THE CHILDREN'S HOUR is set in a beautiful and well-loved family seaside home--a beautiful Devon sanctuary for adult sisters Nest and Mina. As the novel opens, the two senior women must adjust their lives a bit when their older sister comes to stay with them--and they must adjust even more when powerful memories come with her. June Barrie offers a warm performance; her voice is a velvety purr and her delivery appropriately lively. The setting, brimming with gardens and seascapes, comes alive with Willett's descriptions and Barrie's attention to the beauty of words. THE CHILDREN'S HOUR offers a pleasant escape to the beach and a thoughtful exploration of the meaning of family. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
From Booklist
She may not be as famous as Binchy or Pilcher, but British writer Willett is just as gifted at combining elements of romance and melodrama into compelling women's fiction. Stylistically, her writing mirrors Pilcher's, with a hint of subtlety suggesting more literary fiction, but her generational plots and sumptuous scene setting have all of Binchy's wide-ranging commercial appeal. The "children's hour" was the time when Lydia read to her six children at Ottercombe, the family home in Devon. It was a delightful childhood, but nothing could protect the children from war and personal tragedy. Memories of earlier times are still fresh for now-septuagenarian Nest and Mina, whose quiet life at Ottercombe is disturbed by the arrival of their eldest sister, Georgie, who despite encroaching senility knows all the family secrets and threatens to reveal them. Willett captures the sights, sounds, and smells of seaside Devon superbly, and her characters are just complex enough to draw us into the story and keep us there contentedly. A must for women's fiction readers.
Emily MeltonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
