Heidi Swain is the Sunday Times Top Ten best-selling author of SLEIGH RIDES AND SILVER BELLS AT THE CHRISTMAS FAIR. Her other titles include The Cherry Tree Café, Summer at Skylark Farm, Mince Pies and Mistletoe at the Christmas Market, Coming Home to Cuckoo Cottage, Snowflakes and Cinnamon Swirls at the Winter Wonderland, Poppy’s Recipe for Life, The Christmas Wish List, The Secret Seaside Escape and The Winter Garden.
Heidi lives in beautiful south Norfolk with her family and a mischievous cat called Storm. She is passionate about gardening, the countryside, collecting vintage paraphernalia and reading. Her TBR pile is always out of control!
| Publisher: Simon & Schuster |
| Format: Ebook, Audio & Paperback (29 April 2021) |
| Page Count: 432 |
| Source: Copy received for review |
A Taste of Home is a story of coming to terms with loss, family ties and finding out where you truly belong. If you want a book that you can just escape into for a few hours, this is the one. I loved it.
A Taste of Home is number 8 in the ‘Wynbridge’ series. I hadn’t read any of the others and this can very easily be read on its own.
Fliss discovers that her estranged grandfather owns a fruit farm himself, on the outskirts of Wynbridge, and she arrives to find a farm that has fallen into disrepair. Using her knowledge gleaned from working on the Rossi farm and her desire to find out more about her past, Fliss rolls her sleeves up and gets stuck in. But what will she discover, and can she resurrect the farm’s glory days and find a taste of home…?
It’s the final day of the blog tour and I’m delighted to share my review. My thanks to Harriett of Simon & Schuster for the invitation to take part and for providing a copy for review. I’m rather late to the party with Heidi’s books, but after enjoying The Winter Garden, I didn’t hesitate at all before saying yes please!
Fliss was such a well drawn character. Brought up by a single mother, she had an independent and entrepreneurial spirit but with such a caring nature. It was clear that family, especially the Rossi’s and Nonna who had treated her like one of their own, meant so much to her, but discovering her own family roots was something she had to do and if it didn’t work out, she would return to Italy.
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MY THOUGHTS
Fliss Brown has grown up living with her mother on the Rossi family’s Italian fruit farm. But when her mother dies, Fliss finds out she has a family of her own, and heads back to England with Nonna Rossi’s recipe for cherry and almond tart and a piece of advice: connect with your family before it is too late…
28 year Fliss Brown faces a future on her own. Her life has been spent either travelling with her free spirited mother or living with the Rossi family on their fruit farm in Puglia, but after some unexpected news she finds herself heading back to England to a rundown farm and a grandfather she doesn’t know. She has no idea what to expect, or what kind of welcome, if any, she will receive.
It’s not plain sailing for Fliss. However there is a real feeling of community within the pages with recurring themes of family, friendship and food. A supporting cast of endearing characters – (with the odd exception!) make for a heartwarming and ultimately uplifting read. It’s not all sweetness and light, there is some angst and drama and of course a will they/won’t they romance but I found it a gorgeous comforting hug of a read. I raced through it in just over a day – I was so invested in the characters and the story.
I did mention food didn’t I. Fenview Farm, located in the East Anglian Fens, is a fruit farm. Strawberries are the speciality and oh heavens all the delicious food mentioned here will make your mouth water. Fliss is an expert at cooking Italian dishes and I swear my waistline expanded just reading this book!
Heidi loves to chat with her readers and you can get in touch via her website heidiswain.co.uk/ or Twitter @Heidi_Swain
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
