An Ocean Apart

This was the debut novel for Robin Pilcher, son of the better-known writer Rosamunde Pilcher.

David, a businessman who has been grieving and depressed, flies to America for an important meeting. Then he realises he has to start moving on for the sake of his children in Scotland...

Clever plotting as a business thread alternates with David's personal story. While some of the scenes relating to the business went a little over my head, it didn’t matter. David, who is an extremely likeable person, discovers that he can make a difference in the lives of some lonely people. The bulk of the story takes place over about a month, and the pace works well.

The writing is excellent, particularly the characterisation; the author evidently inherited show more his mother's gift in that respect. There's believable dialogue and some strong emotion, with one particularly moving scene, towards the end. The romance, inevitable from fairly early on, is low-key, only coming to resolution in the final chapter.

I enjoyed this very much both on first reading, on re-reading nearly sixteen years later, and again another five years after that. Highly recommended.

Latest review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2022/09/an-ocean-apart-by-robin-pilcher.htm... show less

A nice light read. Liked that it was a story about love without all the sexual scenes, business ethics without being boring. Amazed at how all around talented David was to the point that it became unbelievable. Enjoyed the housekeeper with her humor as well as compassion. Glad to see his comments to Jennifer to not give up on her marriage immediately.

Robin Pilcher's work is certainly lighter fare than his mother's fabulous books, but I did enjoy this tale of a Scottish man recovering from the death of his wife. It was a nice, easy read.

I read this while traveling and found it to be well written and enjoyable. It is a good story and reminiscent of [a:Rosamunde Pilcher|20849|Rosamunde Pilcher|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1244293675p2/20849.jpg]'s [b:September|116053|September|Rosamunde Pilcher|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171721016s/116053.jpg|6958004]. One thing that I really liked about this book was the relative timelessness. I kept wondering why they didn't just send an email or call on their mobile phones. When one of the characters pulled out a floppy disk, I had to look at the copyright date. I didn't realize it was written in 1999 until I actually looked at the copyright date.

This is well written and good entertainment.

An Ocean Apart by Robin Pilchner
Loved this book after I found out the author has a relative that is also an author.
This one is about a man who has lost his wife and he helps run a whiskey business with his father. He still has 3 kids and his mother looks after them as he wraps his head around his loss.
The kids think it is also a good idea for him to go to the states to get his mind back on track. Business things he finds are not going as planned and he uncovers many inconsistencies.
He has no mind for the business so hires himself out as a gardener but is so much more to the family. They treasure him being there and when he is summoned home to tend to the family business due to his father's medical problem he
knows he must make his show more decisions. The children were able to be with him for a short time as he introduced them to NY long island during the summer.
Loved learning so much more about gardening and all the travel involved, such details.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device). show less

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This is a book that is in the Top 3 wishlist of sheepette. I have found her a copy and will send it out to her soon.