The Lavender House

The Lavender House

The Lavender House

 

Nancy de Freitas is the glue that holds her family together. Caught between her ageing, ailing mother Frances, and her struggling daughter Louise, frequent user of Nancy’s babysitting services, it seems Nancy’s fate is to quietly go on shouldering the burden of responsibility for all four generations. Her divorce four years ago put paid to any thoughts of a partner to share her later years with. Now it looks like her family is all she has.

Then she meets Jim. Smoker, drinker, unsuccessful country singer and wearer of cowboy boots, he should be completely unsuited to the very together Nancy. And yet, there is a real spark.

‘I find writing with a man’s voice huge fun,’ Hilary says. ‘I sometimes have to ask my husband, ‘What’s the man’s perspective in this situation?’ But on the whole Jim seemed to fall into place all by himself.’

But Nancy’s family don’t trust Jim one bit. They’re convinced he’ll break her heart, maybe run off with her money – he certainly distracts her from her family responsibilities.

Can she be brave enough to follow her heart? Or will she remain glued to her family’s side and walk away from one last chance for love?

‘I wrote this book because I’ve seen many of my older women friends being put upon by family. The responsibilities of being a daughter, mother, grandmother and wife leaving them no time to do what they want to do, in order to be happy and fulfilled.

These women have done the bringing-up-the-kids bit. Done the devoted wife bit – cooking, washing, cleaning, shopping for the spouse. Done the working years, when maybe their focus was on earning money for the family. So now they should be free to pursue their own dreams.

Instead, they end up at the beck and call of the entire family. Not maliciously, from the family’s point of view, of course. They’re just taking her for granted. 

Nancy loves her family, but she struggles to have an identity beyond them, until Jim. ‘I loved creating Jim,’ Hilary says. ‘He’s not perfect by a long chalk, but he really tries, and he genuinely adores Nancy. He’s a bit of an innocent, really.’

‘I find writing with a man’s voice huge fun,’ Hilary says. ‘I sometimes have to ask my husband, ‘What’s the man’s perspective in this situation?’ But on the whole Jim seemed to fall into place all by himself.’

A warm-hearted story of families, trust and second-chance love.

Sunday Mirror

Warm-hearted and with a beady eye, Boyd gets under the skin of her characters to show that falling in love isn’t limited to the young, although it can be fraught with problems that only come with age. With plenty of will-they, won’t-they moments to keep the narrative swinging along, the novel goes some way towards demonstrating that while 60 may not be the new 40, it certainly isn’t the end.

FANNY BLAKE

S Mag, the Express

“Hilary Boyd in her inimitable fashion has told the story yet again of mature love which, like an excellent vintage wine, is just waiting to burst out of its barrels, freed from the constraint of convention and the inevitable signs of ageing.”

Karen Byrom

My Weekly

Meet Me On The Beach

Meet Me On The Beach

Meet Me on the Beach

 

When pillar-of-the-community Harry Stewart dies of a sudden heart attack, the whole village is devastated – except for his wife Karen, the only one who really knew the abusive alcoholic Harry had become.

Suddenly freed from this oppressive marriage, Karen is nonetheless wracked with guilt about the circumstances of her husband’s death. She sees the presence of her spoiled stepdaughter, Sophie, as a suitable purgatory. Her only comfort in her grief and isolation is William, the sympathetic local vicar.

“Karen never deliberately put herself in these compromising situations… But she gets sucked in, time and again to conflict. It can happen to anyone. It’s how you deal with it that counts”

As Karen shares her secret, William’s listening ear soon becomes a shoulder to cry on, and before long Karen realizes she is falling in love. But William has a wife and teenaged daughter, not to mention a parish to watch over – and be watched by.

As the pressure becomes too much to bear, Karen flees to the seaside and to Mike Best’s beach café. But when William suddenly turns up again in her life, can they persuade each other to take one final leap of faith together?

Karen is the victim of four tricky relationship choices:

  • She marries her much older boss – which makes for a potentially unequal relationship from the start.
  • She keeps quiet when her much-esteemed husband takes to the bottle and becomes abusive – so, she doesn’t get the support she badly needs.
  • She has inherited a hostile, yet vulnerable stepdaughter, with whom she has to negotiate a fragile peace.
  • She falls in love with a married vicar – the ultimate taboo.

‘Karen never deliberately put herself in these compromising situations,’ Hilary says. ‘She’s a quiet, decent person, who wants to do the right thing. But she gets sucked in, time and again to conflict. It can happen to anyone. It’s how you deal with it that counts, and Karen finally steps up to the plate and takes a long, hard look at herself and her life… and finds a sort of peace.’

 

“Thoroughly enjoyable read. Could totally empathise with the main character and could feel all of the emotions that she went through. I have read a couple of other Hilary Boyd novels and this one was very good – a real page turner!”

Good Housekeeping

A Most Desirable Marriage

A Most Desirable Marriage

A Most Desirable Marriage

 

“I was so torn, writing this book… I wasn’t sure till I was right at the end… So much hurt and betrayal can’t just fade away…”

Lawrence and Jo enjoy a strong marriage, the envy of their friends. Even after thirty years they have lots to say to each other, many interests in common and, until recently, a good sex life.

But now Lawrence is wary and restless. Something’s wrong. Just how wrong, Jo is about to discover…

Can they use their years of history – all the things they’ve shared – to overcome a devastating betrayal?

‘I’m fascinated by long marriages,’ says Hilary Boyd. ‘The average length of a marriage at the beginning of the last century was 15 years. Now it’s not uncommon to make 50. But what is it like to be married to the same person for so long? How do we make it work?’

Jo and Lawrence, like so many other people, never question their marriage, never really talk about it much. They’ve both had careers, brought up their two kids and are now approaching retirement – things have gone relatively smoothly for them.

But we change over a lifetime. And we probably should get wise to the fact that maybe our marriages do too. What works for a thirty-something won’t necessarily work for a sixty-something. 

When, out of the blue, Lawrence announces that he’s having a relationship with someone else, it’s obviously shattering for Jo. Especially at her age – her chances of finding another partner at 60 being much reduced. She could face being old and alone.

But despite what he’s done, the ties between her and Lawrence are still so strong. It’s very hard to break what is literally a habit of a lifetime. They are good friends as much as lovers. 

What will win out? The thrill Lawrence is experiencing of new, exciting sex – reinventing himself, just when he’s scared of retirement and all it implies? Or the enduring nature of love and close friendship?

 ‘I was so torn, writing this book,’ Hilary says. ‘I wasn’t sure till I was right at the end, whether I wanted Jo and Lawrence to make it together. So much hurt and betrayal can’t just fade away. If they are to be together it’ll take a huge amount of work… but it’s not impossible. I do believe that.’

 

“I loved the fact that the central character is a strong, older woman. She does have her moments when she just wants to lock herself away from the world, but generally I found myself wanting to cheer her on as she chooses to get on with her life. I always think that it is important to care for the characters that you read about and I really did in this book which is probably why I felt so involved.

Hilary Boyd has an easy style of writing and the subject matter is very contemporary. Having read other books from this author, A Most Desirable Marriage definitely heads my list. It’s a most desirable read.”

The Bookbag

When You Walked Back into My Life

When You Walked Back into My Life

When You Walked Back into My Life

 

Flora is in her late thirties, currently working as a private nurse for an old lady in South Kensington. Fin is a climber and all-round adventurer.

For eight years Flora’s love affair with Fin is a whirlwind of fun and spontaneity. But when Flora wants to settle down and have children, Fin vanishes. No phone call, no letter propped against the teapot, nothing.

Flora, naturally, is devastated. But life moves on and her world eventually fills with other people, other cares. She wants to believe there are benefits to being single – no socks under the bed, no mess in the bathroom – but the memory of Fin never really leaves her.

Then one day Flora is out shopping for the old lady she cares for – years after Fin leaves – and suddenly, shockingly, there he is, right in front of her.

‘I’m a changed man,’ he insists. Because he wants Flora back.

Is this a chance to put right previous wrongs? Or is it a massive mistake on Flora’s part?

“I worked as a private nurse for a while… I thought it was quite a strange situation… You have a key to someone else’s home, you almost live there…  you get to know everything about them”

‘I worked as a private nurse for a while, and I thought it was quite a strange situation for both nurse and patient.’ Hilary says. ‘You have a key to someone else’s home, you almost live there. And gradually you get to know everything about them – their friends and relatives, what they like eating, where they like to go, and a lot of their history. It’s a very responsible position, especially as the patient is almost always vulnerable in some way. If the job goes on for a long time – which many do – the house and the person she’s nursing become like an alternative family.’ 

It seemed like a good backdrop for a novel, but it’s always tricky making a woman character sympathetic, when she takes back a man who’s hurt her badly – however penitent he might be. Hilary didn’t want Flora to be a wimp. She wanted her just to be vulnerable, like we all are, to the prospect of love.

I absolutely loved it, I was hooked from page one. Yes it’s obvious from early on what is going to happen but I didn’t care at all. I just loved Flora, Dorothea, Simon, Mary and Bel

GoodReads

“Love, forgiveness and second chances are all touched upon in this compelling, romantic story”

Closer

“This novel is a good yarn with a dilemma you’ll be talking about long after you’ve finished the book”

Candis Book of the Month

Tangled Lives

Tangled Lives

Tangled Lives

 

Annie Delancey is happily married to Richard, in her early 50s, with three grown children. But Annie guards a dark secret. Aged 18 she had a baby boy, whom she gave up for adoption. She still thinks of him every day, but she never expects to see him again.

Then, out of the blue, she receives an official-looking letter from Kent Social Services. Her son, Daniel, wants to make contact. On one hand she is overjoyed – she longs to meet him. On the other, she has never told her children that they have another sibling.

Tangled Lives follows the effect this powerful revelation has on her family. With Daniel as the catalyst, small tears in the family fabric suddenly become huge. 

Hilary wrote this book because she has a friend to whom this happened when she was the same age as fictional Annie.

Like many of her generation – the baby boomer lot – her friend didn’t have the luxury of being able to decide for herself the fate of her baby.

She was bundled off to a home for unmarried mothers, to await her baby’s birth in a cloud of shame. Then she had zero choice – with absolutely no support from her parents or family – but to put the child up for adoption. She was heartbroken, having nursed the child for ten days before he was taken away.

No person – especially a vulnerable teenager – should be treated like this. And, mercifully, times have changed. But the unimaginable trauma of giving up a baby you had begun to bond with, knowing you would probably never set eyes on him again, really stuck with Hilary.

‘This was a difficult book to write… Thursdays had seemed to flow onto the page, but I wasn’t quite sure how I’d written it. So I got the equivalent of ‘second album’ syndrome with Tangled Lives…”

‘This was a difficult book to write,’ Hilary says. ‘Thursdays had seemed to flow onto the page, but I wasn’t quite sure how I’d written it. So I got the equivalent of ‘second album’ syndrome with Tangled Lives. It was much more complex – more characters, more back story, and I used more than one voice. Also, I felt a responsibility to my friend, although her story is just the skeleton of the novel.

The first draft was really not working. Luckily, my editor, Jane Wood, sorted it out with some judicious advice. But it shook my confidence in my writing.’

Listen to a chapter 

“Poignant, well observed and wonderfully written… a heart string-puller”

Closer

“At times this is heartbreaking, yet is at heart a very human story about the complications arising from keeping secrets in the family”

Image