I picked up Rose Cottage because I wanted something sweet and engaging. As usual with Mary Stewart, I was not disappointed. You might know the name from her Merlin saga (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, The Wicked Day, and The Prince and the Pilgrim.)

The book, set just after WWII in England, opens with a summons from Kate Herrick’s Grandmother to come to Scotland as she is ill, moving and needs a hand. Kate was born illegitimately (her mother is referred to with the delightful phrase "light skirt".) Her mother never says who that father is, but everyone assumes it’s a gypsy. Kate, called Kathy by her family, spent her childhood with her mother and grandparents in a small village. Her grandmother is a cook in the manor house (in England) and her grandfather is the gardener. Her grandfather dies when Kathy is about 5 and her grandmother’s sister Betsy, a fire and brimstone Christian, comes to help out around the house. Aunt Betsy and Kathy’s mother clash to the point that Kathy’s mother runs away with the gypsies, leaving Kathy in her grandmother’s care. Later they hear that Kathy’s mother was killed in a bus crash. Kathy grows up, becomes a teacher, meets a dashing airman during the war, marries him and is widowed 5 weeks later. Poor Kathy can’t catch a break with a butterfly net, can she? Anyway, all this happens before the story begins so all the upsetting drama is presented as stuff everybody knows (or almost everybody anyway.)

When Kathy goes to see her grandmother she finds that the normally hale woman has been sickly, has purchased a house in Scotland near the Masters other house in Scotland (where they plan on living now as they can’t keep up with 2 large properties) and she wants Kathy to go down to the house in England to pack up a few things including the contents of a small wall safe. With me so far? This is no fluffy plot to be told in one sentence. So Kathy goes back to the village where she was raised. She discovers that the safe has been emptied (apparently with a key), all her grandfather’s tools are gone, and she’s told by the local spinsters (one of whom has visions) that her mother has been seen around with a possible other person.

From there you’ll have to read the book, it’s definitely worth reading.

Kate is a wonderfully level headed person. The people in the village I would give my eye teeth to have grown up with, even Aunt Betsy. Everyone is nice, social. The place is old fashioned and plain old kind. The Spinsters are great as a group. They come across as 3 women who have lived close together for a very long time, Miss Agatha, all business, Miss Mildred, all kindness, and Miss Linsey all crazy (she's the medium.)

The most traumatic thing that happens (other than the climax which is totally positive) is when the vicar’s wife refers to the "scandalous Welland family" before she realizes that Kate Herrick was Kathy Welland. Ooops.

And personally I liked the fact that the Christians were not presented as being totally wonderful individuals while the non-Bible thumping denizens were allowed to be good folks too. I get exhausted by books where, every time religion is involved, the upstanding Christians are stereotyped as almost having wings while the rest of us are obviously not up to snuff.

Still, the whole tale is just very nice. No deaths occur in the present, no violence, no incest, no modern sturm und drang. Just a nice story that has enough plot to it to keep you turning pages (in my case until the bath water is cold and my toes have turned pruney.) There isn’t a soul on Earth (except possibly a Christian who does think all Christians have wings) who could object to this book. So if you’re detailed murder mysteries, graphic horror novels, or just feel a bit world weary from pondering what might have happened to Chandra Levy, toss a copy of Rose Cottage in your bag and head for the beach.


Recommended: Yes