An email from Lee yesterday with a request for help in identifying a book:
Lee is trying to remember the name of novel she read some years ago, similar in style, she recalls, to the work of D.E. Stevenson -
"It was set in Scotland and revolves around a family is straitened circumstances. One son had left home and married and lived in London. His wife was very much a city girl. When she became pregnant she panicked and ended by leaving him and the baby. The son comes home to run the family estate. His mother (a widow I think) remarries an architect who adapts a house on the estate for them."
Lee says it was a lovely light domestic novel, and I must say that I like the sound of it and would be keen to read it if anyone can tell us what it is! One of O. Douglas's, perhaps?
~~~~~
In other news, the blog's comments system has 'gone funny' - it's not recognising me (or others, I think) as it should and it's requiring a sign-in via Typepad but not moving to that page when the link is clicked. You can still comment using the name/email address/website url (if appropriate) boxes, and all seems to be working normally over on Cornflower, but I've reported the glitch here.
I don't recognise this book but I'm pretty sure it's not by O Douglas.
callmemadam
Posted by: D | 19 September 2018 at 06:50 PM
Definitely not by O Douglas, but it does sound like the kind of book I'd like to read. Not read enough titles by Isobel Cameron or Anne Hepple to know if it's by either of them.
Posted by: Geraldine | 20 September 2018 at 09:12 AM
I can help! It is Wild Mountain Thyme by Rosamunde Pilcher, I am pretty sure. It is a lovely book!
Posted by: Lisa | 21 September 2018 at 08:51 AM
Posted by Cornflower on behalf of Ginny:
"According to a member or two of the D E Stevenson group on line, the
book that you are hoping to remember and read again is DRUMVEYN by
Alexandra Raife. I remember that she wrote numerous books most of
which I unreservedly liked and can recommend. I believe that DRUMVEYN
was one of her first titles if not the first."
Ginny later got back to me with more information, kindly provided by another member of the D E Stevenson group:
"Drumveyn by Alexandra Raife comes to mind, the protagonist is a recent widow, her son does live in the city with a very city-girl wife who refuses their child from the moment of birth. The son & child do move in to run the estate - not exactly straitened circumstances but many family problems. It seems to fit her recollection of the book she's seeking."
Posted by: Cornflower | 21 September 2018 at 05:10 PM
Yes, yes, yes!!!! Thank you so much. Drumveyn is it. No wonder I kept thinking Dunfermline. 😳
Posted by: Lee | 21 September 2018 at 05:59 PM
The hero is an architect in Wild Mountain Thyme and restores the estate.
I must try Alexandra Raife.
Posted by: Lisa | 21 September 2018 at 11:43 PM
Oh dear, you know what you have done, don't you?
Posted by: Toffeeapple | 22 September 2018 at 01:40 PM
I can guess!
Posted by: Cornflower | 22 September 2018 at 07:31 PM
So glad our well-read crew here were able to identify it!
Posted by: Cornflower | 22 September 2018 at 07:32 PM
I may well have mixed the two up, as I have read Wild Mountain Thyme also. 😃
Posted by: Lee | 24 September 2018 at 03:35 PM
Once again, thank you for helping me find Drumveyn. I procured a copy of it and Return to Drumveyn and spent enjoyable hours lost in that world. I would say more Rosamunde Pilcher than Stevenson or O Douglas. Light but full of flavor.
Posted by: Lee | 15 October 2018 at 04:36 PM