Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

About the author

Rosamunde Pilcher was born on the 22nd September 1924 in Cornwall. She began writing when she was 7 and published her first short story at the age of 15. From 1943 to 1946 she served with the Women’s Royal Naval Service. In 1946 she married her Graham Hope Pilcher and they moved to Dundee, Scotland together. In 1949 Pilcher’s first novel was published under the pseudonym Jane Fraser, she went on to publish a further ten novels under that name. In 1955 she published her first novel under her own name, by 1965 she had dropped the pseudonym entirely. Pilcher retired from writing in 2000, two years later she received her OBE.

Blurb

Born in Colombo, Judith Dunbar spends her teenage years at boarding school, while her beloved mother and younger sister live abroad with her father.

When her new friend Loveday Carey-Lewis invites Judith home for the weekend to Nancherrow, the Carey-Lewises’ beautiful estate on the Cornish coast, it is love at first sight.

She falls in love too with the generous Carey-Lewises themselves. With their generosity and kindness, Judith grows from naive girl to confident young woman, basking in the warm affection of a surrogate family whose flame burns brightly. But it is a flame soon to be extinguished in the gathering storm of war. And Judith herself has far to travel before at last . . . coming home.

Review

This book is just beautiful, I loved every moment of it and it has gone straight on my all time favourites list. It has been a long time since I have finished a book and immediately wanted to read it again. I just could not put it down and was worried it would be over too quickly so I actually started to pace myself.

The book is centred around Judith Dunbar and the reader is introduced to her when she is about to start boarding school. Her mother, father and younger sister Jess live abroad, hence why she is at boarding school and it is arranged she will spend the holidays with her aunt. Whilst at school Judith meets her lifelong friend Loveday and eventually meets her family. The book follows Judith’s life through the second world war and leaves Judith just after the war is over. As the book goes on we learn about the other characters in the book.

I was so excited to read this book as I remember watching the TV series with Joanna Lumley and a very young Keira Knightly when I was younger and just thinking how glamorous and beautiful everything was, so when I saw the book on Kindle for £1.99 I jumped at the chance to buy it. The book is even better than the TV series but I must admit the TV series is very close to the book and the actors were brilliantly matched up with their book equivalents. This book had me in tears at times, it made me laugh, it made me think and much more.

Judith is a very strong woman who has become strong due to the circumstances of her upbringing, Judith soon realises that her mother is not a strong woman and so she needs to take charge occasionally and help her mother. When her mother goes abroad to join her father Judith is left alone in a strange school and quickly has to make friends and adapt to her new environment. Meeting and befriending Loveday Carey-Lewis is a big help in this and when she goes to spend weekends and holidays with the Carey-Lewis family she has a place to call her own and a family who treat her as a daughter, she is loved and protected there but also stands on her own feet and remains independent.

We see Judith fall in love, mourn and see her take on the war. Pilcher shows WW2 in its truest form, she does not glamorise it and at times I found it hard to read about but I am pleased Pilcher kept it realistic. Throughout this book you see Pilcher’s life influencing the book, Pilcher lived in Cornwall and the book is mainly set in Cornwall, Pilcher also served in the war and so does Judith. These true experiences come through the book and makes it so believable to read.

One of my favourite characters other than Judith was Diana Carey-Lewis, she is so glamorous and elegant and lets nothing phase her. She seems like the perfect friend, mother and wife. I did not know whether I wanted to be her or be her best friend. I also really liked Edgar Carey-Lewis, he is the perfect gentleman and from a previous era, a gentle soul who is very shy.

The character I truly disliked was Judith’s father and I was very pleased he was not in the book very much. He was a selfish man and when Judith’s mother desperately wanted to go home to Judith and comfort her, he forbade it. He had no feelings towards his oldest daughter or his wife’s wellbeing, his wife clearly had a fragile mind and really did not want to be living abroad but he made her come back out there and live her life there. I found him very cold and heartless. Thankfully this was the only element I did not like about the book and it was only small.

This book is just over a thousand pages long as it follows a massive chunk of Judith’s life from early teenage years to mid twenties but I loved every page and it is an amazing read. Pilcher is now a favourite author and I am planning on which book to read next, I just hope it is as good as this one. The book is beautifully written and a joy to read, I highly recommend it to everyone and I award it a massive 5 Dragons out of 5.

Lady Book Dragon.