I was looking for something captivating and relaxing to read over the holidays and pulled Rosamunde Pilcher's "Coming Home" (1995) off of our home library shelf. I'd bought it at the Athens County Library book sale for $3. What a find! This was a wonderful book by the author of "September" and "The Shell Seekers", two books which I also enjoyed.Judith Dunbar attends boarding school in England while her parents and little sister are in Singapore. Her best friend, Loveday, comes from a wealthy family who live in a large home and welcome Judith for visits. When Judith's life and care take a precipitous turn (no spoilers given here), Loveday's parents enlarge their embrace as time moves on and the parents Dunbar are unable to care for their daughter--World War II begins and Judith wonders if she will ever see her parents or sister again. Will she ever find herself "Coming Home"?The front flap declares: "This is a novel to be savored, a curl-up-under-the-covers kind of old-fashioned reading experience hardly anyone knows how to write anymore. In telling the story of Judith Dunbar and her loved ones, Rosamunde Pilcher writes with warmth, wisdom, and clear-eyed insight about every family. This is a totally involving story of coming of age, coming to terms with both love and sadness…" I agree. "Coming Home" was enjoyed by my elderly mother, by me, and I think young adult women and teenagers would enjoy it as well. No vampires, hot sex, autopsies… this book doesn't need it. World War II was scary, and exciting, enough. Love and life and death and history are sufficient to build a story.The publisher declared that "hardly anyone knows how to write" this sort of story anymore. I disagree with that, because "Norah" by Cynthia Neale (see my review on Goodreads) is very much the same genre as this book. (Disclaimer: I own the company that published "Norah.") When I read "Coming Home" I recognized the same feeling within me as when I first read "Norah": "Ah, here I have found a friend and now I will spend some time with her. I wonder what her life will be like. Let me make a pot of tea and with my little dogs nearby, settle in on the couch for a nice Sunday read." Time to turn off Facebook and email and perhaps even the telephone and enjoy a few hours of escape.For men who enjoy this sort of settle-in-and-read novel, I recommend Lucky Press's "Will Turner's Flight Logs Series" by Chris Davey (in paperback and Kindle). Start with "The Aviator's Apprentice", then "Turner's Flight", then "Turner's Defense." (published by Lucky Press).
I really love Rosamunde Pilcher books. I hate how they look like sappy romance novels because somebody put dorky flowers and curlicues all over the cover, but rest assured, they're far from that genre. This is one of my particular favorites. It follows a girl (left in boarding school in England while her family goes to Singapore) before, during, and after WWII and goes back and forth between Cornwall, London, and various South Pacific locations. It's fairly epic in length--I think it clocks in around 1,000 pages, but it's totally fascinating. It's certainly not a candy-coated perception of war, and there's a fair amount of heartbreak and devastation throughout the course of the novel, but it is certainly a depiction of the triumph of the human spirit. Whatever that means.In essence, this is a book I love to read (and re-read and re-read and then read again some more) when I'm wishing I lived in Cornwall on a big rocky beach swathed with light and color and sound. Oh, and I have a big house with bowls of flowers everywhere and I cook exciting things and my furniture is covered in faded chintz and I have lovely hunting dogs that like to be taken on walks over aforesaid beach, even though in real life I think dogs smell and slobber too much. Um...I'll stop now, but I really like the evocative writing in this book, at which Pilcher certainly excels. Just go read it already.
What do You think about Coming Home (2005)?
Brideshead Lite... very light. I loved the Shell Seekers and liked September. This is a very weak production which rides on the popularity of those books - and I am really amazed that none of the reviews I've seen have commented on the class-consciousness and sexism which pervade the novel. Judith is a boring character who doesn't seem at all attached to any of the people who die tragically around her, some of whose deaths allow her to climb socially and improve her position, but not to actually marry someone out of her own class... heaven forbid! Through it all she goes placidly, making the appropriate noises and miming emotional responses to the events that occur (rather predictably). The saving grace is the setting - I kept reading only to see mention of the various names and locations in Cornwall, or else to catch a few historical references. This is a fairly harmless way to spend a few hours, but no more than that.
—Kewi
Coming Home covers the young life of Judith Dunbar. The book follows her from entering boarding school at about 14. Her mother and father have gone overseas with her father's job. Then WWII hits. Judith is left on her own, yet along the way, via her best friend at school, there are people who enter her life and become her second family. Nothing is rushed in this book, which is as it should be. I enjoyed the descriptions of the countryside and homes. A lovely British read that has me wanting endless cups of steaming tea, and toast.
—angeljoy
I read this book because my mother, who recently passed away, was a big fan of RP, and owned all of her books. I chose Coming Home to begin reading them because it sounded interesting, and because it was long .. which would, I thought, make me feel connected to my mother longer, and it did. This is an easy read, even though it is long. As I read it, I felt like I was channeling my mom, which was both comforting and enlightening. There is wisdom in this book. The kind that my mother imparted to me and my siblings, our whole lives. The simple, elegant wisdom came through the pages, through the story of Judith Dunbar, its heroine. The other characters surrounding her are also well-developed, as is the plot, which keeps you turning the page all the way to the end. It is a "light" read, even though it takes place during WWII, the story is not dark or gloomy in any way. It's just a simple story of girl coming of age, and her journey through that turbulent time. Judith, like my mother, was sensible, pragmatic, and kind.
—Amy Beth
