Fern Britton

4.5*

I read this book via Pigeonhole, so thanks to them, the publishers and Fern Britton for the opportunity to read this pre-publication.

This is a family saga following three generations of Bolitho women. Mainly set in Cornwall, it tells the story of Clara Carter who has had a poor start in life going from Kent to London to reinvent herself. In London she meets Bertie Bolitho and falls in love. This is at the outset of WWI.

We then move to WWII where we pick up the story with Hannah Clara’s daughter. During the war Hannah joins the ATS and through her brother meets a man she falls for.

Finally we move to present day with Caroline Hannah’s daughter, who takes delivery of a box from Penang which reveals secrets from her a Grandmother’s past.

This is my first time reading a Fern Britton book (although I own a lot of her books). This was a wonderfully enjoyable read. The ending was a little rushed and I would have liked to have discovered a bit more about one of the characters ( won’t give details as wouldn’t want to spoil the book for anyone else).

I highly recommend this if you like family sagas/ women’s fiction and I will definitely be reading more from Fern Britton in the near future.… (mais)

When I read The Postcard last year, I commented on the fact that there were two characters whose stories seemed unresolved. Henry and his sister, Ella, seemed to have much more to tell us and so I was really pleased when I heard that Fern Britton was writing Coming Home, Henry and Ella’s story.

It’s also the story of Sennen, their mother, who abandoned them when they were very young. Unable to cope with two young children when she was only 17 herself, she took off and never saw them again…until now.

Coming Home is an emotional and moving story. It looks at loss in different ways and how it can affect a person.

For a 400+ page book, I read it quite quickly, within a couple of days. Britton has an easy and inviting writing style. She had me caring about the characters and hoping that all would work out well for them. I loved Ella, although Henry was a little harder to like at times. I liked Sennen a lot as well and found her to be flawed, yet hugely likeable.

It was lovely to return to Pendruggan and Trevay, the fictional villages where the author sets her books. I was a little sad that other characters from The Postcard, such as Penny and Simon didn’t play a larger role but to be fair, it wasn’t their story. I was pleased to see old favourite, Queenie, was in there though. I’d love Fern Britton to write her story next!

This book, like The Postcard before it, was a bit like a warm hug on a cold day. It’s a sweet, easy read but one which still packs a punch.… (mais)