It’s my first read from James and I hope it won’t be my last, because this book was such a good novel. In 2020, Erica received the Nielsen Silver Award for sales of over a quarter of a million copies for both Love and Devotion and Tell It to the Skies ; she has previously won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award for Gardens of Delight and is a Number One bestseller in Norway. To access your ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. Mothers and Daughter is both a compelling and hugely relatable family drama centred around recently widowed sixty-three-year-old Naomi and her thirty-something adult daughters, Martha and Willow, as they move forward with their lives.

The relationship of three women, a mother and her two grown up daughters and how they have dealt with the death of their father/husband two years previously is explored in the novel. But as the story unfolds, and the layers peel back, revealing secrets from deep in the family’s past, it becomes easier to empathise with Martha. Any family meetings from then on also include Rick because Willow has moved in with him, into his immaculate flat.I wasn’t too fussed on Martha to start with, but she grew on me – Willow was a delight, although she let herself be walked over. Erica James is the author of twenty-three internationally bestselling novels, with recent Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers including Swallowtail Summer, Coming Home to Island House and, most recently the hardback bestseller, Letters from the Past. Having decided the time is right for a baby, Martha is dismayed that after ten months of trying she still hasn’t conceived and it’s starting to feel like failure to a woman driven by perfectionism. Now I’ve read this one I’m going to try and read the ones I’ve missed plus re-read the others I haven’t.

Her characterisation is excellent, the setting beautiful and the slow reveals are delicately and sensitively handled.I can’t say I was surprised by any of the outcomes but although I usually demand a little more intrigue I was happy to sit back and indulge in a very readable and engaging story. Mothers and Daughters follows Mum Naomi, her two grown up daughters Martha and Willow, and their partners.

The characters, their lives and their conflicts were very realistic and immensely enjoyable – a perfect holiday read to sweep you away. Ms James has the knack of making her characters feel real – as I said I have read her books for years and still remember the names and personality of some of them. Martha and Willow are her 2 daughters, both very different in character but dealing with their own issues along with the grief of losing their father. Although I had several minor niggles, one in particular relating to the far too convenient disposal of a nuisance character that felt lazy, I was impressed with the storytelling ability of Erica James and would happily read more about these characters or another of her books. They had become an inconvenience and it seems as though the author didn’t really know what to do with them.

Naomi has also never revealed the full details of her life when married to their father, fearing that this would destroy their happy memories. The idyllic setting of the harbour village of Tilsham on the Sussex coast and Anchor House with its beach access contrasted sharply with the slightly darker undertone to the story. A keen gardener herself, Erica lives in Suffolk and has a fondness for Lake Como, Formula One motor racing and travel.

Erica James is on top form, writing about warm, believeable women who led sometimes very complicated lives.With Mother’s Day just around the corner, we can’t think of a better book to get stuck into … a captivating read’ OK! He’d moved into a cottage next door to Naomi to be nearer his mother who was in care and not expected to last much longer. Willow, the youngest, was always more sunny and easy-going, yet drifted through life, much to her father’s frustration. One of those stories when you're sad to leave the characters as you immediately feel at ease with them and want to carry on watching over them as they come to terms with the loss in their lives, but begin to move on.