Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Verity Callaway is running away.
From her job.
From her quiet life in the Midlands.
And most of all from her ex-fiancée…who has just become her newest neighbour.
The plan is simple: hop in her reliable camper van and cross the Channel, headed for a rendezvous with her best friend in Amsterdam to kick off six months of travel. But when Verity stumbles across a decades-old postcard while preparing her cottage for its temporary tenants, her life takes an unexpected turn, and she finds herself on a ferry to Puffin Island instead.
Verity’s childhood was filled with tales of adventures set on the picturesque island, but she’d always thought her beloved granny had made it all up. Now, knowing the stories and the setting were real, Verity is determined to find the postcard’s sender and uncover the secrets of her grandmother’s past…even if it means setting off a sequence of events that will change not just her own life, but also that of the sleepy island’s close-knit community…
Many thanks to Harper Collins UK via NetGalley for my copy of A Postcard from Puffin Island to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
To say I was gutted when Christie Barlow’s wonderful Love Heart Lane series came to an end would be a massive understatement. For several years, I completely lost myself in each book and the village of Heartcross in Scotland although fictional will always hold a special place in my heart as will all the characters that I encountered. With the series reaching its conclusion the question was in what direction would Christie next venture in and how could it possibly live up to the extremely high expectations that its predecessor has left in its wake? Well, the answer comes in the form of Puffin Island and the first book A Postcard from Puffin Island.
With echoes of Love Heart Lane resounding in my mind I began this new book with some small trepidation one must admit. After all when you love something so much it’s hard to change your perspective to a new setting, new characters and a whole host of new problems. But I needn’t have worried in the slightest because right from the opening chapter I felt completely at home and couldn’t bear to leave the book out of my hands. All the magic, comfort, familiarity, community spirit, friendship and sense of well being and togetherness was there in abundance right from the very beginning to the bittersweet end.
Verity Calloway is the first new face we meet. She is packing up and about to go travelling in her newly converted van nicknamed Hetty. Life hasn’t been easy for Verity since the discovery that her boyfriend Richard had been cheating on her. To compound that fact he has now moved in across the road from her with his new partner. This gives Verity even more of a reason to escape for several months and affords her the opportunity to have some fun with her friend Ava and to plot out her next move. As she wrestles with the rusted and long unused post box at her grandmothers cottage which she is just about to close up she finds an old postcard long delivered but never read. For 50 years the postcard from Puffin Island has lain in the post box addressed to her grandmother Henrietta from someone with the initial W which says the secret must have been too much to bear but he can’t imagine life without her. Verity finds this very intriguing as she feels she knows Puffin Island very well from all the stories her grandmother told her and her curiosity is piqued but there is little she can do to discover more as a ferry sailing and a rendezvous with Ava awaits.
As she sets off on her travels and stops at a service station at the port she glimpses a man who lingers in her mind perhaps more than he should have. All plans are set to go ahead until Ava has a bit of a mishap and her arrival in Amsterdam will be delayed. With the contents of the postcard still fresh in her mind Verity decides to grab the bull by the horns and take the ferry to within reach of Puffin Island. A day or two make just provide her with the answers to the questions that have arisen in her mind. Puffin Island is a tidal island which can only be safely reached at certain times and as she waits to cross in Hetty, all the memories come flooding back from the impactful stories she was once told by Henrietta.
Once again Christie has excelled with her descriptions of the island. They are so real and vivid that you feel the island exists in real life and you find yourself longing to be able to visit. It’s evident that it is a very special and unique place. It’s stunning, picturesque and simply perfect. A safe haven for those that need it and its residents are fiercely proud and protective of every aspect of the island life, history and community. Suffice to say its not easy to acquire a house there as once people settle they don’t leave. Rainbow cottages, busy restaurants, independent shops, clifftops, sparkling bays, the Beachcomber Bakery, the Café by the Coast, Puffin Pantry, The Sea Glass Restaurant, The Old Ship Inn, The Smuggler’s Rest Hotel, The Story Shop and so much more. Each place I wanted to know more about and I am sure this will happen in future books. Of course I can’t fail to mention the puffins residing on the clifftops. They play their part too.
Verity is here on the island although for a brief window of time and she will make the most of it. It seems to be calling to her, to chase a secret and a romantic dream connected to her grandmother. Verity, although she doesn’t yet realise it, has stumbled across the island at a time when she needed it most. She knows now that she has to embrace life and take chances and through an unfortunate incident which she was warned about by Sam (the man she had happened to meet at the ferry port) she finds herself having to extend her stay whilst Hetty is repaired if that can be achieved. I loved that this tactic was employed as a means of Verity continuing her stay. To be honest, I didn’t want to read about her holiday with Ava as by this stage Puffin Island had me enraptured and I wanted to learn as much about it as possible and explore it through Verity’s eyes as she takes the opportunity to dig deeper into the origins of the postcard.
The island has a sense of calm about it which infuses throughout Verity. She takes time to explore and she once again meets Sam whom she discovers own Sea Glass restaurant. Sam has a hidden side to him and there are things that he is keeping secret. Just why does he detest Pete who resides at Cliff Top Cottage? Why is Pete so grumpy even though he has the wonderful job of caretaking the islands wild residents specifically engaging in the annual puffin census? Verity, wants to delve deeper and to learn more and you would think why would a visitor want to become involved in island life but the postcard is what is driving her on. She wants to know how it connects to her own family history and could it also explain why some characters act in the manner in which they do?
Verity’s confidence continues to grow as she is pushed outside her comfort zone. The island is making her do things she never dreamt possible and it was lovely to see her relax and embrace this new phase in her life. If at all possible, I wanted her to be able to stay for as long as possible and explore things with Sam as there was a definite spark between the pair but as she uncovers more through her continued quest maybe that can’t come to fruition at all? Puffin Island, starts to put Verity back together very quickly but the pace at which this occurs was just perfect as was the unfolding background story and let’s be honest the crux of everything that being the postcard is what is really driving her on. Everything else is just an added bonus all of which is very worthwhile, life altering and fulfilling. I loved the story of the past having a forbearing on the events in the present and the pace at which everything was revealed was ideal. I became as eager as Verity to see what answers she could find and in in doing so could she bring peace and forgiveness to the present but also at the same time find contentment and happiness in her own life?
Christie Barlow has done herself proud with this wonderful story and I hope the series will go on to be as long in length as Love Heart Lane was. Her loyal, long term readers will be left deeply satisfied and new readers will find lots to fall in love with. You won’t feel like leaving Puffin Island once the story ends and my only disappointed is that I had to. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Christie Barlow consistently weaves tales of wonderful feel good fiction of a ridiculously high standard and that standard rises with each book that she writes. A Postcard from Puffin Island is an utter triumph that will have me first in line to read future instalments. Thankfully the wait is not that long and two books will be published in 2025, The Lighthouse Daughters of Puffin Island makes its appearance in February and come June, The Puffin Island Bookshop will be added to the collection. I can guarantee there is another exciting year ahead when it comes to Christie Barlow and what she can achieve with this series after an epic start.
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