My Review:As she drives her mobile library van between villages of Ireland’s West Coast, Hanna Casey tries not to think about a lot of things. Like the sophisticated lifestyle she abandoned after finding her English barrister husband in bed with another woman. Or that she’s back in Lissbeg, the rural Irish town she walked away from in her teens, living in the back bedroom of her overbearing mother’s retirement bungalow. Or, worse yet, her nagging fear that, as the local librarian and a prominent figure in the community, her failed marriage and ignominious return have made her a focus of gossip.
With her teenage daughter, Jazz, off travelling the world and her relationship with her own mother growing increasingly tense, Hanna is determined to reclaim her independence by restoring a derelict cottage left to her by her great-aunt. But when the threatened closure of the Lissbeg Library puts her personal plans in jeopardy, Hanna finds herself leading a battle to restore the heart and soul of the Finfarran Peninsula’s fragmented community. And she’s about to discover that the neighbors she’d always kept at a distance have come to mean more to her than she ever could have imagined.
Told with heart and abundant charm, The Library at the Edge of the World is a joyous story about the meaning of home and the importance of finding a place where you truly belong.
This one was very disjointed for me - it was kind of all over the place and only sort of coalesced at the end, which I didn't love. It felt unfinished. The setting of coastal Ireland was charming enough but I had a hard time envisioning the descriptions in the book beyond the most facile. Something was lacking - either more in the description of the MC or in the surrounding. Bits of history were interspersed throughout the book but I was left wanting more and, again, this feels unfinished. id on't think this is part of a series so I'm not sure why so many things were left unsaid and unanswered. Definitely reminded me Jenny Colgan, for better or worse.
The Library at the Edge of the World came out last week on November 14, 2017, and you can purchase HERE.
The turquoise sky reflected the color of the ocean. There was a stone slab for a doorstep and beyond it a scrubby field sloped to the cliff's edge, where a stone wall marked the boundary. Beyond that was nothing more than a grassy ledge clustered with sea pinks and a sheer drop to the churning waves below. The little house stood at the top of a narrow field with its back to the road and its door opening to the ocean. Hanna had pushed her way through a tangle of willow saplings and splashed through a muddy pool to scramble through a window in the lean-to extension at the back. Now, standing on the stone doorstep with her face to the sun, she could smell the damp smell of the derelict rooms behind her and the salt scent of the ocean as it thundered against the cliff.
Awww, too bad this didn't work for you. You just have to want to love a book called The Library at the Edge of the World!
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction