The Real Katie Lavender

Katie, aged thirty, has recently lost her parents and thinks she's coping fairly well. Then she loses her job, and she's beginning to wonder whether or not she really wants to stay with her frequently absent boyfriend, although he was very supportive through the time she grieved for her parents.

If all that weren't enough, she is given an unexpected letter by a solicitor, which changes just about everything. At first resistant, Katie decides to follow it up, and finds herself involved in a family drama when she becomes friendly with an old lady who has just lost her son, meets some relatives who are not at all keen on her, and also starts to fall for someone who might or might not be her cousin...

It's a good story, even if the show more storyline feels more like a soap than a novel at times, but I felt that it was rather drawn out in places... there is a lot of introspection, and some conversation that did not seem to go anywhere. The first time I read this, I thought it a bit long-winded. Twelve years later, I found it difficult to put down and liked it very much.

Recommended if you like women's fiction.

Latest longer review: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-real-katie-lavender-by-erica-ja... show less