Sunshine, cider and family secrets...
Dragonfly Farm has been a home and a haven for generations of Melchiors - arch rivals to the Culbones, the wealthy family who live on the other side of the river. Life there is dictated by the seasons and cider-making, and everyone falls under its spell.
For cousins Tabitha and Georgia, it has always been a home from home. When a tragedy befalls their beloved Great-Uncle Matthew, it seems the place where they've always belonged might now belong to them...
But the will reveals that a third of the farm has also been left to a Culbone. Gabriel has no idea why he's been included, or what his connection to the farm - or the Melchiors - can be.
As the first apples start to fall for the cider harvest, will Dragonfly Farm begin to give up its secrets?
Many thanks to Orion via NetGalley for my copy of A Home from Home to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
What a gorgeous cover Veronica Henry's new book, A Home from Home has. It's warm and inviting and urges you to open the book and begin reading as soon as possible and to quickly come under the spell cast by Dragonfly Farm. This is a story that is difficult to put down as you become reeled in by the dramas that exist and continue to develop between two families -The Melchiors and the Culbornes. Playing out amidst a stunning rural backdrop plenty of secrets are about to be revealed combined with challenging decisions to be made as the long running feud that has separated the families is about to come to a head. A Home from Home is filled with lots of different little storylines, all of which capture and hold your attention so much so that you are eager to discover just how everything will connect up. Love, life, loss, grief, secrets and tragedy all have a major role to play in this charming, well written and appealing story.
Tabitha Melchior has called Dragonfly Farm her home for many years having been taken in by her Great Uncle Gum and his wife Joy. Tabitha had been a wild child and very hard to get along with, she was someone who bucked against convention and any attempts to tame her were fruitless. But it was the unit of Gum and Joy who gave her sanctuary and a safe place to find herself when her parents who had split up could clearly not. The rebellious and stubborn nature of Tabitha can still be seen today but she has grown and matured to some extent as she continues to live with Gum following the death of Joy. The farm is not a proper working farm but it has been in their family for generations ever since it was won from the Culbornes of Rushbrook House in a game of cards many years ago.
Tabitha is not a career girl and she believes she should be answerable to no one and that she is happy living with Gum and the relationship that she has established with him ever since he took her in. She is content to tend the orchards, alongside a few other small jobs which earn her some money, and to create wonderful cider renowned for miles around and she even has ambitious plans to expand the range.
Dragonfly Farm may be very rough and ready but there is an aura around it that offers comfort and solace and security. So when tragedy strikes and Gum is no longer with them, how will Tabitha continue when her confidant and rock and security have gone? What happens when the reading of the will throws up a lot more surprises than Tabitha and her cousin Georgia could ever have bargained for? What follows is a story that moves back and forth between the past and present in order to unravel mysteries kept hidden for many years. The air of mystery pervades throughout the story and this helped make A Home from Home a very enjoyable and intriguing read.
Despite the exterior she presents to the world of a woman who is tough and can well fight her corner if needed to, Tabitha is deep down someone who is vulnerable and a person who really doesn't know how to express her emotions. She would rather keep them under lock and key than admit that she is terrified of the prospect of life without Gum and even more scared of the fact that the future of her beloved Dragonfly Farm is in doubt. When the will is read Georgia, who is a script editor and working and living in London, discovers alongside Tabitha that a Gabriel Culborne has also been left one third of the farm. Of course their reaction was normal and to be expected especially when a member of a rival family turns out to have a share in their home and future. They had never heard of Gabriel who does not even live in the area so the question immediately arises as to why on earth Gum would have left the farm to him. As the story develops we get to know Tabitha, Georgia and Gabriel much more which allows the reader to get a sense of each person and to form an opinion as to what we believe should happen to the farm.
Gabriel is married to Lola and they have a daughter Plum but are desperately trying for another baby. He runs a bespoke knife business but times are challenging and with this news of an inheritance he never saw coming on the horizon he wonders should he just sell up to get the money he needs to secure a better future for his young family? All I really wanted to know is why would Gum have even mentioned Gabriel in his will and Tabitha and Georgia feel the same. They thread a very careful balance between wanting to get to know Gabriel to suss out what his intentions could be but also there is a sense of hesitancy and reserve on their parts given the history between their two families. As Gabriel wrestles with his conscience he sets out to discover just why Gum included him in his will? Will he be happy with what he uncovers?
I loved how the end goal of reaching a decision wasn't the sole focus of the book instead alongside this main problem the other issues in the characters lives were allowed to develop and unfold and there was almost like a relaxing and enveloping atmosphere developing alongside an air of mystery. You really did genuinely come to care for the characters and would hope that an outcome that would suit everybody could be arranged as I feared for Tabitha if the place she loved so much was taken away from her. Her safety net and security blanket would be taken from under her feet and I wasn't sure could she cope with that. Even more so when Dash Culborne comes back to revitalise Rushbrook House and sets his sights on the farm too I think that would have sent Tabitha over the edge. Well that's the impression I got first of Dash but I was very surprised as to how his character turned out.
As for Georgia I don't think she was as connected to the farm as Tabitha was but still she felt a sense of duty and wanted the right resolution for everybody. I really loved Georgia as a character, she was ambitious in her career and loved being a script writer and her energy and enthusiasm just bounced from the pages. She had been stung on the romantic front and used for someone else’s career gain but I loved how she really began to stand up for her self and she wanted to see her long term of goal of writing her own tv scripts become a reality. I really enjoyed her back story that was revealed through chapters set in the past and it helped with joining up the dots of the clues scattered in the present. This section of the book set in the past really did help to make sense of events ongoing in the modern day and it was a vital inclusion to the overall story.
My only minor complaint about the book was that there were so many family connections and talk of great great great grandparents etc that I did become slightly confused at times as to who was related to who and why. At the time of reading, I think maybe a family tree at the very end of the book would have been useful to refer back to when you had finished reading but then when I thought about this maybe too many secrets would have been given away too soon. But apart from this I thoroughly enjoyed A Home from Home, it's Veronica Henry at her very best creating a delightful, heart-warming, engaging story. It's a book you can't go wrong should you make the wise decision to buy it as soon as possible.
Thanks for the blog tour support Sharon and Emma x
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