Rosa and Bee reminisce about their holiday to the Greek island of Paros.
The windmill guest house where they all stayed with their friend Iona.
But life moves on and both Bee and Rosa independently make decisions that will see them think again about the way their lives are going. They decide to go back and revisit Paros and the guest house, this time with a difference.
Rosa has purchased the guest house.
The only thing that is missing is Iona. They both try and contact her, but Iona having somehow drifted away from them as the years went by is struggling with her own life.
Iona has Ben to consider and as far as Ben is concerned, he is the only thing that needs to be considered in Iona’s life.
Bee does make contact, haltingly and fleetingly at first but it seems that Iona regrets the breakdown in their friendship and wants to see Bee and Rosa again.
A Greek island is perhaps the best place for her to rekindle this friendship, as long as she does not have to keep looking over her shoulder the whole time.
It seems that after some years, the three girls now women will be together again on this beautiful island.
In Vanessa Greene’s latest novel, whilst there is everything you would expect to find in her novels, strong women, female friendship, laughter and perhaps a smattering of romance here and there. In this one there is a slightly darker side to one of the storylines. This added drama to the plot and I was swept along with it just as much as I was the rest of the book. It was not something I was expecting from the author but it showed that she can certainly write a plot that is not necessarily full of happiness.
Alongside the plot is the descriptions of the scenery, the landscape of the island and the wonderful blue sea and warm sunny skies. Somehow Greene manages to depict England as dark and dismal for these women, not just in their lives but in the atmosphere and as soon as they land back on this Greek Island, it is as if the sun has suddenly come out for them all and that life is going to get better.
A move away from the norm, however this is a good read and this author is fast becoming a name to be mentioned in the same sentence as Katie Fforde, Trisha Ashley and Carole Matthews to name but a few!
The Book Jotter 