Nicola Slade

In a previous book, Freya Gibson inherited Ladywell, a ramshackle old house in the English countryside, that turned out to have a long connection to her family, family she never knew about. In particular, it's tied to a long line of strong women who held the family and the farm together, and kept it a place of peace and healing.

Now, Freya is happily married to Patrick, and they have a little girl, Violet. But successful action/thriller writer Patrick has been in Los Angeles and Vancouver for months, working on the tv adaption of his novels. Freya has been working on redoing the cottage on the property to be rented out as a romantic getaway spot--after the holidays. Christmas is coming, and Patrick will be home, but first he calls and tells her he's got a deep-secret guest who'll be coming to stay in the cottage with another person, and can she please get it ready in time?

What follows is much scrambling to get the finishing touches on the cottage, more discoveries about the history of Ladywell, and get-togethers with family and friends. In between Freya's pleasures and crises, we get glimpses of the history of Ladywell, that add to the warmth and explain some of its odder features.

This is not a story where Big Events happen. It's gentle and warm, and very satisfying.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher, and am reviewing it voluntarily.… (altro)

I loved Nicola Slade's last book, The House at Ladywell, so I was keen to read this one, her latest offering. Whilst I didn't love it as much as the previous one, I did really like this story and the characters.

It centres around three sisters: Alix, Christabel and Adelaide. They're young women (Addy is only 15) making do during WW1. Their life together is quite something. They live with their mother, a novelist who doesn't seem to know what day it is, particularly when she's in the throes of writing, and their grandmother, Lady Evelyn, who had a rather unusual introduction to Queen Victoria when she was presented to her. Alix helps out at the local hall which has been turned into a convalescent home for soldiers and it is events there that lead to the body in the ha-ha.

And I feel like I'm merely touching the surface of the story as there's so much action crammed into the pages. What I particularly loved were the interactions between the characters, particularly the sisters, but also between them and various other key players. They live in a kind of gentle chaos and are so likeable and so unusual.

To be honest, I could have done without the body and the mystery as I would have been more than happy to simply read about this wonderful family and how they lived their lives in wartime. Food rationing plays a large part in the story, particularly as the sisters have to feed a number of lodgers, family to those soldiers in the convalescent home. There are some fascinating descriptions of food and Christy, in particular, puts together some amazing concoctions.

The Convalescent Corpse is a book that made me smile. Despite the backdrop of war it has a fairly light-hearted to feel to the narrative and it's a delightful cosy mystery story.… (altro)