, by the end, I really wanted to go back in time to the Suffolk of 1656 to meet with Daniell Parmenter.

There’s a lovely lyrical quality to each of the stories and the author captures time and place so beautifully that it really is difficult to single out one story above another as each are perfectly complete. And yet, what's so wonderful about Sandlands is that even though each tale is beautifully complete within itself, such is the power of storytelling, that any single one of them, and there are 16 in total, could easily become a gloriously, descriptive novel.

Sandlands is, in that age old tradition of storytelling, a tantalising glimpse of times past which irrevocably connect with the future. It is a collection of short stories which could be woven into the fabric of our being, stories which deserve to settle like the folktales and legends of old, and which I am sure, will delight and enthral readers.

 "You dig up secrets and they cannot be put back "

Best Read with.. A glass of strong Suffolk ale and freshly caught Dabs, charred over a driftwood fire..

About the Author..

Rosy Thornton is a Fellow and Tutor of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and a lecturer in Law at the University of Cambridge, with specialisms in housing law, charitable trusts and feminist legal studies. She has published five novels, including Ninepins (Sandstone Press, 2012) and this is her first short story collection. She divides her time between Cambridge and the Suffolk sandlings.

Discover more about Rosy on her website click here
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My thanks to Rosy for sharing this delightful collection of stories with me.