I’m a firm fan of Jo Thomas’s writing and I couldn’t resist breaking my blog tour sabbatical to feature her latest book, Coming Home to Winter Island. My enormous thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to participate.

You can read my reviews of Jo’s books A Winter Beneath The Stars here, Sunset Over the Cherry Orchard here, The Olive Branch here and Late Summer in the Vineyard here. I also have a smashing post about Jo’s top 5 holiday destinations that you can read here.

Coming Home to Winter Island is published by Headline Review and is available for purchase through these links.

Coming Home to Winter Island

Do you need to find out where you’ve come from before you can know what the future holds?

Ruby’s singing career is on the verge of hitting the big time, when her voice breaks. Fearing her career is over, she signs up for a retreat in Tenerife to recover.

But an unexpected call from a stranger on a remote Scottish island takes her on a short trip to sort out some family business. It’s time to go and see the grandfather she’s never met.

City girl Ruby knows she will be happy to leave the windswept beaches behind as quickly as she can, especially as a years-old family rift means she knows she won’t be welcome at Teach Mhor.

But as she arrives at the big house overlooking the bay, she finds things are not as straightforward as she might have thought.

There’s an unexpected guest in the house and he’s not planning on going anywhere any time soon …

My Review of Coming Home to Winter Island

Ruby’s singing career is about to take off – if only she could sing!

I’ve long been a fan of Jo Thomas’s writing and so it was with some trepidation that I began Coming Home to Winter Island because I didn’t want to be disappointed. I most certainly wasn’t. In fact, I think Coming Home to Winter Island is one of the author’s most perfect books and I adored it.

It almost goes without saying that Jo Thomas transports her reader to what ever setting she has chosen. This time it is the gorgeous Scottish Island setting where Teach Mhor house is situated and where the author’s descriptions of weather, flora and fauna give such a vivid sense of place. Those wonderfully created moments with the stags or streams and on the beach, for example, add both warmth and depth to the story as well as a glorious sense of place.

I loved the quality of research that has gone into the gin making aspects of the book. I think it’s because it feels comfortable knowing that there won’t be any glaring errors in the methodology to distract from the enjoyment of the read.

I found all the characters so real in Coming Home to Winter Island and although Ruby may not initially agree, I was in love with Lachlan from the very first moment I met him. However, it was Hector’s predicament that really touched me. The concept of ageing and what is best physically and emotionally for a person are considerations that resonated so deeply that I found Coming Home to Winter Island quite an emotional reading experience. Indeed, the themes of identity as Ruby finds out what is truly important to her, community, love and friendship are beautifully presented here so that Coming Home to Winter Island affords an opportunity for reflection at the same time as being a wonderfully entertaining story.

All the hallmarks of a Jo Thomas book are present in Coming Home to Winter Island, from warm, flawed and believable characters through a captivating plot in a brilliantly described setting, encompassing romance and challenge. I loved every word. It’s a glorious book to savour.

About Jo Thomas

Jo Thomas worked for many years as a reporter and producer, first for BBC Radio 5, before moving on to Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and Radio 2’s The Steve Wright Show. In 2013 Jo won the RNA Katie Fforde Bursary. Her debut novel, The Oyster Catcher, was a runaway bestseller in ebook and was awarded the 2014 RNA Joan Hessayon Award and the 2014 Festival of Romance Best Ebook Award. Jo lives in the Vale of Glamorgan with her husband and three children.

You can visit Jo’s website, find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @jo_thomas01.

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