Emma has taken what is a very small community, in more ways than one from the outset, and turned it into what I hope will be and remain a self-suffient community almost( apart from the tourist trade that is! It's a lovely, engaging story which I very much enjoyed reading and one which I was I sorry to finish. The setting of Rowan Hill and the village is perfect, and this is what Ellie soon falls in love with.

She becomes the matriarch to whom all the young people turn while she is tormented by the presence of Benedict. I have never belonged to the ‘perfect’ world and have enjoyed the collection and treasuring of older meaningful and artistic things for as long as I can rremember. Yes, I have experienced the cracks in me and how I let the Light in and became much more because of them. All the way back to his first, original story, discovering along the way an uncommon spirit and humility.A lovely easy writing style allows you to lose yourself within the pages and leaves you feeling as though you know everyone so well and can imagine Rowan Hill. Her neighbour is Will McLennan who has a reputation with the locals of being taciturn and reclusive. As Ellie is drawn further into saving the estate, she can’t help but try saving the brothers too—and she’s sure she knows just how to go about it. Emma is joining my list of authors to look out for and I’ve been lucky enough to win a signed copy to treasure on my ‘favourites’ bookshelf. Leonard Cohen was a good example of someone who was conscious of his brokenness but kept playing concerts till late in life giving pleasure, comfort and hope to so many.

I wonder how many found an item, hidden away, broken, damaged or not working, they could not bring themselves to take to the tip. What I love about Charlotte Betts stories is that she weaves a beautiful tapestry of social history throughout wonderfully developed.By day she's a finance manager and looks at numbers a lot of the time, but by night she gets to use actual words and practices putting them together into sentences. There were these earth-shattering revelations that the characters were going through and they just weren't as emotionally invested in the revelations or the outcome as they seemed to let on.

Her love story with Pascal is one that tugs at the heartstrings and will have readers reaching for the tissues and hoping against hope that a better future beckons for the two of them. Dolly Sen’s Coffee Stain Stars was inspired by the endless cups of tea and coffee she drank on a psychiatric ward. I like how the protagonists start accepting their love and working on it, how they grow and accepts their problems and their strengths.

I heartily endorse the earlier comment that ” No one goes through this life without being broken somehow “. Obviously World War I is a huge part of this book and Charlotte Betts brilliantly captures the british spirit to come together and help, the horrors of those fighting in France and the atrocities faced by refugees. To be fair, I could be completely off on what was going on with the dude and the woman he was with in the prologue. The exhibition includes some very unusual pieces and vows to offer a "new look at fine-craft lighting.