Every house has its cross to carry…

Synopsis

A mile outside the Cotswolds, everyone knows everyone in Honeystone, and for many years the villagers have lived quiet, steady lives. But a wind of change is here…

Anthea is the new owner of Spindle Hall. A renowned perfumer who lost her sense of smell, she’s not interested in making new friends. Yet somehow that seems impossible in this idyllic village.

Years ago, Peony left Honeystone with a broken heart, and now she has returned with it freshly bruised. Her single father, Robert, is struggling with slow business at the Hare and Thistle pub. Perhaps this time they can help each other?

Izzy has never known what she wants to do in life other than be at Raspberry Hill Farm and care for her little niece, Clover. But when a new doctor shows up in town, she starts to wonder…

A story about the magic of ordinary people, no one does heartwarming stories like Kate Forster. Welcome to Honeystone, you can rest here.

My review

Living in Honeystone, in the Cotswolds, means that you somehow know everything abut everyone and that everyone knows everything about you. So even if Anthea, the brand new owner of Spindle Hall, is looking for peace and quiet after a failed marriage and losing her sense of smell, what is terrible for a perfumer, and she isn’t interested in making new friends, the village finds ways to make her befriend some inhabitants. And one of those people is Peony, who left Honeystone years ago with a broken heart. But now Peony has returned after a break – up, and is looking for making a new fresh start, with the help of her father Robert and his pub. But Peony wasn’t expecting to cross paths with Izzy that quickly. Izzy has never left Honeysuckle, especially now that her brother Connor, who is also Peony’s ex – boyfriend, and her niece Clover need her. Yet she cannot stop wondering if that is what life has in store for her. And then a new doctor arrives in town…

How often do we think we know what is happening in someone’s life, but in fact we only know what people are allowing us to see?

But isn’t it true that in a small village, just like Honeystone, for sure people know more than we may think!

In this book, there are several main characters, from every range of age. And every character show us that each and every one of them is carrying a burden, in all a different way.

There is Anthea, after a failed marriage, barely surviving Covid, and having lost everything she has built for so long. It saddened me to read what she had to overcome, and I could understand why she just wanted to be left alone. I am not a perfumer myself, but who doesn’t enjoy a nice scent? And we all have had colds that took our sense of smell away. Yet do you remember how happy you were when you could smell again? Great feeling, right? So not being able to smell again, while it was such an important thing in your life, I could comprehend Anthea’s devastation! And when something like, I could for sure understand why Anthea wanted to just lick her wounds on her own, not wanting to be around anyone else.

But what you wish for, isn’t what you need, as Anthea quickly realizes. Because no matter what she claims, she finds herself befriending not only Izzy, but also Peony, Robert and Dora. And we see how not only she becomes inspired by the people and Spindle Hall itself, but also how in a way she is the inspiration for her new friends, and even more.

Perhaps my heart went the most out to the character of Peony. Of course also the other leading ladies’ story was a gripping one, yet Peony…

The end of a relationship is always a difficult moment, even if it was something that everyone saw coming from miles. In a way, it feel like a failure, because you loved that person and yet it didn’t last.

But Peony now has returned to Honeysuckle, a place that caused her heartbreak in the past too. And the man that broke her heart is still living in Honeysuckle, so meeting him is just inevitable… Were that only the last of her problems…

Izzy made me feel that her life was rather stagnant. She has never left Honeysuckle, and her main focus has been her niece Clover, as Clover hasn’t had an easy start in life. But with Clover now ready to go to school, where does that leave Izzy?

Let’s not forget about Dora, whose life with Barry isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. With her story we see how manipulative people can be, how someone that is supposed to loved you, can drag you down, belittle you and just make you feel useless…

So it was truly heartwarming to read how these women, with their families, find each other. Despite their own issues, they find a way to help each other, to support each other and just be there for each other in time of need.

I truly enjoyed reading this story, as it shows how no matter what direction your life took, with re-meeting the right persons in your life, you can get it back on track. And that sometimes the right place to do that, can be the most quaint but also most nosy place, like a little village in the Cotswolds.