Hold On To Hope
A Cornish Christmas by Lily Graham is a most delightful contemporary novel dealing with life and death, friendship and family, hope and fears. I absolutely adored it as I sank into its pages and was hooked from the start.
The novel is told from the point of view of Ivy. She lost her Mum five years earlier but there is still a Mum shaped hole inside her. “I needed Mum and her unshakable, unbreakable faith.” No matter how old you get, you still need your Mum.
The novel is a study in grief. It is raw and it is honest. “Death is not something you get over… all you can do is try to exist in the after.” The passing years fail to diminish the pain. “No-one tells you how grief can twist you inside out and make the simplest thing… an impossibly hard heartbreaking task.”
Lily Graham shows the need for friendship. The need for true friends who will go the extra mile. I loved the scenes with the Thursday Club as the love and warmth just oozed out.
Life is a partnership – with friends, family, work colleagues – No-one is meant to do life in isolation.
Ivy is an illustrator of children’s books. I loved the way Lily Graham weaved the children’s stories into the book. I am rather disappointed not to be able to buy Detective Fudge’s tales for myself!
The novel really came alive for me. I felt like I was reading about my friend Ivy and not a novel. I shared her highs and lows. Her hopes and fears.
The book demonstrates that we all have hopes and dreams. These may change over time. “Sometimes on the way to your dream, you find a new one, a better one.”
Lily Graham portrays life in the Cornish countryside rather like the old BBC program The Good Life. Local produce is key and some rather unusual delicacies are produced. Life is more relaxed than the hustle and bustle of London.
Sometimes relationships break down. Lily Graham shows that it is important to have empathy and restore broken family bonds.
I adored A Cornish Christmas. The book really spoke to my heart. No words of mine can fully do the novel justice. My advice is to buy a copy and then lose yourself between its pages. You will be glad you did.
A wonderful, magical novel. Perfect.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.
JULIA WILSON