I know it might seem like I am on something of a D.E. Stevenson kick now, but that is because I am! Her books are so utterly charming and just right for the kind of light, late afternoon reading I thoroughly adore. Like The Times says, she is the Mistress of the light novel and yesterday as I sat in the world’s rosiest socks reading Vittoria Cottage, I found myself smiling at the page, smiling in that you want to live these people’s gentle, domesticated, quietly love-torn lives way, smiling because one of the characters is in a rather hilarious battle with her thyroid (to which I can so relate!) and occasionally smiling because of gorgeous paragraphs like this one…
It was important to Caroline to do things right, to do whatever she did to the best of her ability. she saw beauty in ordinary little things and took pleasure in it (and this was just as well because she had had very little pleasure in her life). She took pleasure in a well-made cake, a smoothly-ironed napkin, a pretty blouse, laundered and pressed; she liked to see the garden well dug, the rich soil brown and gravid; she loved her flowers. when you are young you are too busy with yourself – so Caroline thought – you haven’t time for ordinary little things, but, when you leave youth behind, your eyes open and you see magic and mystery all around you: magic in the flight of a bird, the shape of a leaf, the bold arch of a bridge against the sky, footsteps at night and a voice calling in the darkness, the moment in a theatre before the curtain rises, the wind in the trees, or (in Winter) an apple-branch clothed with pure white snow and icicles hanging from a stone and sparkling with rainbow colours.
If you haven’t read D.E.Stevenson before (WHAT is wrong with you – she wrote Miss Buncle’s Book!) then you are in for such a treat because Vittoria Cottage is the first in a series of three among a long list of other Stevenson books, and that is something of a delight to me all by itself: is there anything quite so sad as knowing a book you are adoring is coming to an end? Nor anything quite as wonderful as finding out that the story doesn’t end there and you can stay in your favourite characters world for a little longer? So might I recommend dedicating your Autumn evenings to D.E.Stevenson? Starting a new season with a new author is one of my most treasured Brocantehome rituals and Stevenson is just right for settling down with a nice cup of tea and pretending you are far away in the post-war villages of England. Currently free on Kindle Unlimited and otherwise available for $3.99 on Amazon.Com and £2.99 for Amazon.Co.Uk. Vittoria Cottage is just our kind of Brocante bliss.
Create your own Brocante Life Book, plan Christmas, set up routines and rituals or live life the BrocanteHome way with my guided workbooks and planners.
A Collection a Day is a new project by artist Lisa Congden who has set about documenting all the collections in her life, whether they be real or imagined… Eighteen days in to the  project Lisa  has featured pegs, string, vintage portraits…
Listen, if I reach the end of my tether before the rest of you, do you want me to send you a postcard? I’ve stripped him down and inspected him from all angles and glory be, Finley does not have chicken pox….
Happy Friday Honey Pie’s, it is almost September and after a hectic month I am only just getting around to sharing my favorite treats from the July edition of the Puttery Post. In the same vein, the next week looks set to…
So here we are again. Though I can hardly believe it, it is September again, and as sure as eggs are eggs I am once again aching to wipe the slate clean, scrub till I’ve worn my fingerprints thin and of course…
Most mornings I wake up and lie there for a little while charting my course through the coming day: how can I wish the day away fast enough to climb back into the sanctuary of my cosy bed and take up my…
Peace and a Pomegranate. Oh joy. I have spent the last hour curled up in a ball in bed with Finley, eating the seeds of a pomegranate with a sterilised needle the way my mum used to do, watching Madeline on the…
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I’ve never heard of this author, nevermind read anything by her. But that paragraph you quoted has me intrigued, so I’ve gone and checked it out on Kindle Unlimited. The description of the book on Amazon has me cringing a bit (will have to just hope for a happy ending, I have enough angst in my life right now) but the writing sounds just lovely. Thanks for the review!
I just read all three in the series last week, as well as “Anna and Her Daughters”, because they’re all on Kindle Unlimited. Go ahead and enjoy without worries; Stevenson never leaves you hanging, wishing things had turned out differently.
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I’ve never heard of this author, nevermind read anything by her. But that paragraph you quoted has me intrigued, so I’ve gone and checked it out on Kindle Unlimited. The description of the book on Amazon has me cringing a bit (will have to just hope for a happy ending, I have enough angst in my life right now) but the writing sounds just lovely. Thanks for the review!
I just read all three in the series last week, as well as “Anna and Her Daughters”, because they’re all on Kindle Unlimited.
Go ahead and enjoy without worries; Stevenson never leaves you hanging, wishing things had turned out differently.
Just bought this one about a week ago, and I’m looking forward to it! The only D.S. Stevenson book I’ve read thus far is Miss Buncle’s Book.
Oops–D.E., not D.S.! I watch a lot of British crime drama. 🙂