2022; 330 pages. New Author? : No. Genres : Family Life Fiction; Romance. Overall Rating : 8*/10.
It was the best day of Clive Wilson’s life; it
was the worst day of Clive Wilson’s life.
On one hand, he saved an
eleven-year-old boy’s life by pushing him out of the way of an oncoming Range
Rover as he crossed the street. All the
locals are calling him a hero, so maybe this was his best day ever.
On the other hand, Clive
didn’t have time to get out of the way of the Range Rover himself, he got
clobbered, ended up in the hospital, and now walks with a limp and a cane. So maybe this was his worst day ever.
Clive doesn’t feel
heroic; he thinks that anyone else would have done the same. So why should he view this as his finest
hour?
Well, because if he hadn’t
saved the life of little Oscar Northfield, he never would have met Miss Sophie
Relfe, the boy’s aunt. And he never
would have fallen in love.
What’s To Like...
Amazon labels The Relfe Sisters a “Family Life Fiction”, which
seems like an apt descriptor, although I’d hasten to add you could also call it a
Romance. Clive’s life-saving effort
introduces him to three sisters who are all dysfunctional in their own way.
Diana, Oscar’s mom, is the
eldest sister and is suffering through a lucrative, but unhappy marriage. Marianne, the youngest of the three, is divorced, a
settlement from which has left her financially okay, but emotionally
bitter. Sophie, the middle sister, has had a
couple of wild romantic flings, which have made her fearful of falling in
love. You might say she’s “twice bitten, third time shy”.
The text is a vocabularian’s
delight, partly because Richard Herley is an English author, and partly because
he is a wordsmith par excellence.
That means there were a whole slew of fascinating terms to suss
out. My favorite one is listed below,
but others include: skip-hire, kerb, Hilux,
Teasmades, motor-yacht, wheelie-bins, splashback, Dysons, broody, nugatory,
brolly, chin-chin, bolshie, pellucid, tannoys, twee, satsuma, coign, pelmet,
and snaffled. I'm a bit embarrassed to note that Spellchecker is familiar with almost all of these.
There are a whole bunch of
interesting characters to meet and get to know besides the three sisters. Mrs. Blennerhassett was one of my favorites,
so was Uncle Jerome. As an American
reader, I found Richard Herley’s depictions of modern-day life in England to be delightful, particularly riding the trains and preparing the meals. The book’s settings, especially London and Surrey, also brought back fond memories, since I’ve visited both while in England on a couple of excursions.
The ending was a very logical wrap-up to the tale. There weren’t
any this-changes-everything twists to it, but Romance lovers will find
it satisfying. The final chapter is a “flash-forward”,
and made me say “awwww."
Kewlest New Word ...
Subfusc (adj.) : dull and gloomy.
Others: see above.
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.0/5
based on 4 ratings and 3 reviews.
Goodreads: *.**/5 based on 0
ratings and 0 reviews.
Kindle Details…
The
Relfe Sisters currently sells for $3.58 at Amazon. Richard Herley has 15 other e-books for you;
they range in price from free to $4.99. The freebies are The
Penal Colony, Nature Writing, and The Stone Arrow, in three widely different
genres. I’ve only read that last one, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Excerpts...
Before her marriage she had worked as a
librarian: it was at the public library that Julian had met her. Issuing his books
one Saturday morning, she had, boldly for her, mentioned that she too was keen
on medieval poetry, and Julian, who had never so much as summoned the nerve to
ask a girl to the pictures, had thereupon asked her what time she got off, and
would she like to have a cup of coffee with him and discuss Piers the
Plowman? (loc. 502)
“I was telling Mr. Wickham here, London is
overrun with foreigners.”
“His name is Wilson.”
“I know that very well. I have been testing him. I wanted to see if he would correct me and he
did not. Not once. What are you doing with a milquetoast like
that, my dear? He looks like a bank
clerk and behaves like one. At least
your other conquests had a bit of spark in them. Maximilian, for example. Why did you have to part from him? He was streets better than this one. (loc. 2775, and no, I have no idea what the
phrase “streets better” means.)
“Marry me or be
murdered. It couldn’t be plainer.” (loc. 3383)
There’s not much to gripe
about in The Relfe Sisters. The cussing is sparse; I counted just 17
instances in the first 50% of the book.
There are some adult situations and sexual references mentioned, and
unless I’m overthinking it, at least one gay relationship.
Sophie definitely gets the
most ink of the sisters. Indeed,
when I was about halfway through the book, I was questioning whether Marianne
and Diana were impactful enough to merit being included in the title. But their roles get bigger as the story
went on.
That’s all nits I can pick. For me, The Relfe Sisers was a fast-paced, easy-to-read tale of human relationships that held my interest despite it being in
a genre I normally don't partake of. I wish that more
Romance novels were written with this depth.
Finally, if you purchase and read this book, and like it, I recommend next picking up Richard Herley’s Darling
Brenda, which is in the same genre.
8 Stars. One last delightful word that I added to my vocabulary as soon as I ran across it in The Relfe Sisters: “forfuxake”. Yes, I’m sure it’s a made-up word. But jeez, it ought to be added to the dictionary.
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