Bijzonder warm boek ondanks de dreiging van de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Idyllische taferelen in landelijk Engeland. En... hoe troostend kan het melken van een koe zijn? Wondermooi beschreven en iets om te onthouden.
Lichtvoetig, met de nodige humor maar toch een beklijvend boek. ( )

15/2020. Not as well written as some of Wesley's novels but more easily digestible, I suppose.

Quite:

‘These days we eat in the kitchen.’ Violet strode down the hall. ‘I encouraged the maids to join up.’
Juno said, ‘Oh. And did they?’
‘Cook is making Spitfires but Bridget, you remember Bridget?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, Bridget went back to her family in Cork, said the war had nothing to do with her, that she was a Fenian, if you please.’
Juno laughed. ‘And is she?’
Violet said, ‘How would I know?’

And this made me laugh:

[...] lay sleepless all night worrying as to whether the pattern of the wallpaper in the bedroom of the bombed house opposite Evelyn's was or was not a Morris print. ( )

A delightful read.

Seventeen year-old Juno Marlowe is heartbroken after having seen off her two best friends at a London train station, bound for their army service during WWII. Adding to her sorrow and confusion is the recent memory of a threesome which she hadn't planned for and didn't necessarily consent to, but before she's had a chance to sort out her thoughts and feelings, she's grabbed by a kindly stranger who pulls her off the sidewalk into his house for protection as an air raid is underway. The man is obviously in poor health, and even as he has innocently asked Juno to lie by his side in his narrow bed, soon passes away, but not before having first written a letter to his father about the young girl. All these events are covered very quickly at the start of the story, and the rest unfolds when Juno has made her way to the father's farm out in the English countryside.

It is a wartime tale about the sorrow of loss and the hope new beginnings can bring, with wonderfully colourful characters, and best of all, Wesley's gorgeous prose. I wish I could do this book justice, because it is one that definitely deserves to be read an enjoyed by many. [edit: Although it's been many years now since I listened to the audiobook, I recall very clearly listening over and over to a passage describing nature as she was taking a walk and being absolutely captivated by it. I'll have to get a paperback copy just so I can quote it here.]

Wesley herself is an interesting character, as she only published her first book in her 70th year after the passing of her husband, and went on to become a bestselling British author in the last 20 years of her life. Definitely an author I'll be reading more from. This audio version was narrated by actor Samuel West, who could possibly be the love of my life with that wonderful voice and delivery, or at the very least, my very favourite narrator. ( )

Unloved by her mother, disliked by her aunt, considered a plaything by childhood friends, Juno is not thought of quite so much as a person in her own right but as ...well, just someone who's there.

With WWII escalating, her mother in Canada, now remarried, her aunt trying to bully her into signing up for some war service work, Juno is entrusted with a letter to deliver in the country wherein she finds herself warmly welcomed and seemingly immediately adopted by the inhabitants and neighbors.

Watching the relationships that develop between Juno, the housekeeper, the country gentleman in whose house she has come to live, the farm manager and the nosy neighbor is part of what makes this a truly delightful read, as does watching Juno learn to enjoy being among people who love and care for her. ( )