Title: Rainy Day Sisters – A Hartley-by-the-Sea Novel- Author: Kate Hewitt
- Pages: 368
- Genre: Women’s Fiction
- Published: August 2015 – NAL
- Source: Publisher
Description: When Lucy Bagshaw’s life in Boston falls apart, thanks to a scathing editorial written by her famous artist mother, she accepts her half-sister Juliet’s invitation to stay with her in a charming seaside village in northern England. Lucy is expecting quaint cottages and cream teas, but instead finds that her sister is an aloof host, the weather is wet, windy, and cold, and her new boss, Alex Kincaid, is a disapproving widower who only hired her as a favor to Juliet.
Despite the invitation she offered, Juliet is startled by the way Lucy catapults into her orderly life. As Juliet faces her own struggles with both her distant mother and her desire for a child, her sister’s irrepressible optimism begins to take hold. With the help of quirky villagers, these hesitant rainy day sisters begin to forge a new understanding…and find in each other the love of family that makes all the difference. (publisher)
My take: Rainy Day Sisters is a novel about two half-sisters who find themselves living together for the first time in many years. Lucy, 26, is younger than Juliet by eleven years. She escaped her life and disappointments in America to live with Juliet in a small town in England’s Lake District. Juliet owns a B&B where Lucy will live and help out while also working at the local school as a secretary.
The two sisters barely know each other so their initial days are quite awkward. Each holds on to hurt feelings from the past – all leading back to their mother. Can they get past that history and move forward as sisters/friends? Kate Hewitt’s novel is warm and witty and heartfelt. I enjoyed the main characters as well as the secondary ones. The setting is lovely (and wet and cold).
I think anyone who enjoys novels about sisters and a British setting will like Rainy Day Sisters. At the end there’s a preview of the next book in the series: Now and Then Friends (August 2016). I look forward to reading it and seeing what’s new in Hartley-By-the-Sea.
Bookfan 