Synopsis
Robin Pilcher, bestselling author of An Ocean Apart returns readers to contemporary Scotland, where the "simple" life has grown somewhat more complicated, but the shortest distance between lonely hearts will always be love...
Sometimes The Hardest Thing In Life...
Liz Dewhurst has witnessed quite a bit in her thirty-seven years: the birth of her son, the death of her mother, the waxing and waning days on the farm where she was raised...the sight of her husband in another woman's arms. Suddenly, she's feeling worn down and used up by the very lifestyle upon which she once thrived. Bitterness at her broken marriage has distanced her from her son, Alex-even as she's poured all her remaining energy into battling the development company that wants to purchase her family's land to build a golf course.
...Is To Live It
Now Liz must confront a few things, including the fate of the farm, her feelings for her ex-husband, and a trip to Spain that rekindles a fire in her she had forgotten existed. The Liz who returns to Balmuir is a different woman. Now, in the wake of a near-tragedy, she must draw on her newfound strength to make a difficult choice. To look at her life in a different way, standing tall, and...
Starting Over
"Pilcher writes with an excellent sense of the pace of his story. It's easy to feel you know these people and to grasp the complexities of their relationships...a worthy novel." -Houston Chronicle
"[Pilcher's] characters are ordinary people enriched by [the] quiet rendering of their lives in a tale [with] lots of emotion...one of those smart, charming stories that leaves readers feeling content and very happy that they chose to read it." -Booklist
Publishers Weekly
Pilcher's sophomore and sophomoric effort (after his New York Times bestselling An Ocean Apart) is all about second chances: second chances for romance, of course, but also for loving relationships between fathers and sons. The central soap revolves around Liz Dewhurst, now living on the family farm in the Scottish coastal village of Fife, following the bustup of her 18-year marriage. Potential love interests include an older Canadian professor who becomes her boarder, his estranged son, and Gregor, Liz's adulterous ex, who's always hovering around the sidelines. Meanwhile, the future of the farm is in question, with developers threatening to build a golf course in its place. Clunky storytelling, unlikely dialogue from characters who speechify rather than speak ("You can't change destiny, lass. You can't get your pebble back once you've thrown it") and a lack of tension are prime culprits in leaching the pleasure from a book presented as the novelistic equivalent of easy-listening music. Gregor is the closest thing to a villain here, but even he is a decent sort at heart. Furthermore, American readers may find it hard to credence American characters made to say things like, "I was just being bloody-minded." Although the last line of the book suggests otherwise ("Life does have a funny way of throwing up the least-expected things"), there's nothing unexpected here. (Jan.) Forecast: The same readers who made An Ocean Apart a bestseller (especially fans of Rosamunde Pilcher, the author's mother) may do so again. Judging by the 100,000-copy first printing, national advertising campaign and author tour, St. Martin's expects so. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.