Review: A Cornish Summer

A Cornish Summer by Catherine Alliott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fiona is a single mother, divorced for 17 years but still madly in love with her ex-husband, even though he has been happily married to his second wife for 15 years. Persuaded against her better judgment to paint a portrait of her former father-in-law she returns to her ex-husband's family home in Cornwall for the Summer. Soon it seems as though everyone else has also come to Cornwall, Fiona's son Peter, Fiona's best friend and fellow artist Celia, Fiona's ex-husband Hugo, his wife Christina and their two children, Hugo's best friend the American ladies man Tommy Rochester with his 'friend' Janey, Hugo's parents Roger and Belinda, Roger's mistress Babs and his sister Iris.

Forced into close proximity with Hugo and his family for the first time in decades Fiona is finally forced to confront her own feelings and reconcile her teenage feelings for the young boy she fell in love with, with her adult emotions now. But Fiona's feelings aren't the only things drawing to a head as the summer continues and more family secrets may be forced into the open.

I enjoyed this but I would take issue with the blurb that describes this as a hilarious romantic comedy, I wouldn't even say it was funny per se. That's not to say this was all angst, angst, angst, Roger in particular was a fun character with his booze and his boats and his trysts with Babs, but as tensions between townies and the locals, the big house and the village, the Brits and the Yanks come bubbling to the surface Fiona starts to realise that she has been wrong about a lot of things.

If a novel about spending the summer in a big Cornish mansion with a gaggle of weird and wacky family members, horse-riding, sailing, walking the cliffs, painting and finding romance is your idea of heaven then this is your perfect holiday reading.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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