The Cotswolds: the perfect retreat for a stressed-out teacher. And Lucy has found just the right cottage for a bargain rent. All she has to do is keep an eye on Bunty, her extremely feisty ninety-something neighbour . . .
With her West Highland terrier Hamish at her side, Lucy plans to relax and read up on the women of nearby Bletchley Park. But the villagers of Little Maudley have other ideas, and she finds herself caught up in the campaign to turn a dilapidated telephone box into a volunteer-run library.
Along the way, she makes friends with treehouse designer Sam, and finds herself falling for the charms of village life. And it seems Bunty has a special connection to Bletchley and the telephone box, one that she's kept secret for decades . . .
Many thanks to Pan Macmillan via NetGalley for my copy of The Telephone Box Library to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
It's been quite a while since I read a book by Rachael Lucas but this new story The Telephone Box Library reminded me just how much I enjoy her writing. This is simply a gorgeous, warm read that you will easily lose yourself in for a few hours and when you reach the end you will be so glad you picked it up. It was just the kind of book I needed after having finished a fairly intense read. The cover is beautiful, so colourful and inviting and let's be honest that title screamed read me now as any story that has even the merest allusion to books and I know I am going to love it. The telephone box that stands emptied, neglected and unloved near the village green in Little Maudley becomes the focal point for the story as the villagers save it from being demolished by the telephone company and they decide to turn it into a small library as their nearest library is being closed down. But really the telephone box that can be seen from one special resident's kitchen window holds so many memories that to see it go would be a crying shame.
By the end of the first chapter you feel instantly at home in Little Maudley and that truly is a sign of a good book. I felt at ease and comfortable and that I could just literally be swept up in all the comings and goings in the village. The author did a great job of setting the scene and describing the village that I just wanted it to be real, and similar to our main character Lucy Evans that I could escape there to get away from everything. I totally identified with Lucy on so many levels and for many reasons, I thought she was brilliantly written and that as a reader we could really get inside Lucy's head and get to the bottom of her problems.
Being a teacher myself I really appreciated the various viewpoints that Lucy was coming from and why she so desperately needed the break from everything as she was being pushed to the max and burnout would be reached before she knew it. I saw a lot of qualities that I possess when it comes to my career in Lucy and therefore I really admired the journey she went on, the experiences she engaged with and learned from and how she always stood true to her own principles but along the way she was hoping for more of a balance in her life. But would answering an advertisement looking for someone to keep an eye on an elderly lady be the answer to all her problems? Or will she be back to the grindstone before she knows it and again facing down a barrel of stress that she sees no way out of?
Lucy is taking a sabbatical from her work as a history teacher to do some research in the countryside specifically based on Bletchley Park and what went on there during the war years which has always long held a fascination for her. Reaching breaking point and ending up in hospital was the impetus for her to take this much needed time away from an extremely high pressured job that despite loving teaching all the paperwork and long hours that went with it were doing her health or state of mind no good whatsoever. Fair play to Lucy, it must have been scary stepping away from a secure job for a certain period not really knowing how you would pass away that time. If your job is all that you have ever known it's nerve racking to admit to yourself that you need the time out.
Arriving in Little Maudley, it seemed like the perfect chocolate box village with such cute names for the cottages and as previously mentioned the telephone box standing by the green. I don't think Lucy bargained for having to be an aid to a 96 year old women called Bunty who is determined to resist any offers of help. Bunty believes her daughter-in-law is meddling in her life when she can manage perfectly well on her own. Bunty is a woman who refuses to let her age get in the way she lives her life but will unlocking the secrets of the past be too much for her or will sharing a burden kept close to her chest for so many years be just the thing she has needed to happen?
Bunty was a fabulously written character, I mean who would ever think that a woman of her age would have a snake as a pet! She was well with it for her age and I think sometimes her family members didn't always believe that she was able to live independently and that she was well aware of everything that was going on. Bunty wasn't someone who gave everything away at once but as Lucy was such a keen historian she sensed that Bunty had a story to tell and that if she bided her time and got to know her well enough than maybe some secrets would be forthcoming. I loved how the author mixed the past with the present in order to help us learn more about Bunty and how her story connected to the telephone box. The relationship that developed between herself and Lucy was tentative at first but over time it blossomed into something special without being forced or just occurring for the sake of it. Lucy had a specific focus that she had agreed to help out the Women's Institute in the village gather together stories from the older residents and make them into a booklet for a major celebration. This allowed Lucy to really immerse herself in village life and feel that she was becoming part of something. I could see that she was starting to unwind and relax and the pressures of her job seemed to dissipate from her mind.
Lucy had full intentions to come to the village and do what was required in the job advertisement but apart from that she would shut herself away in her cottage for complete rest, peace and tranquillity. But just like as it did with me the village, its many residents and its community spirit really got under her skin. She soon came to realise that she would look like the oddest of people if she didn't engage with the community and with such a varied cast of characters there was sure to be someone who would want to bring Lucy out of her shell. I loved how this all occurred so organically and naturally that it never felt forced or over the top. What was meant to be would be and the fact the sole focus of the book wasn't all about Lucy rather it encompassed many other little stories meant everything worked so well together side by side and came together to make one fabulous, feel good read.
There were several women featured in the story who became very good friends with Lucy and I enjoyed the easy relationship she had with each of them but it was the romantic strand that intrigued me the most regarding Lucy. The will they/won't they between herself and Sam Travis kept me guessing all the way through. Sam wasn't your typical man in that he already had a teenage daughter who lived with him so he was in a different mindset to Lucy. But still the camaraderie that started to brew between the two was enjoyable to keep an eye on. Even his daughter Freya got her own story line which I thought was handled beautifully and it is very relevant to the times we live in to today given a lot of families or young girls may have found themselves in this position or one similar to it.
The Telephone Box Library if you were to just judge it upon its cover you'd be forgiven for thinking this is just another run of the mill romance story but instead Rachael Lucas has given us so much more. I love any books set in small villages but then add in the historical element and this just brings the book up another level not to mention the inclusion of the lovely transformation of the telephone box. Then having Bunty as a kind of mentor for Lucy but Lucy doing the same for Bunty in allowing her to slowly open up following such a long period of secrecy that must have been really weighing her down. Of course all the antics of the locals and how they work together to do good for the village were funny and thoughtful in equal measure.
Lucy and Bunty are marvellous characters at the centre of an engaging, captivating and fascinating story with some lovely messages to be learnt and there is lots to be taken from the many themes that arise. The Telephone Box Library is Rachael Lucas at her very best and now I really do need to go back and read Finding Hope at Hillside Farm, which was her previous book and which has languished for far too long on my Kindle and which I am sure is just as good as this wonderful book.
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