| WATCH OVER ME - Daniela Sacardoti |
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Eilidh Lawson has lost everything; her husband, her much-wanted baby, and the respect of her family. So, she runs away – to home! Not the home where her domineering parents and acerbic sister live, but Glen Avich, the Highland village where she spent her childhood.Could there be the chance of a new beginning in Glen Avich? Well, there’s Jamie, the quiet but artistic blacksmith and childhood friend. But life has changed them both. Jamie thinks of himself as “frozen and I intend to stay that way”, while Eilidh feels as if she is disappearing and wouldn’t have been surprised if someone had answered the door to her knock and found “a little cloud of blue cold air” where she should have been standing.There is not a chance in this world of them finding happiness together. What they need is some otherworldly help, from someone who loves them both, and has been dead for the past three years. The author, in her first novel, Watch Over Me, achieves what more experienced novelists always hope to. In Glen Avich she creates a world you wish you didn’t have to leave. This isn’t, however, some “shortbread tin” idea of Highland life. All the practicalities and modern realities are there. The only cliché to be found is Jamie, the taciturn but handsome Scottish hero, yet in reality there are enough of those around for us to believe in him and wish him his own happy ever after. The story is told through the voices of the characters involved, so it doesn’t take long for readers to feel like an honorary resident of Glen Avich. Jamie is a man who found love, and was abandoned by it. Now it’s just him and his daughter. He protects them both by shutting the world out. Eilidh has almost given herself away pleasing others and chasing after motherhood. Will there be enough of her left to re-build a life from? Elizabeth is Jamie’s mother. She’s on her way to the “other side,” but not before she deals with some unfinished business. Hearts are broken, defences are raised, knocked down and raised again, but love comes in the end – for some …Perhaps we should warn visitscotland.com about this novel. It just might cause an influx of people looking for a little bit of heaven in the Highlands. |
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