Reviewed by Emma Crowley
When twenty-seven-year-old Posy arrives at picture-perfect Oleander House in the Somerset village of Astercombe, she is enchanted. Adopted when she was just a baby, Posy is excited to re-connect with her birth family and help out on the family cider farm with its old stone walls and bees buzzing in the hedgerows.
There’s just one tiny problem – her new next-door neighbour, haughty, handsome vineyard-owner Lachlan. Lachlan has taken an instant dislike to Posy, and after a furious argument when she ventures on his land, she’s pretty certain there’s not a heart of gold beneath his frosty exterior.
Yet as she falls in love with the flower-filled hedgerows and apple-green fields of her new life, she discovers more about her grumpy neighbour. Even though he acts like the world is out to get him, she can’t ignore the sad expression in his dark eyes.
And when Posy discovers the heartbreaking secret that is tearing Lachlan apart, she understands why he has shut the door on the world and vows to help him, as well as the vineyard, which has fallen on hard times. Yet just as Lachlan lets Posy in, a terrible night threatens to destroy everything she has begun to care about and puts someone she loves at risk. Will her dream life in the country come at an awful price?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of A Cider Apple Summer to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
I’ve read lots and lots of books with similar themes that this new story from Tilly Tennant, The Little Orchard on the Lane, has and honestly I thought it would be more of the same. A girl has some trauma and upheaval in her life and she moves from a big city to make a new life for herself in the country and lo and behold everything turns out like a bed of roses. That’s what I thought I was going to get here but this was just so much better than that and one of the things that really helped separate this book from what I have just described is that our main character Posy, didn’t start the book off by moving to Somerset and having to make a go of things. No instead, her life had been pretty mundane, normal and run of the mill until she heard some news that made things change in a heartbeat for her. So basically there was no instant moving to the country and settling in, instead a new family dynamic is given time for exploration and Posy is allowed to explore the reasons behind why she never knew the background to her existence.
Posy always she knew she was adopted when she was a baby. That has never been kept secret from her by her parents, Carmel and Anthony, but up until now she has had no idea about her blood relatives and they never knew of her existence. That is until her grandmother Philomena dies and in her will she reveals that her daughter Angelica had a baby which she gave up. When we first Posy and Carmel they are arriving at Oleander House and about to meet her relatives for the first time. I loved that there was no messing around, will she, won’t she go and meet these new people who potentially could have a major impact on her life? Posy knows what she wants and there is no waiting around. Don’t get me wrong, of course she is nervous and wary to meet people who never knew of her existence and she wants to know the reasons for this.
Will they think she is after money and once she gets that she will up and run or will they embrace her and learn to get to know and love her for the true person she is? I loved that Carmel was by her side every step of the way and that nothing was done in secret. Everything was out in the open and Carmel was never pushed to the side. Posy feels like this is such a big upheaval and that this story is someone else’s. Why was Angelica cut off from her family and why did Philomena keep Posy’s existence secret for so long? Somerset really takes a hold of her imagination but she is she viewing it as a romantic ideal because she now has family there. On the other hand, is it only reinforcing what she had been thinking about for some time, that life in London was quite dissatisfying but up until now she never had the impetus/reason to change and do anything about it?
The setting really helped to make me enjoy this story, not that I wasn’t enjoying it. Right from page one I knew I was in for a great read and that every turn of the page would have me reading even faster as I became so engrossed and caught up in a wonderful story told so well. Oleander House and the surrounding orchards just seemed such a magical place. Such a quaint and adorable setting, all helped to aid the wonderful atmosphere created throughout the story. Not to mention the surrounding countryside where Posy takes a walk and in the most unfortunate of circumstances meets neighbouring vineyard owner, Lachlan. This scene made me laugh and cringe in equal measure but truly it was mortifying for all involved.
They really don’t get off to a great start and to be honest we really don’t get to gain a deeper insight into Lachlan until what I thought was just that little bit too late. He always seemed to be on the outskirts of the story where he could have stepped forward much earlier on. He was there in times of trouble, an incident with a car springs to mind, and seemed to pop up at Sunnyfields Guesthouse whenever Posy was there talking to owner Karen but yet he never let anyone in.This came across as being rude and arrogant and to be honest for nearly all of the book I couldn’t warm to him at all. But I suppose that’s the way he was. Angry, cold, stand offish that’s what sums Lachlan up. He was a very private man who lived like a hermit and refused help even though he desperately needed it to get his grape harvest in or else face financial ruin. Lachlan is definitely a riddle that needs solving and I wondered if it possibly was decoded what would Posy do with the new found knowledge and also the feelings emerging from within her?
Lachlan doesn’t socialise with people all that much and he is dour and uncommunicative but surely underneath this gruff exterior I knew there had to be a genuine reason for his behaviour and the way he came across and I wanted answers to all the questions I had about him. I suppose Posy felt the same way as she was very intrigued by him and yes there might have been the tiniest flicker of a spark there but Lachlan couldn’t be her sole focus. After all she was there in Somerset to get to know her new family and in doing so she needed to make some life changing decisions. The death of Philomena, although sad really proved to be the turning point that initiated a new life phase and story for Posy. I think deep down she was always someone with a curiosity about her and this new news only inspired her on to know get to know the real truth as to who she is but at the same time does she need to keep her guard up?
I loved that Posy didn’t barge straight in and want to plant herself directly at the forefront of the family. She really was a rock of sense, she tested the waters and knew she had to thread carefully because if things went wrong she had to have something to fall back on. Carmel stood by her and never allowed Posy to falter and the relationship they had was just so beautifully written. The fragile seedlings of a new family are sown but can the old merge with the new and will Posy find the answers she craves as to her true heritage? Deep down she had always known something was missing and now the voice inside doesn’t want to be ignored anymore since she met her family. So how can she go about silencing it? When she is let go from her job as an interior designer, a decision of sorts is made for her, Posy decides to take some time out and stay at Oleander House, specifically with her Uncle Asa, in his small cottage onsite.
Asa was a bit strange at first when he is introduced. He is dry and quick witted but there is something about him that just doesn’t add up. His brother Giles, who is married to Sandra, couldn’t be more different and we soon discover for lots of different reasons. They run the orchards together and make the cider and try to run as profitable a business as possible but for Asa he longs for something more. Something he had and which is now gone and has left him hurt and angry. I thought the development of the uncle/niece relationship between Asa and Posy was so gently handled and matured at just the right pace. They were kindred spirits in a way both searching for something and I particularly loved Asa’s story as it was treated with such respect and sensitivity. He learns to let his guard down around Posy as she sets about using her interior design skills to transform his home. He is doing this for more than just aesthetic reasons and it tied in lovely with his personal story.
The Little Orchard on the Lane is such a gorgeous read and it was ideal to read between a lot of the heavier historical fiction I have been reading. I devoured it in a day as I was there every step of the way with Posy on her exhilarating journey. Posy is an instantly likeable character who provides the reader with an entertaining, uplifting, sweet story with the most picturesque of settings which deserves to be consumed in one go if at all possible. I really do hope that Tilly Tennant will bring us another book this year as with these last few books she has written I feel she is going from strength to strength and enjoying writing more than ever.
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