Marcia has included a short note to my readers about Autumn in Devon where her story takes place and where she hangs her hat.
Plus Marcia's publisher St. Martin's Press is sponsoring a giveaway, details below.
Enjoy!
ISBN-13: 9781250177414
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 12-4-2018
Source: Publisher for review
Buy It: Amazon/B&N/ Kobo/ IndieBound
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 12-4-2018
Source: Publisher for review
Buy It: Amazon/B&N/ Kobo/ IndieBound
Overview:
From the beloved author of A Week in Winter and The Sea Garden, The Songbird is a heartwarming novel about family, yearning, and whether love can bloom where old secrets are buried.
When Tim confides in Mattie that he needs a sabbatical from work and a fresh place to live, she suggests he move into one of the cottages at her family's home in the beautiful English countryside. She senses there's something he's not telling her, but she has faith that he'll fit right in with the eccentric but affectionate crowd at Brockscombe.
As he gets to know the warm jumble of family who share their lives, Tim discovers that everyone there has their secrets. There's Kat, a retired ballet dancer who longs to take the stage again; Charlotte, a young navy wife struggling to bring up her son while her husband is at sea; and William, who has tried hard to get over his estranged wife—though it's much harder now that she's trying to move into the cottage Tim just occupied. And, even when she's far away, Tim knows there's Mattie...beautiful, engaging, clever Mattie. Can Tim open up to her? Would it matter, he wonders, if he did?
Marcia Willett, the master of the charming country novel, once again weaves the stories of her vibrant, lovable characters into this heartwarming read
Giveaway is for one print copy US ONLY
of The Songbird
Please use Rafflecopter form to enter
Good Luck!
A Message from Marcia:
Autumn in Devon
St Luke’s little summer:
those few magical weeks following the equinoctial gales that bluster in from
the western approaches, battering the last frail summer blossoms, wrenching
damaged branches from unprotected trees. There is a special kind of peace that
follows this first wild heralding of winter; a sense of waiting. This is not
the expectant longing of the countryside as it waits for spring to burst out of
the frozen, sealed-in earth. This is a quiet, contented waiting: the satisfaction
of something completed and the prospect of a well-earned winter’s rest.
Down on the storm-battered
coast, the placid sea rests gently against the shore; its surface, smooth and
shiny as silk, is wrinkled occasionally by a fitful breeze. Black-backed gulls,
driven inland by the gales, are once again following a fishing boat, and I can
hear their yarking, raucous cries echoing back from steep cliffs and rocky
coves. The beaches are empty now; sand and shingle
deserted by the
holiday-makers. I wander at the high-tide line, followed by my elderly Labrador
who pants along with a piece of drift-wood clamped between his jaws. Two
fishermen sit at the water’s edge in companionable silence, watching their
lines, the afternoon sun on their backs.
In the deep twisting lanes
the air is warm and still. Along the hedgerow I see a late crown of faded
honeysuckle looping amongst the spiny twigs of the blackthorn, and a few wild
roses trailing fragile tissue-paper petals. The lush green canopy of summer has
faded and shaded into yellow and brown and red. Leaves, crisping into old age,
swirl and twirl in a sudden gust of wind; the beech randomly giving away its
gold. I watch the starlings swoop low across stubbly fields, flying upwards in
a great cloud, only to fall again, diving through the clear blue air, sleek and
graceful as a shoal of fish. Inquisitive heifers barge and trample at the farm
gate as I approach whilst beyond them, on the hill above the valley, a tractor
moves slowly; the newly-turned crimson earth glistening under the plough.
Driving home across the high
moors, I see that the rusting stands of bracken are damaged, broken down by the
storms, but hawthorn berries burn on the twisted branches of ancient trees and
gorse is still flowering: ‘When gorse is in flower, kissing’s in season’.
Amongst the brittle cages of the heather, tiny spiders fling out silky tents
and go tight-roping it across the delicate threads in search of prey. A small
knot of ponies clatter from behind a rocky outcrop and gallop down the steep
slope towards the sheep-cropped turf that edges the river where curling mists
rise and drift above the water like smoke.
Autumn is full of colour. The flame of a
beechwood; the flare of a bonfire; the glow of a grinning pumpkin at
Hallowe’en. The sun rises later, sets earlier, plunging down in a fiery
display, to be extinguished in the molten sea.
A sudden shift of air; a hint
of frost. Time for me to go indoors, light the log fire and make hot buttered
toast.
© Marcia Willett
My Review:
The Songbird
Marcia Willett
Willett’s latest Brit-Lit is simply divine, a study in human nature, a
comedy and a tragedy full of secrets, regrets and new beginnings. The Queen’s
English is refreshingly proper and although there will be some googling certain
terms have no fear US readers you will enjoy it immensely. The wide-range of
personalities are fascinating varying from nurturer to narcissist and everyone
is an absolute necessary part of the tale. The author does a bang up job of
capturing every emotion while cleverly uncovering all the mysteries bringing to
life the bucolic English countryside, the inhabitants and their stories. The
pseudo family unit that these very different people become is the real stand
out in this story.
SUMMARY:
When Tim is diagnosed with a potentially fatal degenerative disease he quits his London publishing job only telling his workmates that he’s decided to take a sabbatical in the country. When his friend and coworker Mattie hears this she knows exactly where he should go and tells him about her family’s Devon country estate called Brockscombe and the empty cottage on the grounds that would suit him perfectly. Plus it would keep him close so she can learn what’s really going on with him.
When Tim is diagnosed with a potentially fatal degenerative disease he quits his London publishing job only telling his workmates that he’s decided to take a sabbatical in the country. When his friend and coworker Mattie hears this she knows exactly where he should go and tells him about her family’s Devon country estate called Brockscombe and the empty cottage on the grounds that would suit him perfectly. Plus it would keep him close so she can learn what’s really going on with him.
Little did Tim know that he’d be moving in to his own little
group of soap opera players complete with villains, heroes and a prima donna or
two but strangely enough it’s home.
My Thanks to St. Martin's Press fora copy of
The Songbird in exchange for an honest review
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a Rafflecopter giveaway
Great review Debbie and thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ali! :)
DeleteThanks for this captivating and beautiful story which I would enjoy greatly. Marcia's novels are unforgettable and special.
ReplyDeletethis one certainly was :)
DeleteIt does sound right for me :)
ReplyDeletemaybe
DeleteSounds like a great story. Great review, Debbie.
ReplyDeletethanks Nadene
DeleteI have read a book or two by Marcia W and did enjoy them very much, this one looks great.
ReplyDeleteit was Kathryn and I can see you enjoying this kind of read
DeleteThis sounds like one I would enjoy, but not right now. I am craving escapism.
ReplyDeletethis is more realism than escapism but who know you may be able to escape with it!
Deletenice cover
ReplyDeleteI LOVE it
DeleteNice to find one that you enjoy so much :)
ReplyDeleteit was Fab
Delete