Christmas at Lilac Cottage is a wonderful, romantic novel written by Holly Martin and published by Bonnier Zaffre. Perfect for Christmas time but also for the good season it's the first book of White Cliff Bay series.
It's a beautiful, touching love-story this one told with perfect times, with great and very well constructed dialogues and long narrative psychological explorations of the various characters.
What I appreciated the most was the calm with which this book has been written, without any rush and with great descriptions of the daily life of the characters and moments they spend together.
It's like a long, beautiful, quiet walk or a hot chocolate cup this book where life has a meaning and where characters are treated with respect and consideration giving to them a big, clear soul and a punctual, global, amazing characterization.
Each character thanks to it, is alive, felt, portrayed with the exact profoundity and feeling and won't never be forgotten.
There is a lot in this book.
This one is not just a love-story with maybe, who knows? the happy end, (I won't tell you that!) but also the profound distress lived by some of the characters portrayed by Holly Martin.
So, also in this sense, when you will choose to read this book you will read a book plenty of meanings.
Penny Meadows first of all.
She was left years ago by her boyfriend, if he could be classified like that after her miscarriage.
A man unfortunately not interested to build any existence with her.
A miscarriage happens, you know and if there is real love no one would break-up a relationship for this reason.
Polemically her boyfriend will tell to everyone the superficiality by Penny.
No one believed him but the damage was done and Penny, devastated closed with men.
After all her relationship with him couldn't be classified like a proper relationship and well she isn't so great with men or self-confident with herself for trying to find other alternatives.
Penny is an ice-carver in love with her work.
She lives in a cottage and she has another part of the structure she can rent to someone.
Extra money.
Penny is thrilled by the arrival of this couple, for Christmas Time Daisy and Henry. She prepared them something delicious and ready to make friendship.
Just Henry arrives at first, plenty of good books from Hemingway to Steinbeck passing through Dickens, Hardy, Tolkien and the most recent Dan Brown and Ian Banks but a bit distant.
Penny is immediately fascinated by this man.
He is handsome and her attraction for him very strong although it appears clear than Henry can have all the women he wants and first of all there is a wife somewhere not yet arrived.
The arrival of Daisy for them, additional stress because Penny thinks at first that Daisy is his wife, while she is her daughter, someone abandoned by everyone when little and rescued by Henry.
From that point on Daisy suffers of a strong sensation of being abandoned by people of her life, she has nightmares and that's why Henry is cautious with women.
He doesn't want to start new and serious relationships with any of them also for not let feel Daisy like to being put aside.
Of course a relationship with a daughter is completely different from the one with a woman but to Henry is indispensable that Daisy wouldn't think that he neglects her and mainly he would want to find a lady accepted also by Daisy.
Daisy loves Penny and together creates some creations.
Daisy will accept Penny? And will Penny be in grade to win Henry and Daisy's hearts?
At the end of the book an interview with the author and also the recipe of Holly's mince pie cake.
I highly suggest you this love-story. Money very well spent and the sensation you will think is that in your hand you have a precious loved book.
First of all loved so badly by Holly Martin.
I thank NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre for this other wonderful love-story!
Anna Maria Polidori
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