Holly Hepburn
IMAGINE an ancient, wisteria-clad oast house as it nestles
comfortably in the lush greenery of the Kent countryside, and the battlements
of a centuries-old castle... and you’re ready to bask in the warm glow of another
irresistible ‘getaway’ with Holly Hepburn, author of a raft of feel-good
fiction.
Originally published as four e-book novellas – Spring Fever,
Summer Love, Autumn Dreams and Winter Magic – and now brought together in one
bright and beautiful book, Return to Half Moon Farm is a joyful, warm and
romance-filled treat which is ideal for sweeping away the January blues.
Packed with Hepburn’s (pictured below) trademark humour and heart, and featuring a beautifully imagined cast of characters (both animal and human), this delightful rural odyssey has all the ingredients you need to settle back in front of a roaring fire. When only child Daisy Moon’s estranged mother Rose suffers an unexpected heart attack, she is forced to leave her home in Milton Keynes and return to the family hop farm at Mistlethorpe in Kent where she grew up and which she hasn’t visited for almost twenty years.
But a new life in the Kent countryside isn’t all a bed of
roses. Daisy – who left all those years ago because of her controlling
stepfather – finds the relationship with her mother is still complicated and
the tumbledown farm isn’t the only thing that needs rebuilding.
Daisy and the boys must work hard to adjust to their new way of life in the middle of nowhere, a leaking roof, and the pain of having no WiFi. Luckily for Daisy, she might yet find some distraction
in charming and handsome mistletoe farmer, Drew Entwhistle, and Kit Devereaux, Earl of Winterbourne, the cool and haughty heir to the nearby castle who she somehow can’t seem to avoid. As Daisy learns to juggle caring for the boys, getting to know her mother again and updating the farm, she discovers secrets lurking in her family’s past which might just throw everything into further disarray.There are so many star roles in this gorgeous tale of feuds,
family secrets, friendship and community that readers will be hard pushed to
select a favourite, but the blossoming of Daisy as she returns to home turf,
and her turbulent relationships with the two contrasting men in her life,
undoubtedly take centre stage. And waiting in the wings are a host of other entertaining players,
not least Atticus, Daisy’s unforgettable ginger cat, ‘a mass of fur, claws and
sheer bloody-minded swagger,’ and his role in a story that plays out against an
idyllic backdrop of England’s glorious countryside. Packed with the romance, drama, fun and strong sense of shared
endeavour that we have come to expect from Hepburn’s novels, Return to Half
Moon Farm is a captivating reading escape from start to finish.
(Simon & Schuster, paperback, £9.99)
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