From a Distance
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
One of Britain's favourite chroniclers of life and the rural dream returns with a compelling story of a family divided by war
'Wonderful writer ... Incredible books' David Baldacci, New York Times
'She writes beautifully ... Combining, with apparent ease, emotion and admirable precision' Independent on Sunday
Bruised and brutalised by war, Michael returns to England on a troop ship, unable to face the life that awaits him at home. Impulsively he boards a train heading to the western tip of Cornwall. In doing so he changes his destiny.
More than fifty years later, Kit, a charming stranger, arrives in a coastal Norfolk village to take up his inheritance – a decommissioned lighthouse, half hidden in the shadows of the past. Meanwhile Luisa falters in the flow of her life as her children begin to fly the nest and she is left suspended, without direction. When Kit and Luisa meet, neither can escape the consequences of Michael's split-second decision made all those decades ago.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Barker (Poppyland) continues her signature line of cozy romantic dramas with this feel-good story, which flips back and forth between the present and the period immediately following WWII. In 1946, British soldier Michael Marker returns to England from the war, but cannot bring himself to rejoin his parents and fianc e, for what now seems like a stultifying existence. Instead, he enters an artists' colony on the coast of Cornwall, where he falls in love with Felicity, a textile artist; but their happiness proves short-lived. In the modern day, Kit Delaware comes to the same area of Cornwall to look over an old lighthouse left to him by his late mother. Kit, an affable bachelor, is intrigued by the lighthouse and by the nearby villagers, who all greet him warmly. Neighbors Luisa and Tom are particularly welcoming, and Kit soon develops a comfortable friendship with them. Barker slowly reveals the connection between the contemporary story and Michael and Felicity's romance, but thanks to a cast of characters who often seem just too darn nice to be real, there's little suspense. Sacrificing excitement, the reader is rewarded with a story refreshingly upbeat and free of any angst.
