Set in a small village in the north of England, the book follows Kate Herrick, a war widow in her mid-twenties, who returns from London to her childhood hometown two years after the end of the Second World War. Every homecoming is tinged with a sense of nostalgia, and so is Kate’s. The small village was once her whole world. Now, it has shrunk. Some of her old acquaintances are dead due to the war. Tod Hall, a country estate in the village, is going to be converted into a hotel. Her childhood home, Rose Cottage, is to be sold. Anyway, she only comes back to get a few things done on behalf of her grandmother. Nothing further than that is yet decided. Should she ‘get back to London, and central heating and telephones, and get on with [her] real life’ as one of her friends suggests to her?
At first, the heroine hesitates between Kete Herrick (as she is known in London) and Kathy Welland (as in the village). However, through interaction with her old acquaintances, Kate feels a sense of belonging and familiarity brewing in her again. Even though one can never roll back the bygone years, she hopes to preserve what is left of her beloved home, which leads to a decision she makes near the ending.
Plotwise, the book was not as gripping as I had expected. You had better not expect a romance-meets-mystery kind of book. Yes, it can be categorised as a mystery novel, but the ‘dark truth’ as said on the blurb turned out not as dark. If anything, the ending was rather predictable. To be honest, I found the overall plot a little bit superficial and contrived (sometimes almost laughably). Still, it is a sweet, light-hearted novel. I would recommend it to anyone who has a taste for such things as a quaint thatched cottage in the countryside with roses wildly running over its walls and cups of comforting tea (apparently considered a panacea) ---Naturally, there are quite a few occasions when the characters put the kettle on.
Aside from that, there is another aspect I appreciate about this book, which is the way the author treats the theme of memory and nostalgia. By borrowing her characters’ voices, the author expresses with honesty what it is like to go through change which comes inevitably in life, with or without an event as life-changing as the war. ‘You’re young yet, but you’ll find it. You go through your life thinking things never will come to an end, but they do. It may be a comfort to those in pain, but it’s a sore thing to know that things you’ve loved will be gone before you are,’ says Mrs Pascoe (202). This stark reality gave me a stab of pain, but at the same time it was somehow comforting to know that I am not alone feeling that way and to accept the fact as it is. Kate also accepts the pain that comes with change, asking herself, ‘[w]hy was it that one always regretted change?’, and she goes on, ‘[t]hings were not made to stay fixed, preserved in amber. Perhaps the only acceptale amber was memory’ (138). Her final decision poses a question on the mentality of ‘Never look back, live the moment’ much accepted these days. After all, memory is there to look back on, and holding on to it is also part of living the present.
All in all, it is a book filled with picture-perfect Englishness and nostalgia for the past, and Mary Stewart’s beautiful description of it is sure to bring joy to readers.