Ellen Berry

This was a totally delightful, quirky read. It is the story of a 50-something Della whose only child goes off to college and her husband leaves her all in the same month. She is left with cleaning out her mother's cottage and making it suitable for resale. What to do with her mother's 972 cookbooks? She finds something of a "mystery" note in one of the cookbooks and that sets her off in a new direction that she never had dreamed of. She finally opens her cookbook bookstore in spite of the show more objections of most that it couldn't possibly succeed. This is a light read but one of the few times that I have laughed out loud when reading a book in a long time. I hear there is going to be a sequel that I will definitely read. 370 pages 5 stars show less

Another audiobook (and possibly the first one I was tempted to give up on, which gives you a clue as to how this review might go!) The story revolves around Della, whose mother Kitty passes away at the beginning of the book, and Della ends up inheriting itty's vast collection of cookbooks. She decides to open a bookshop selling just second-hand cookbooks, despite her husband Mark and her brother Jeff telling her it won't work. As odious as both of these male characters turned out to be, it show more pained me to agree with them. She wanted to open the shop in a sleepy little village, selling exclusively second hand cookbooks, with the focus more on socialising than buying. I'm not a genius but it doesn't need one to know that in real life, this is a business model destined to fail.

Although the title would suggest that the book is mainly about the bookshop, it's actually mainly about Della's personal life. She has a husband who is quite frankly awful, and a brother who is so supercilious that I dare any reader not to want to give him a slap. The only decent member of her family was her daughter Sophie, who was intelligent and independent despite having a doormat and a lying know-it-all cheat as parents.

Della also discovers some secrets in her own past, which were the best parts of the book, by virtue of the fact that they were more tolerable to read about than the rest. Naturally the bookshop itself is a roaring success, and of course Della finds happiness, because she finds another man to love her and loses weight.

The narration by Gabrielle Glaister was fine, despite some huge pauses in-between paragraphs and chapters, which made me wonder if I had accidentally pressed pause on the playback, but I would be happy to listen to another audiobook with this narrator (although not by this author).

I have looked at other reviews of this book, and they are largely extremely positive, so if this is the sort of book that appeals to you, don't let my review put me off. I think I probably picked a book in a genre that just doesn't appeal to me, but at least I now know what kind of thing to avoid! show less

Roxanne Cartwright, 47, is Fashion Director for YourStyle magazine. A 30-year veteran in the magazine industry, she’s an ace at what she does and enjoys putting together glamorous fashion shoots for the magazine. So when she’s told by her new boss that the magazine is being taken in a new direction to cheap, figure-fixing pieces, Roxanne is shocked to learn that her position will be replaced by the new fashion-director-in-chief, Tina Court, who will oversee the transformation. Wary of show more her imminent dismissal, Roxanne uses her temporary time off from work to escape from London and retreat to her sister’s home in the small village of Burley Bridge in Yorkshire, where they grew up. After their mother’s death two years before, Della used her mum’s collection of cookbooks to open a cookbook bookshop and effectively changed the Burley Bridge landscape as Roxanne remembered it. The success of the bookshop has necessitated an expansion, and Roxanne heads to the village to help her sister with the finishing touches before the upcoming party and unveiling of the expanded space. At first reluctant to relinquish certain duties to her domestically impaired sister, in time Della realizes Roxanne’s effectiveness in handling matters in her absence and the two women become a great team.
Meanwhile, Roxanne is confused about her fashion photographer boyfriend back in London, Sean, who didn’t seem particularly displeased that she’d be leaving for two months. Sean is the first responsible boyfriend Roxanne’s ever had. Prior relationships consisted of a host of losers, and until Sean she wasn’t much concerned about having a stable relationship with anyone. The idea of a responsible, reliable man who fussed over her and could provide security seemed boring to Roxanne. But ever since she started dating Sean, suddenly she’s craving commitment. Nevertheless, something is off-putting about him. She’s heard rumors of his being a philanderer, but she can’t seem to resist his good looks and impish charm. She believes she’s in love with him, although his odd behavior, particularly that of chiding her for inconsequential incidents, is starting to get on her nerves. Roxanne finds herself continually making allowances for Sean's bad behavior whenever he apologizes, and she feels conflicted in her emotions about him. Especially since she’s met the owner of the Bakery on Rosemary Lane, Michael. He’s handsome, talented, available, and he seems to be interested in her. Suddenly, Sean doesn’t dominate her every thought. But then Sean shows up and surprises her in Burley Bridge while in Michael’s company, rendering her noticeably flustered. What will Roxanne do?
I really enjoyed this book. I loved reading about Roxanne’s life both in London and then Burley Bridge. I appreciated that she was a middle-aged woman, as most female protagonists I read about are much younger. I could easily relate to some of the witty references with regard to her age, and how it sometimes made her feel in the fashion world. And yet, this book could be read by persons young and old. Roxanne was a very chic, hip character, and didn’t come across as dowdy in any way. The relationship she shared with her sister, and that which she developed with Michael's daughter, Elsa, was endearing and added to my enjoyment of the book. I was interested to know how she would resolve her relationship issues, but events that transpired in the book ultimately dictated her decision, and I was happy about her choice. The only negatives I have about this book are that I’m not sure why it’s called The Little Bakery on Rosemary Lane since the Bakery in the story is not center stage. It’s more in the background, so I found that a little misleading. Also, I’m not sure how to categorize it. Although it reads somewhat like a romance book, there wasn’t very much romance in it. At least not enough leading up to the outcome of the story, in my humble opinion. There was sort of a few themes going on too. I would have liked to have seen a little more fulfilling wrap-up of everyone and everything at the end. Aside from that it was a very good read. It kept me interested and I would read another book by Ellen Berry in the future.
I received an E-ARC of this book from the publisher via netgalley. All of the opinions stated in this review are my own. show less

Della lives in a small English town and works in the gift shop of a castle. She and her husband have been married for decades and her only child, a daughter, is 18 and will soon leave for college.

Since Della's brother and sister have moved away from small town life, Della is the only one left to manage her mother's business after her death. Known as a fine cook during her mothering years, Kitty had collected cookbooks, most considered vintage now. Even Della was a bit overwhelmed when she show more counted 972 here and there throughout the house.

From this point in Della's life we follow her to many unexpected changes as she learns secrets about her mother's life, navigates family changes, and learns she is capable of doing a lot more than she or anyone else ever thought she could.

A good book for a relaxing read. show less