Fern Britton
About:
When Cordelia Jago learns she’s been left the crumbling manor house Wilder Hoo, perched high on the Cornish coast, she wonders if it’s one last cruel joke from beyond the grave.
Having already lost her marriage, her best friend and her career, she’s at rock-bottom. Now she’s inherited a house she hates, full of unhappy memories.
But as she fights with its echoing rooms and whispering shadows, the house begins to exert a pull on her. The wild Cornish landscape, the stark beauty of seagrass and yellow gorse against the deep blue sea, begin to awaken a connection she thought she’d buried forever.
Review:
A really easy read from Fern Britton.
Delia (Cordelia) is such a lovely character, a little naive but with her Auntie Rose and mum Christine bringing her up, they try to guide and give her a carefree childhood.
Johnny her misunderstood husband whose loyetalies lie very obviously with his parents not his wife. Brought up by a tyrant of father and an alcoholic mother, Johnny’s parents live in a large dilapidated house that they have great plans for. It is all about standing and money to Johnny’s parents. They even have a housekeeper Mrs Joy, who appears like a whisper on a breeze when she is most needed, cooking hearty meals than vanishing into the night.
For many years no one saw Mrs Joy only the meals she prepared. When Delia asked about Mrs Joy she gleamed no information. The family enjoyed her meals but seemed unperturbed by their mystery housekeeper.
Wilder Hoo was once a beautiful home and the hopes are it will be again but, Delia hates the place, as much as she has tried to love it, she struggles. With no heating the house was draughty and devoid of love.
Slowly she uncovers the lies and cheating realising the family have no money to renovate the house and all the investments they talk about are just that, all talk. Delia sets about trying to help by cleaning the place and using her own money to do odd jobs, but she is also working full time and receives no thanks from Johnnys parents.
When Johnny inherits the house after his fathers death and her marriage turns sour she finally flees the clutches of Johnny and Wilder Hoo.
But Wilder Hoo hasn’t finished with her yet.
When a freak accident takes Johnny’s life she discovers he has left Wilder Hoo to her. After fleeing its clutches she finds herself as its owner.
Does she sell it, which is her first thoughts. She doesn’t want to visit it, rather put it in the hands of a real estate agent and get rid. The memories are painful, her times under Wilder Hoo roof haunting. She doesn’t want to step foot in the place ever again but her friend Sammi (an up and coming interior designer) a delightful and engaging character has other ideas and persuades her to visit it one last time.
Auntie Rose is a side character but very much integral to the story of Delias childhood, as this story weaves from past to present. And as for Mrs Joy she is like the Mary Poppins of Wilder Hoo, she comes and goes but where from no one knows.
This is a departure from my normal genre though I have read Fern’s books before. This was a heartwarming and cosy book to curl up with.
