August 2013 Re The Lochandee Series
Best Books of the Year So Far
Looking for something good to read? Browse our editors' picks for the Best Books of the Year So Far in fiction, nonfiction, mysteries, romance, and much more.
Looking for something good to read? Browse our editors' picks for the Best Books of the Year So Far in fiction, nonfiction, mysteries, romance, and much more.
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This
review is from: A Maxwell
Loss (Laird of Lochandee) (Kindle Edition)
I chose the highest ranking because of the characters in the
book as well as the story line were exemplary. I love all of Gwen Kirkwood`s
books. I never get tired of the characters
Another Home Another Love
This is a charming tale with likeable characters. The love story between Rosemary and Sam is sweet and special and the reader feels like a friend watching over the pair and willing them to be together. Romance fans will adore Another Home, Another Love. It is the perfect easy read to curl up in a chair with on a Sunday afternoon.
Fiona Reid, Dumfriesshire Newspapers.
Heart of the Home
Dean Scott and Avril Gray are best friends, but when they get older Dean stays on the farm while Avril leaves to attend university. Unfortunately, there’s a death in Avril’s family. Now the guardian of her younger brothers, she’s determined to keep them together in their beloved family home. Avril and Scott’s feelings for each other deepen into a romantic love. It’s obvious they’re meant for each other, but Dean’s mother proves to be an obstacle, especially when she finds out that Avril doesn’t know who her birth father is. Kirkwood shows that although farmers in rural Scotland appear to lead a calm, pastoral existence, there are cauldrons of conflict and negative feelings just waiting to bubble over. In this poignant tale,
there’s a strong-minded woman who is more than willing to turn up the heat.
Booklist, 2011
A Home of Our Own
Steven and Meg Caraford, whom we met in Dreams of Home (2009), have survived WWII, and now look forward to a peaceful life on their farm in Scotland. It’s the early 1950s, and things have never seemed better. They have a healthy baby boy; Steven’s brutal, bullying brother, Fred, has moved to Canada; and the farm inspector has approved their operations. However, their idyllic existence is threatened when their friend, Ruth, suddenly returns, bringing with her a young daughter, the result of Fred’s sadistic rape. Once again, Kirkwood brings her readers an emotionally complex, ultimately heartwarming slice of life in rural Scotland. Richly detailed, this book transports the reader to a different time and place, where food is still rationed, and a television set, purchased just so the villagers can watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, is a cause for celebration. ~ Booklist, 15th April 2010
Dreams of Home
Kirkwood’s ability to involve her readers emotionally will have them rooting for the hero as he overcomes roadblock after roadblock. The vivid descriptions of life in rural Scotland after the end of World War II add to the reality of the story. ~ Booklist, 1st October 2009
Written on the Wind
A charming, gentle, poignant and thoroughly enjoyable romance, Written on the Wind is a beguiling rural tale of small-town life and heart-warming romance that will go down a treat with fans who enjoy the stories of Rosamunde Pilcher and Alexandra Raife. Wonderfully told, appealing and romantic, Written on the Wind is not to be missed! ~ Julie Bonello, Single Titles
When the Heather Blooms
An engrossing family saga set in post-war Scotland, When the Heather Blooms is a wonderfully gripping and evocative tale set in the 1960s. Ms. Kirkwood expertly brings the period to life and engages her readers from the very first page with this poignant and enjoyable tale of unexpected romance, family intrigue and emotional drama. New readers will be instantly hooked by the trials and tribulations of the Pringle family, whilst existing fans will be clamouring for more wonderful stories from the pen of talented storyteller Gwen Kirkwood! ~ Julie Bonello, Single Titles
When Victoria Pringle receives a request to visit Catriona in the hospital, she discovers that her long-dead twin, Mark, left a teenage son. Peter is invited to Langmune and soon becomes popular with the entire extended family but most especially young Mimi, seven years his junior. While Libby and Billy are adjusting to marriage, fortysomething Victoria and Andrew suddenly find themselves proud parents for the fourth time. As the youngest generation of Pringles grows into adulthood in the 1960s, change comes slowly but inevitably to Darlonachie in Kirkwood’s tender wrap-up of the Heather trilogy (Secrets in the Heather, 2007; Call of the Heather, 2007), concerning a small Scottish farming community and featuring an unflinching portrayal of both the joys and sorrows encountered in that world and way of life. ~ Booklist, 1st July 2008
The 1960’s is a time of huge changes in the agricultural world but it is family affairs that pre-occupy the Pringle family with the discovery of a nephew they never knew they had. The family welcomes a young man determined to learn all he can about his farming family roots. Once again Gwen Kirkwood has woven an absorbing chapter in the life and times of rural Dumfriesshire. She effortlessly combines fact and fiction, lacing both tragedy and joy into the lives of the community to create an evocative and memorable saga. The authenticity of farming practices described in the story and the observations of the changing attitudes of the time add to the depth and charm of this story. ~ S. J. Bryden, Dumfries & Galloway Standard 6th June 2008
Call of the Heather
Kirkwood’s matter of factly narrated but nonetheless emotionally gripping sequel to Secrets in the Heather spans the war years and the following decade, as the second generation in her farming saga grows to maturity, trains for careers, marries and begins their own families in the Scottish dairy and sheep raising industries. ~ Booklist
In call of the Heather we share in the lives and the loves of the Lennox family and their friends and we see the changes in the social history of that time. Gwen Kirkwood draws on her experiences in the rural community of which she has such knowledge. This delivers a realism and warmth which has become the hallmark of her books. ~ Dumfries & Galloway Standard
Secrets in the Heather
"Victoria is the darling of her great-grandmother and the last of her line in a family that has served the lairds of Darlonachie faithfully for centuries. But much has changed in the years following the Great War, and when Victoria is suddenly left alone in the world, Mr. Luke’s wife makes her life as cook’s assistant miserable. Andrew Pringle, her best friend, is several years older and hopes to make her his wife when she is grown, but he fears competition in the form of young Mark, closer to Victoria’s age and sharing her interests. Kirkwood begins a charming new family saga set in southwest Scotland during the years between the world wars with this lushly descriptive, warmly evocative, and unblinkered glimpse at a mostly neglected yet certainly significant time in history." ~ Booklist
Home to the Glen
"Fans of the Maxwell saga will want to read this latest instalment, but the book has enough background information for it to work well as a stand-alone volume. A family tree included in the front of the book makes it easy to track the many Maxwells who populate this poignant story of life on a Scottish dairy farm in the 1980’s." ~ Shelley Mosley, Booklist. (American)
Gwen Kirkwood continues her Dumfriesshire farming saga which follows the fortunes of the Maxwell family into the latter part of the 20th century with cousins Paul and Ryan. Their plans are not without obstacles and affairs of the heart will ultimately shape their destinies.
Born in Yorkshire, Gwen Kirkwood has spent almost all her adult life in the farming community and her real life experiences give a special depth to her stories. Once again she weaves an absorbing tale, intertwining fact and fiction. ~ Dumfries & Galloway Standard & Advertiser
Children of the Glens
"Beginning in 1962 this third book of the Maxwell Saga chronicles the third generation of Maxwells and acts as a cautionary tale about marrying strictly for looks. An interesting subplot concerns such changes in the world as Kennedy's assassination, the moon walk and the Vietnam War. And changes in the methods of dairy farming are detailed by Kirkwood, who writes with great authority, having attended agricultural college and married a Scottish dairy farmer. Readers who like soap operas, miniseries, and sagas such as Colleen McCullogh's The Thorn Birds, or John Galsworthy's Forsythe Saga will go for Kirkwood's Scottish Series." ~ Shelley Mosley, Booklist. (American)
The Laird of Lochandee
“Will interest fans of soap operas and mini-series such as Colleen McCullough’s `The Thornbirds’.
~ Booklist. (American)
Fairlyden
“Romance with a capital R” ~ Manchester Evening News
“A dramatic period tale set in the villages and countryside of Lowland Scotland”. ~ Fife Free Press
“An enjoyable family saga of life in nineteenth century Scotland, when country people lived close to starvation and were subject to the whim of the laird.” ~ South Hams Free Press
Mistress of Fairlyden
“As with the first novel, this is a compelling tale of country life and is emotionally and descriptively fullfilling” ~ Dumfries & Galloway Standard and Advertiser
The Family at Fairlyden
“This local saga just gets better and better and the final book in the quartet is anticipated eagerly by this reader” ~ Dumfries & Galloway Standard and Advertiser.
Fairlyden at War
“As I turned the last pages of this book I was filled with a feeling of regret. My disappointment stemmed from the knowledge that this was the last in the quartet of a Dumfriesshire farming saga - a series which I have enjoyed immensely. ~ Dumfries & Galloway Standard and Advertiser.
“ A romance with more than a touch of steel to it and with a fine feel for the countryside” ~ Northern Echo, Darlington
No comments:
Post a Comment