A Place For Us By Harriet Evans

[amazon_link id=”1472221265″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’A Place For Us’ is Harriet Evan’s latest book.

The day Martha Winter decided to tear apart her family began like any other day. The house has soft, purple wisteria twining around the door. You step inside. The hall is cool after the hot summer’s day. The welcome is kind, and always warm. Yet something makes you suspect life here can’t be as perfect as it seems. After all, the brightest smile can hide the darkest secret. But wouldn’t you pay any price to have a glorious place like this? Welcome to Winterfold. Martha Winter’s family is finally coming home.

‘A Place For Us’ was originally released as a four part instalment last year and I read the first part on a flight from Dublin to Toulouse and the short extract was a perfect distraction from turbulence and a nice introduction to the Winters family. On the outside, they are the perfect family, admired by their neighbours but on the inside, each member has their own trouble to deal with.

The story begins with mother of the Winter family, Martha sending out invitations to her 80th birthday with a mysterious twist to her invite, as she wants everyone in attendance for an important announcement. She battles with her inner turmoil, as she realises the consequences of her announcement.

From that point on, the story is cleverly seen from the perspective of the Winters family and their dramas in life. Daisy, Florence and Billy are Martha and David’s children. The eldest of the three children, Daisy harbours a deep jealousy and resents her siblings, bullying quiet and meek Florence and mummy’s boy Billy. Florence now lives in Florence, an expert in her field of Italian Renaissance, she lives in own bubble and lacks social skills. Billy is the local GP of the town, easy going, his wife Karen finds his laid back attitude frustrating whilst his young daughter Lucy, is trying to be a successful journalist even though she doesn’t have a size 0 figure or able to afford the trends. Whilst Daisy’s only daughter Cat is living in Paris, apparently living the dream and newcomer Joe, is looking forward to create the banquet for Martha Winters birthday. The chapters are short and snappy and are not only seen from the perspective of characters, but there is the also the inclusion of flashbacks of Martha’s and David’s first meetings which makes for sweet reading.

As the story is seen through many perspectives, it makes for insightful and captivating reading as each character deals with their burdens and prepares themselves for Martha’s announcement and the Winters family have to deal with Martha’s revelation and decide whether this news will either bring them together or blow them apart.

Filled with deceit, secrets and shocks throughout, the story is cleverly interweaved with smaller stories that are tied up neatly at the end. With a beautifully illustrated watercolour cover of the Winterfold house, ‘A Place For Us’ is a mysterious and intriguing story about family values and the consequences of what happens when skeletons in the closet are finally revealed.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”1472221265″ target=”_blank” ]A Place for Us from Amazon [/amazon_link] and is also available to buy from good bookshops.