After more than twenty years, Lorelei has divorced her abusive husband and is about to make a new life for herself in Cornwall. She has happy childhood holiday memories of the place and hopes that this happiness will return to her. Her move, however, does mean leaving her beloved sister Janey behind, together with Janey’s ongoing struggles with her difficult teen Ruby.
Lorelei grasps her new life with both hands, pushes herself out of her comfort zone to make new friends, and is rewarded for her efforts.
Meanwhile, Janey finds it harder and harder to cope, and when Lorelei offers to take the troubled Ruby off her sister’s hands for a week, Janey is delighted.
But it isn’t only Ruby who turns up in Cornwall, with surprising and dramatic consequences.
Find Hope by the sea here
In Hope by the sea, Tessy Braun has created a cast of characters with complex real life issues and relatable ways – good and not-so-good – of coping with them. Their struggles are real, as are their moments of both despair and happiness. Likewise, the community which Lorelei joins gives us well-drawn secondary characters, including a delightful dog.
The ups and downs, the dramas are played out against a highly visualised background of autumn and winter on the Cornish coast. The seaside town and the coastal moods are a highly suitable foil to what is happening.
Hope by the sea is not a light tale. It addresses serious issues, but Tessy handles her characters with care and sympathy and does indeed give the reader hope.
Find more book reviews here & my monthly round up of books here.