Reviewed by Emma Crowley
As the snow flutters down in the little village of Linnetford, escape to a cosy farmhouse kitchen, scented with the rich aromas of fruitcake and gingerbread, where a love of baking is about to unite two lonely hearts…
Cathy cooked at her mother’s side her whole life and could bake a fairy cake before she could ride a bike. Now she is facing her first Christmas without her beloved mother, she’s determined to use her memories for something positive. She decides to organise a weekly cooking class, sharing her mother’s precious recipes with other lonely souls.
There’s just one small spanner in the works: teenager Tansy, who attends Cathy’s classes even though she’s rude to everyone there and seems to hate every minute. Cathy is poised to ask Tansy to leave, but her uncle, physiotherapist Matt, begs her to give the teenager another chance. And Cathy can’t resist Matt’s sparkling hazel eyes and incredibly kind heart…
But just as Cathy is feeling she might find joy again, her ex returns to Linnetford, desperate for a second chance. With Matt becoming distant as his life gets more complicated, it seems so easy to return to the safe embrace of someone she knows so well. Can Cathy avoid the temptation of falling back in love with the man who broke her heart and let Christmas bring her the greatest gift – that of happiness?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of Cathy’s Christmas Kitchen to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Cathy’s Christmas Kitchen by Tilly Tennant had the honour of being my first Christmas read for 2020 and I can safely say that I picked a gorgeous story to get me in the mood for the festive season. This book has such a stunning cover with the most striking of colours used to convey the Christmas season. The minute you look at it you just want to open the door to that cosy house and step inside and meet its residents. I found the book to be a quick, light and easy read, it’s the perfect antidote to everything that is going on in the world right now. It’s not too taxing but provides you with an escape and it’s so easy to dip in and out of if you don’t have a block of time to sit down and read without interruption. The plot is easy to follow with not too many characters that you become confused and the message of the story is a lovely one. Basically it’s the ideal read for this time of year in the run up to the big day.
Cathy lives in a small cottage on the outskirts of Linnetford. Tollkeep Cottage has been a very lonely place for her since she lost her mum. Deep down she knows she needs to get out more and make new friends and find new things to do with her time now that her duties as her mother’s carer have come to an end. I could really identify with Cathy given I have experienced a loss similar to hers, she was at a total loss as to what her next life step should be. For some time her routine and been strict and structured as she knew she had to look after her mother, this was her sole focus and everything else for her fell by the wayside. You would do anything to help and support a loved one who needed it but the problem there after remains, what do you do when your purpose is gone? The one that has kept you going through the darkest of times and now it has been pulled from under you not that you wanted that to happen. By caring for her mother Cathy had let the world move on without her and this makes her feel a slight resentment at the wonderful lives that other people and some friends led. This is the situation Cathy finds herself in and now she is left with a big hole that she has no idea how to fill.
At 38 Cathy feels that she is too old to be starting again as in rebuilding her social life and putting herself out there. She is vulnerable and afraid to do this as she is missing her sense of worth. But helping is the one thing that Cathy is good at it and she works a few days a week at French for Flower’s, a flower stall run by Fleur. Initially Cathy made it out as if she had no one at all that she could meet or confide in but in a way Fleur was that person as she gave her an outlet to get out and meet people some days. But I sensed that despite a friendship between the pair that Cathy was looking for something more. I didn’t like that Cathy constantly put herself down which made me realise the experience of caring for her mum, and then losing her, had really had such a devastating impact on her. New social situations overwhelmed her and she believes she has no one to fall back on to help her cope with the fall out. Why couldn’t she accept praise when it was given especially when it came to her talents for baking? If she could do this she would grow in confidence and find new avenues to explore and broaden her horizons in order to open up her world that little bit more.
So when Cathy finally bites the bullet and attends a coffee morning at the local church, St. Cuthbert’s, you sense that this may be the starting point for a new Cathy to emerge but it won’t be easy as she needs to see the value in herself and come to understand that she is loved and has such a lot to offer people in the community. As I mentioned before Cathy loves baking, it makes her feel calm and contented and the treats she brings to the coffee morning are a huge success. Everyone wants to know her mum’s recipes and she decides to write them in a notebook as they have never been recorded before. This gives Cathy a renewed sense of purpose and you can tell there is a little glimmer of hope and anticipation surrounding her now if only she can build on these tentative foundations. The characters she meets at St. Cuthbert’s soon become like a family to her and I was so glad to see Cathy stepping outside her comfort zone and spreading her wings that little bit more. She feels hopeful and optimistic that things can change for the better for her and that her mother would be proud of what she is doing. She meets Erica whose father died from cancer and she feels a connection with her. They can share their problems and worries, and the older ladies Iris and Dora are like a comedy double act providing lots of loud out moments with what they are saying. There are a few other people who attend to but they didn’t make a significant impact on the overall story.
Cathy has a great idea to set up cookery lessons at the church as she feels cookery is meant to be inclusive and open to everyone. For people who are lonely or need that bit of human connection, perhaps she is talking about herself when she says this. Given the title of the story I thought the kitchen would refer to like a little café or something that Cathy would go on to set up, so I was surprised that the focus was on the cookery lessons. I get the idea of the kitchen in the title but did think it was slightly misleading. Tansy, Erica’s niece, joins in with the lessons but she is very sullen and does her best to up scuttle people’s bakes and really in general she is not the most happiest of teenagers. You could tell deep down that something was bothering her and Cathy could too. So I was glad when Cathy didn’t give up on her when the other participants in the classes wanted to get rid of her.
You could see Cathy growing in confidence as she taught the group to make wonderful treats and baked goodies but you did wonder was there something else that needed to happen in her personal life to make her happiness come full circle and complete. Things seemed to be going well for Cathy with the classes and as she writes the recipes down a little notebook of delicious treats begins to emerge. That’s one thing I will I say I would have loved for some of the recipes and bakes featured to have perhaps been included at the end of the story for readers to try out. They really were mouth-watering and since the first lockdown I’ve taken a bit more of an interest in baking as many other people have too. Usually I would just glance through something like this when included in a book but these recipes, cakes and tempting treats seemed like something I would really love to be able to eat myself.
The cookery class enriches Cathy’s life and the lives of the participants but I wanted a little bit of romance to be thrown into the mixture too. I got that in the nicest way possible but there was a little spanner in the works trying to upset the apple cart. The past does have an unfortunate way of rearing its ugly head when you least expect it. But the journey to the end regarding the issue of some love and personal romance for Cathy was a joy to read and gave the story that extra little bite as at one or two points things became just a little bit routine and formulaic before picking up once again. But overall Cathy’s Christmas Kitchen truly is a gorgeous, delightful and heart warming read which will please the many fans of Tilly Tennant.
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