Book Review: The Winter That Made Us.

If you want to get your new year reading off to a cracking start, I highly recommend Kate Field’s latest, The Winter That Made Us.

I could easily sum it up in one word for you: perfect.

Of course, you probably want a few more, as this is a review, and I’m happy to provide them.

I’ve wanted this book since it came out but after spending nearly £4,000 on a new boiler I knew I was going to have to wait and see if Santa had me on the good list this year. Thankfully he must have missed all the naughty stuff because Freya (via Mark) got me a book voucher. It didn’t last long.

Kate’s debut, The Magic of Ramblings, won the prestigious Joan Hessayon award and her latest takes us back to the whimsical old house – or rather its grounds – where we get to catch up with some of the people from the first book as well as some wonderful new characters. I always love it when that happens.

Here’s the blurb:

When Tess finds herself unexpectedly alone and back in Ribblemill, the childhood village she thought she’d escaped, she’s sure she can survive a temporary stay. She’s spent a lifetime making the best of things, hasn’t she?

Determined to throw herself into village life, Tess starts a choir and gathers a team of volunteers to restore the walled garden at Ramblings, the local stately home. Everything could be perfect, if she weren’t sharing a cottage and a cat with a man whose manner is more prickly than the nettles she’s removing…

As winter approaches, Tess finds herself putting down her own roots as fast as she’s pulling them up in the garden. But the ghosts of the past hover close by, and Tess must face them if she’s to discover whether home is where her heart has been all along.

Noah is a perfectly imperfect hero. He is a brooding, troubled man with a beautiful heart. It’s so easy to fall for him, to want to help him mend. Tess is equally complicated, equally likeable. They are the perfect match. Both a little broken, both has what the other needs to heal – if only they could see it.

The emotional, touching, hopeful story is also full of the mystery I’ve come to expect from Kate’s books and it kept me engrossed until the end. Once again I stayed up well beyond bedtime and was then up early the next day to finish it (although that was thanks to Freya’s predilection for getting up before the sun).

Quite often after I’ve finished a book I will think about it for a few days and find a couple of minor things that didn’t sit quite right. There wasn’t anything I would change about this book. Kate has outdone herself. I think this is her best yet.

What a fantastic start to 2019.

Format: Kindle.

Price: 99p via Amazon.

My rating: Five stars.

Kate very kindly appeared in my Behind The Book series where she talked about her debut. You can read it here.