Publication
Orion, c2021
Series
Status
Available
Description
With its winding high street lined with a greengrocers, post office, pub and church, Melstead St Mary is the perfect English village. Neighbours look out for neighbours, and few things trouble the serene surface of the community. But when residents start to receive anonymous letters containing secret information about their pasts - secrets that no one else is meant to know - life in Melstead St Mary is about to change, possibly forever.
User reviews
LibraryThing member LisCarey
It's 1962, in the Suffolk countryside of England, and the Devereaux family is prospering and happy.
But Evelyn has a secret she's never told her beloved husband, Kit. Hope, Kit's sister, has never felt completely secure in her happiness, despite her loving husband, Evelyn's brother Edmund, her
The stepmother and matriarch of this family, Romily Devereaux-Temple, is a writer of crime fiction, and a former WWII pilot of of the ATA--the Air Transport Auxiliary. She's away, in Palm Springs in the US, to discuss a proposal to turn one of her books into a movie. Her housekeeper, Florence, is at home, though.
All of these women have secrets or insecurities. When poison pen letters start arriving, it disrupts all their lives.
Evelyn's secret dates back to World War II, and her time as a code breaker at Bletchley Park. Romily also has a secret, from her time in the ATA, that she has never fully faced up to herself, never mind revealed to anyone else. The other women are taunted with claims their husbands are unfaithful, and their insecurities make them vulnerable.
These are mostly good people, doing their best, and the bad guys are few, and, if not likable, at least recognizable and understandable. The network of relationships here is complex and strong.
This is a warm and satisfying listen. Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
But Evelyn has a secret she's never told her beloved husband, Kit. Hope, Kit's sister, has never felt completely secure in her happiness, despite her loving husband, Evelyn's brother Edmund, her
Show More
successful career writing children's books, and her adopted daughter, Annalise. Julia, married to the oldest Devereaux sibling, Arthur, has been trained most of her life, by her father and new by Arthur, to believe it's her duty to be obedient, and that anything that goes wrong is her fault.The stepmother and matriarch of this family, Romily Devereaux-Temple, is a writer of crime fiction, and a former WWII pilot of of the ATA--the Air Transport Auxiliary. She's away, in Palm Springs in the US, to discuss a proposal to turn one of her books into a movie. Her housekeeper, Florence, is at home, though.
All of these women have secrets or insecurities. When poison pen letters start arriving, it disrupts all their lives.
Evelyn's secret dates back to World War II, and her time as a code breaker at Bletchley Park. Romily also has a secret, from her time in the ATA, that she has never fully faced up to herself, never mind revealed to anyone else. The other women are taunted with claims their husbands are unfaithful, and their insecurities make them vulnerable.
These are mostly good people, doing their best, and the bad guys are few, and, if not likable, at least recognizable and understandable. The network of relationships here is complex and strong.
This is a warm and satisfying listen. Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
By the end of this I had finally (I think) figured out all the characters and how they were related to each other. It would have helped if I had read the first book, I suspect.
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
9781409173878