A Country Escape by Katie Fforde

You might have to suspend belief a little when you read A Country Escape. The novel follows London chef Fran who has been given the chance to inherit a farm from Amy, a distant cousin who is in a retirement home. It is a dream opportunity for Fran who has always yearned for country life, but there’s a steep learning curve in store for someone who’s a bit afraid of cows.

The story is complicated by the arrival of another distant relative, Roy, the Australian who is charming to Aunt Amy but boorish and mercenary around Fran. Roy believes Amy will leave the farm to him and is keen to sell it and cash in. Luckily Fran has her good friend Issi on hand to boost her confidence and Tig who helps with the heritage herd of cows Amy’s family has been breeding for decades.

One thing Fran must avoid is having anything to do with neighbouring landowner Anthony Arlingham. The Arlinghams have been Amy’s enemies since the war. But Anthony is good-looking as well as surprisingly charming and helpful. He seems happy to help Fran with all kinds of problems, offering his chauffeur and car at the drop of a hat, supporting Fran's cheese-making and dishing out funds for track repairs to allow the milk tanker up to the farm. But does Anthony have an ulterior motive?

The story bounces along from one calamity to the next, while Amy seems reluctant to warm to Fran, setting her problems and nodding off during visits before she can help with any answers.

Some issues for me were things like Fran’s instant success at cheese-making or how looking after new-born puppies can make the heart grow fonder – the second time I’ve read this plot device in a Fforde novel. The characters are a bit too obviously nasty (like Roy), or too wonderful (like Anthony), or not really developed much at all, even though they pop up repeatedly (like Issi and Tig).

Nevertheless, I whizzed through the book, quite enjoying the setting of the Cotswolds, the descriptions of hearty and delicious meals and the plucky character of Fran.  There may be few surprises but the book is a pleasant and light-hearted read - definitely one for the airport, beach or for unwinding after all the stresses of associated with lockdown and beyond.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link (book): A Country Escape
Catalogue link (ebook): A Country Escape

Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn

This wonderful book is a mystery story with a twist – told entirely from Chet the dog's perspective. Bernie Little is a private detective and together with his dog Chet they make the best crime-solving team. In this case, their client is Cynthia, a mother desperate to find her daughter Madison who has been missing for 8 hours – the police won’t look into it until 24 hours have passed. Bernie and Chet don't usually do this kind of thing but they need the money so take the job.

Chet and Bernie go to Cynthia's house to gain information about Madison but just as they are leaving, Madison arrives home. She explains where she has been but Bernie quickly ascertains that she is lying. When Madison disappears again, her mother waits over a day to call because she turned up before. Things work out rather differently this time as Bernie’s car tyres get slashed and Chet is injured.

The police believe she has run away and are not very concerned but Bernie and Chet continue to look for Madison. This story is well written and although I thought I knew the 'what' for a while, I hadn’t figured out the 'why' until the end.

Spencer Quinn has written several other titles in this series including Thereby Hangs a Tail and To Fetch a Thief (both on Libby). Although I slightly skimmed some parts to get to the 'why' in the plot, Spencer Quinn has easily become a new favourite author. He also wrote the Bowser and Birdie series which is in the Junior Fiction section at the Library.

Posted by Andrea

Catalogue link: Dog on It

Some Classic E-Audiobooks

Lockdown has been a great time for audiobooks – you could have them playing while doing jobs around your bubble. Personally, I’ve been going for audiobooks of stories I know quite well as there is something comforting in the familiarity of well-known books.

Pollyanna was written by Eleanor H Porter in 1913 and tells the story of the little orphan girl, Pollyanna, who was taken in by her stuffy, dutiful aunt. Pollyanna’s father was a poor missionary who invented the ‘glad game’. The glad game began when Pollyanna wanted a doll so they asked that one be sent in the missionary barrels because they couldn’t afford one. The missionary barrels arrived but there was no doll, instead there was a pair of crutches. Pollyanna was disappointed but then she and her father decided that they could be glad they didn’t need the crutches. After her father dies and she moves to live with her aunt, Pollyanna shares the glad game with the town - except her aunt because her aunt has forbidden her to talk about her father. Pollyanna quite unknowingly changes the outlook and future of many people in the town but then something happens that makes it seem impossible for her to play the game. There are many sequels to Pollyanna also written by Eleanor H. Porter, including Pollyanna Grows Up, also on Libby.


Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery was written in 1908 and remains popular for children and adults due to the creative and likeable main character. Anne has been an orphan for almost her whole life and has been shuffled between orphanages and foster families ever since. The foster families took her in to help care for their children and were unkind to her. Anne longs for a place to call home and a family of her own. One day she is selected to leave the orphanage to make a new home at Green Gables with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. But when she gets there she learns that there has been a mistake and the Cuthberts wanted a boy to help on the farm. However Matthew quickly becomes attached to Anne and they decide to keep her on a trial basis and hire some farm help. Anne’s imagination and red haired temper land her in a few spots of trouble throughout the rest of the book. L M Montgomery wrote many other books including nine sequels to Anne of Green Gables.

Heidi was written in 1881 by Johanna Spyri. There are several different movies based on the book – one starring Shirley Temple. Heidi has been living with her aunt since her parents died when she was very young. When her aunt is offered a job, she takes Heidi to live with her estranged grandfather. Her grandfather is viewed as hostile by the village of Dorfli, but he takes Heidi into his home and is kind to her. Heidi settles in well and enjoys living in their house on the mountain until her aunt returns to take her away. Heidi is a beautiful story set on a picturesque mountain in Switzerland. Sadly the author passed away before she could write any sequels to Heidi. Her translator, Charles Tritten, however, wrote several sequels which perfectly capture the style of Johanna Spyri, including Heidi Grows Up and Heidi’s Children, published in 1939.


Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (sorry, another orphan story) was written in 1847. I was obsessed with Jane Eyre as a teenager and listened to the audio story from the library many times (I don’t remember it being over 17 hours however). Even now I watch as many versions as I can find. There are so many facets to this love story – if you are a Jane Austen fan this is a must read, watch or listen to.

Next on my list are Little Women (written in 1868) - no orphans this time - and Pride and Prejudice (written in 1813).

Posted by Andrea

eGraphic Novels in Libby

Hastings District Libraries eLibrary has some great graphic novels to explore.

To to find these once you are in Libby, try going to explore and do a search on graphic novels.
This will give a result of around 797 books.
There are graphic novels for the whole family. Geronimo Stilton, Percy Jackson, The Witcher,
Locke and Key, The Walking dead and Doctor Who. There are also Japanese language Books.
All the big names from Marvel are there The Avengers, Wolverine, X-Men, Spiderman, Black Panther Captain America, Daredevil, Deadpool, Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy.
There are also some DC titles, Batman, and others
There are the special event issue’s like House of M, Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, Annihilation, The Dark Knight returns, The Killing Joke, V for Vendetta and others.
Some of these are of older material and you may have never seen them before. The joy with this is you can easily read an entire series in order.
The collection doesn’t cover everything but it does give you good options to go back and view the highlights.
So log in and have a search for something you might like (and remember if you read it quickly there is an option to return it early so someone else can get it out).

Posted by Rob Middleton