Blog Tour stop for this uplifting and hilarious journey in this charming debut
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"Cold Comfort Farm meets Adrian Mole in the funniest debut novel of the year. "
Synopsis
Yorkshire, the summer of 1962. Sixteen year-old Evie Epworth stands on the cusp of womanhood.
But what kind of a woman will she become? Up until now, Evie’s life has been nothing special: a patchwork of school, Girl Guides, cows, milk deliveries, lost mothers and village fetes. But, inspired by her idols (Charlotte Bronte, Shirley MacLaine and the Queen), she dreams of a world far away from rural East Yorkshire, a world of glamour lived under the bright lights of London (or Leeds).
Standing in the way of these dreams, though, is Christine, Evie’s soon to be stepmother, a manipulative and money grubbing schemer who is lining Evie up for a life of shampoo and-set drudgery at the local salon. Luckily, Evie is not alone.
With the help of a few friends, and the wise counsel of the two Adam Faith posters on her bedroom wall (‘brooding Adam’ and ‘sophisticated Adam’), Evie comes up with a plan to rescue her bereaved father, Arthur, from Christine’s pink and over-perfumed clutches, and save their beloved farmhouse from being sold off.
She will need a little luck, a dash of charm and a big dollop of Yorkshire magic if she is to succeed, but in the process she may just discover who exactly she is meant to be.
My Review
We join this read in Mid July1962, the Summer weather and the summer holidays are just beginning and Evie Epworth is ready for them!
Living on a dairy farm just her and her father after the loss of her mother, the 16-year-old, feels on the brink of adult hood, O levels exams are finished and is ready to make some big decisions!
With dreams of London calling, or even Leeds after all Evie is a Yorkshire lass and Leeds is our big City! (I was born in Leeds too can you tell!) Evie wants to be the best she can strong and independent and, in the end, her decisions and choices to be her own which don't really fit in to the plans everyone around her has for her!
Especially the "gold digger" that is Christine who has set her sights on Evie's Father and in turn getting her claws into him and making him sell the family farm.
It's all down to Evie, can she Dave her dad, save the farm and follow her own dreams in the process?
This is an absolutely charming and laugh out loud at part debut, I fell in love with Evie so much of this era sings to my soul especially as a Yorkshire lass myself, I remember well at 16 the feeling of the world been on your doorstep.
I loved Evie mission to help her father and overcoming the demanding Christine, reaching out to the friends around her and new friends made in the process provided a beautiful incite to Evie's mother and also shaped the choices Evie finally makes.
This is in the end an uplifting and hilarious journey, full of laughter and teenage angst but with touching beauty and emotional moments with the tale of coming of age at its heart.
Author Bio
Matson Taylor grew up in Yorkshire but now lives in London.
He is a design historian and academicwriting tutor and has worked at various universities and museums around the world; he currently teaches at the V&A, Imperial College, and the RCA.
He has also worked on Camden Market, appeared in an Italian TV commercial, and been a pronunciation coach for Catalan opera singers.
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Thank you to the Publisher and Author for sending me an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel and for the opportunity to review these works.
All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.