A Winter's Tale by Trisha Ashley

I have lost count of the number of times I have read this book.  I only picked it up as I wanted something familiar to offset a rambunctious thriller that I was reading that required down time every 50 pages or so.  Well, that didn't work out too well because this little beauty kept me awake for 2 or 3 hours longer than I should have been thanks to "One more chapter won't hurt".

Yet again Trisha Ashley brings us a range of deeply human and believable characters that live off the page and I am pretty sure outside of her imagination too.  Somewhere there is a parallel universe where The Mosses exist and they are populated by these wonderfully realised people.  There is no overt characterisation here, instead everything is shown via word and deed so you just soak it all in and suddenly finding yourself giving them stern talking too when they do something silly or lose their temper due to a mis-understanding.

There is a vicarious, behind the scenes thrill to be had here too.  Since Sophy inherited the old manor house of Winter's End she sets about cleaning and polishing as if her life depended on it (then again she professes to find cleaning FUN - strange woman) and trying to come up with plans to improve income from the openings.  Fortunately her past has seen her work in less-than-stately homes which open to the public so she is trained in basic conservation techniques and has an idea what sells to the public.

There is the usual romantic plot here but somehow that just isn't important, it is just a nice little part of Sophy's journey and that of her Aunt Hebe who is very definitely a "character" in the English sense of the word.

All in all a wonderful down to earth comedy read that puts the biggest of grins on my face.

**Review originally published January 16th, 2018**