Two decades. Hundreds of miles. A lifetime of secrets. Could coming home mean starting again?
Lorna’s world is small but safe.
She loves her daughter, and the two of them are all that matter. But after nearly twenty years, she and Ella are suddenly leaving London for the Isle of Kip, the tiny remote Scottish island where Lorna grew up.
Alice’s world is tiny but full.
She loves the community on Kip and how her yoga classes draw women across the tiny island together. Now Lorna’s arrival might help their family finally mend itself – even if forgiveness means returning to the past…
And as the two find friendship, Lorna also starts to find her place in the world.
Can coming home mean starting again?
My thoughts: I was kindly sent this book to review and as I loved the author’s previous books, was thrilled and so here we are.
This was an incredibly moving and lovely story about family, memory and going home. Lorna’s parents have died and she and her daughter Ella are returning to the island she grew up on, somewhere she hasn’t been back to since she left at 18.
Going back means reliving some terrible memories and trying to repair her relationship with her brother Jack, with the friends she left behind and with the island itself.
I loved Lorna and her sister-in-law Alice, they bonded and were able to talk about the past as Alice wasn’t there and is open to Lorna’s story, in a way Jack struggles with. The other islanders, many of whom are incomers, are mostly welcoming and Lorna’s relationship with the place she grew up changes.
Bits of the book were really gripping and I couldn’t put it down. I also had a little cry because it was so sad at times and I was so upset for little Lorna.
Ultimately it was so redemptive and as Lorna and Jack rebuild their bond, and Lorna realises that sometimes you can go home, that places and people change. I loved it so much.
ramblingmads 