Coming home

Fern Britton is the highly acclaimed author of six Sunday Times bestselling novels. Her books are cherished for their warmth, wit and wisdom, and have won her legions of loyal readers. Fern is a judge for the Costa Book Awards and this year has supported the Reading Agency by writing a short novel to encourage less confident adult readers. 

A hugely popular household name through iconic shows such as This Morning and Ready Steady Cook, Fern is a much sought-after presenter most recently presenting, The Big Allotment Challenge (BBC2), For What It’s Worth (BBC1), Culinary Genius with Gordon Ramsay (ITV) and her advent series Fern Britton Meets (BBC1). Fern has now also turned her talents to acting, with her new role in the stage musical Calendar Girls, which is directed by Gary Barlow. 

Fern lives with her husband, Phil Vickery, and her four children in Buckinghamshire and Cornwall. To find out more, connect with her on twitter @Fern_Britton and www.facebook.com/officialfernbritton 

About Coming Home: 

When the only place you want to be is home… 

When Ella’s beloved grandmother dies, she comes back to the beautiful Cornish coast to heal her heart. There she finds her home again and discovers a new life, and new love … But she also opens a treasure trove of secrets. 

Sennen left Cornwall a young single mum but unable to cope. She left her children, her family and part of her. She’s spent the years hiding from her past, hiding from herself. 

Now it’s time to come back. To Cornwall. To face her mistakes. To pray for forgiveness. To hope for a future with her daughter. 

My Review

As always Fern Britton captures the essence of Cornwall. I also loved Sennon's journey in this book which embraces more exotic climes too. I did find it quite hard to warm to her though as trying to find the motivation for what she did, other than being young, selfish and wanting to 'find' herself', was quite hard. Her remorse at the end and her desire to mesh two different lives went some way towards understanding her, if not actually forgiving her. Her daughter Ella is more forgiving than her son but perhaps the healing powers of Cornwall can work their magic on him too? Exploring the themes of love, loss and forgiveness I enjoyed seeing the different points of view as well as the lovely descriptions of Cornwall.