Title: Hester and Harriet
Author: Hilary Spiers
Genre: Cosy Mystery
Opens: “…The invitation reproached them from the mantelshelf…”
Blurb: When widowed sisters, Hester and Harriet, move together into a comfortable cottage in a pretty English village, the only blights on their cosy landscape are their crushingly boring cousins, George and Isabelle, who are determined that the sisters will never want for company; including on Christmas Day. As they reluctantly drive over to Christmas dinner, the sisters come across a waif-like young girl, hiding with her baby in a disused bus shelter. Using her rescue from the cold as a perfect excuse for returning home with good food and wine, Hester and Harriet insist on bringing Daria and baby Milo home with them.
The next morning a sinister stranger comes looking for a woman and baby and instinct makes the two elderly ladies deny any knowledge of Daria. Then Ben, their cousin’s son, arrives on the doorstep and announces he has run away from home. Hester and Harriet’s carefully crafted peace and quiet quickly begins to fall apart.
My Thoughts: HESTER AND HARRIET was a very enjoyable read centred around two elderly sisters with an appreciation for the finer things in life – something I can only aspire to. There is humour, kindness and a determination to make things right along with a gentle message that sometimes family is the one we choose rather than the one we are born into. From the moment they open their hearts and home to Daria and her baby boy there is intrigue and mystery. Daria is a foreign refugee who has fled to England for safety after political upheaval in her country and a series of circumstances has meant that she is now in England with an expired visa through no fault of her own; she needs kindness and help. Ben is a typically unaware teen male who has hidden depths that his aunts manage to bring out of him as he hides from his parents after a family disagreement. Harriet and Hester, along with Ben, set out to keep Daria a secret while they work out how she got into her predicament, who is hunting for her and how they can save her.
The story is a wonderful blend of comedy and drama that is set against a background of an English country village, local gossip and a cast of quirky support characters – aren’t they all quirky in English villages? The mystery behind Daria is gradually unveiled and Harriet and Hester are delightful amateur sleuths. I sometimes got the two sisters muddled up, but it didn’t matter because they worked as one unit. There were a couple of minor characters that appealed to me as well – the main one being a hobo called Finbarr.
The writing is beautiful and some of the old rarely used words just rolled off the tongue – such as consanguinity and lugubrious. The two sisters are constantly corrected Ben’s grammar, and his poor use of the correct tense, and I applauded this. So many youngsters today, and even some older people, talk as if they’re texting. The English language is beautiful – use it. Don’t be lulled into thinking this is a light and fluffy read, sure there are lots of food and wine discussions but there are some serious issues going on that are gently brought out into the open without feeling as though we are being lectured.
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B – Great – I really enjoyed reading it and it is a book I will be recommending to all my friends who like this genre.
With thanks to Allen & Unwin and the author for this copy to read and review. Allen & Unwin recommended retail price is $29.99
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