Excellent author Goodreads ReviewAs spring comes to Scotland and the hills burst into life, a dance is planned for September. The invitations summon home the group of people Violet Aird has cared for most in her long life. The oldest, strongest and wisest of them all, she sees Alexa, her vulnerable granddaughter, find love for the first time, while the decision to send her little grandson away to school is driving parents Edmund and Virginia even further apart. Far from them all is Pandora, the glamorous, exciting girl who ran away twenty years before. All will converge on Scotland this September. (less

I love Rosamunde Pilcher's writing. Sigh. I had no idea that a character in this book also appeared in her later book, "The Shell Seekers." That character is Noel Keeling, son of Penelope Keeling.

I tend to stay away from sad books, and this book ended up dealing with a long-term illness and suicide. However, Rosamunde's writing style is such that if I had known, I would still have read this book. Life comes with all kinds of unexpected disappointments and even tragedies. She manages to write books that deal with those topics but make you glad that you read what she wrote, and glad to be alive. I am a big fan of her work. ( )

Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars.

At first I loved the book, the tone of it and the descriptions. It was a book that unfolded rather than rushed ahead and I liked that. Actually I liked that part all the way through to the end.

What kind of spoiled the book for me was the story line involving Virginia and Edmund. It seemed so unrealistic that Virginia would just all of a sudden stop being mad at Edmund about sending their young son to boarding school. They in no way resolved it, she just stopped being mad and he essentially patted her on the head and gave her jewelry as a reward. Then when he's not able to take Henry to the first day of boarding school she is furious again, has sex with another man, and decides to leave Edmund. THEN Henry runs back home and so Virginia decides not to abandon her marriage and everything is totally fine between her and her husband. I mean, what?! What kind of a relationship is this?

Also, I hated the old fashioned gender roles. Super lame. ( )

4.5* Re read(listened) September 2021 ( )

8484506606