Going back to the past is perhaps not always a good idea.
Kate returns to Wigtown, Scotland when her friend from childhood, Emily asks for help. Kate leaves everything behind of new life and goes back to Wigtown, to Bluebell Bank and Emily and her family as that is where she has always felt at home and loved.
But everything has changed.
Emily is very fragile and refuses to talk about the choices she has made and what led her to be back at Bluebell Bank caring for her grandmother, Lena.
Lena is changing by the day as dementia starts to take away the Lena, Kate knew who was able to bring all the family together.
Emily’s brothers, are scattered near and far and an undercurrent is running between them all.
This is not the place Kate thought it was going to be when she returned. Especially when she bumps into Luke, her first love.
This is a book which at first glance you think is going to be a light read, but it isn’t. Aside from dealing with deterioration and care of someone with dementia. We see how alcohol can have an overwhelming effect on family. How paths chosen when it comes to love are not necessarily the right ones and that secrets can lay buried, deep but are there to remind us of our guilt.
It has a strong storyline, but for me there was something missing, I just could not relate to the characters in any way. I was frustrated by them and the buildup to the history between Kate and Emily was rather a let down. The setting was magnificent and I was drawn to the place and the landscape but sadly not the story.
That does not mean this book is not for you – it could well be.
Thank you the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.
Summer at Bluebell Bank is out now in e-book.
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