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A review by portybelle
Coming Home to Winter Island by Jo Thomas
4.0
Island setting – tick
Remote Scottish island – tick
Christmas – tick
Cold, frosty weather – tick
Grumpy, handsome man – tick
Gin – tick
Family mystery – tick
Written by Jo Thomas – tick
Let’s face it, with all those ticks, I was always going to love this book wasn’t I?
On the face of it, Coming Home to Winter Island is an odd title. Singer Ruby has never even heard of Winter Island, let alone been there so how is she coming home? She is on the verge of being signed by a record company when her voice just goes, leaving her distraught and a band without a singer in the lead up to Christmas. About to head off to a yoga and voice retreat in Tenerife, she gets a call which changes her plans and she finds herself on a stormy boat ride to the remote island of Geamhradh, which is Gaelic for winter, hence Winter Island.
I cannot imagine having lost touch with family to the extent that Ruby has. I am lucky to have always had most of my close family living nearby. But Ruby’s late father had been estranged from his father Hector and, living so far away in Bristol, Ruby didn’t even know he was still alive. As Hector’s next of kin, she is the one who legally has to make decisions about his welfare which is difficult when she doesn’t know him or anything about him. It was only natural I suppose that the islanders looked on her with some suspicion and thought she was on the island to see what she could get!
Lachlan is the rather grumpy fly in the ointment I mentioned above. He obviously cares for Hector and has his best interests at heart. He too is suspicious of Ruby at first, but as they begin to work together to rediscover the mystery ingredients needed to produce the Teach Mhor gin, they begin to understand and trust each other. This was a part of the book I really enjoyed and thought that Jo Thomas wrote about their growing friendship particularly well. Both have secrets and issues in their past which they need to resolve in one way or another.
I thoroughly enjoyed spending time on Winter Island with Ruby, Lachlan and Hector. Once again Jo Thomas has created a fantastic sense of place and characters who are perhaps flawed, but no less endearing for that. The portrayal of caring for an old man with dementia and trying to work out what was in his best interests was sensitively done and made for some poignant moments. This is a warm-hearted book to enjoy on a chilly winter’s day with a hot chocolate or, perhaps more appropriately, an island gin. (I recommend Harris gin by the way!)
Remote Scottish island – tick
Christmas – tick
Cold, frosty weather – tick
Grumpy, handsome man – tick
Gin – tick
Family mystery – tick
Written by Jo Thomas – tick
Let’s face it, with all those ticks, I was always going to love this book wasn’t I?
On the face of it, Coming Home to Winter Island is an odd title. Singer Ruby has never even heard of Winter Island, let alone been there so how is she coming home? She is on the verge of being signed by a record company when her voice just goes, leaving her distraught and a band without a singer in the lead up to Christmas. About to head off to a yoga and voice retreat in Tenerife, she gets a call which changes her plans and she finds herself on a stormy boat ride to the remote island of Geamhradh, which is Gaelic for winter, hence Winter Island.
I cannot imagine having lost touch with family to the extent that Ruby has. I am lucky to have always had most of my close family living nearby. But Ruby’s late father had been estranged from his father Hector and, living so far away in Bristol, Ruby didn’t even know he was still alive. As Hector’s next of kin, she is the one who legally has to make decisions about his welfare which is difficult when she doesn’t know him or anything about him. It was only natural I suppose that the islanders looked on her with some suspicion and thought she was on the island to see what she could get!
Lachlan is the rather grumpy fly in the ointment I mentioned above. He obviously cares for Hector and has his best interests at heart. He too is suspicious of Ruby at first, but as they begin to work together to rediscover the mystery ingredients needed to produce the Teach Mhor gin, they begin to understand and trust each other. This was a part of the book I really enjoyed and thought that Jo Thomas wrote about their growing friendship particularly well. Both have secrets and issues in their past which they need to resolve in one way or another.
I thoroughly enjoyed spending time on Winter Island with Ruby, Lachlan and Hector. Once again Jo Thomas has created a fantastic sense of place and characters who are perhaps flawed, but no less endearing for that. The portrayal of caring for an old man with dementia and trying to work out what was in his best interests was sensitively done and made for some poignant moments. This is a warm-hearted book to enjoy on a chilly winter’s day with a hot chocolate or, perhaps more appropriately, an island gin. (I recommend Harris gin by the way!)