My enormous thanks to lovely Chloe Davies at Pan Macmillan for sending me a copy of A December to Remember by Jenny Bayliss in return for an honest review. It’s my pleasure to share that review today.

Published by Pan in paperback on 9th November 2023, A December to Remember is available for pre-order through the links here.

A December to Remember

A December to Remember follows the three North sisters who rekindle their broken relationship in the wake of their father’s death.

Wildly different half-sisters Maggie, Simone and Star have hardly seen each other since their idyllic summers spent in the charming village of Rowan Thorp, the home of their eccentric father, Augustus. Known for the fruitful ways in which he and his bustling curiosity shop kept the towns tongues wagging and ladies swooning, Augustus was loved by all and known by none, not even his daughters.

Now, years later, the three estranged women are unexpectedly reunited at the reading of Augustus’s will. Maggie, Simone and Star are shocked to find out that Augustus has engineered a series of hoops through which the three women must jump to unlock their inheritance – the last thing any of them want to do. But each sister desperately needs the money, and they are in no position to rebel against their father’s final wishes.

Spending the winter months at Rowan Thorp stirs up feelings with forgotten flames, and makes the sisters confront the lives they’ve left behind. As old wounds resurface and long-buried secrets come to light, the sisters must learn to work together if they hope to succeed. Sometimes the only way to move forward is to go back to where it all began . . .

My Review of A December to Remember

The disparate North sisters are about to be forced together.

A December to Remember is a gorgeous story of family and community just perfect for reading whilst curled up on a cold winter’s afternoon. It will have readers sifting through their own lives both literally and metaphorically, looking for treasure amongst the junk and emerging with a little bit of magic.

I so enjoyed A December to Remember because it filled me with hope, contentment and happiness. It’s entertaining, engaging and surprisingly emotional so that I read the final few chapters with a tear in my eye. 

The plot is inspired because although Augustus Balthazar North has already died before the action takes place, he is the magnificent catalyst for all the action. His eccentric character steers the three North sisters, Star, Simone and Maggie, in directions none of them expects and often that they don’t want, so that there’s a kind of gleeful mischievousness behind the story with lots of humour too. 

The three sisters are so well depicted that, although they have different mothers, their genetic similarities feel just right. What Jenny Bayliss does so beautifully and surprisingly emotionally, is to explore the importance of family and community. I identified most closely with Maggie as her reluctance to say no and to allow others to help her felt very familiar. I felt Simone was the sister who developed the most over the story and I just adored Star in spite of her somewhat wayward behaviour in the past. It’s impossible not to become embroiled in their relationships and to want the very best for them.

Often when books have a wide cast of secondary characters I feel as if I only have a perfunctory understanding of them, but in the village of Rowan Thorp, all the people felt real and accessible. Indeed, I’m hoping that A December to Remember isn’t the last we see of them all.

A December to Remember is a truly lovely read. Filled with family and community and the the things that are important in life, Jenny Bayliss takes both her characters and her readers on an emotional and, ultimately, uplifting journey. This is the kind of book the world needs right now. I loved it.

About Jenny Bayliss

Jenny Bayliss lives in a small seaside town in Kent with her husband, their children having left home for big adventures. She went back into education when she was thirty-nine and gained a first-class degree in Creative and Professional Writing from Canterbury Christ Church University.

Jenny likes long walks along the seafront and baking days, especially when it’s cold outside. She is a stationery-obsessed coffee lover who doesn’t believe in saving things for best and shamelessly wears party dresses to the supermarket.

Jenny is also the author of The Twelve Dates of Christmas, The Winter of Second Chances and Meet Me Under the Mistletoe.

For further information, follow Jenny on Twitter/X @BaylissJenni and find her on Instagram.