Coming Home...Review

About the book:
Against the backdrop of an elegant Cornwall mansion before World War II and a vast continent-spanning canvas during the turbulent war years, this involving story tells of an extraordinary young woman's coming of age, coming to grips with love and sadness, and in every sense of the term, coming home...

In 1935, Judith Dunbar is left behind at a British boarding school when her mother and baby sister go off to join her father in Singapore. At Saint Ursula's, her friendship with Loveday Carey-Lewis sweeps her into the privileged, madcap world of the British aristocracy, teaching her about values, friendship, and wealth. But it will be the drama of war, as it wrenches Judith from those she cares about most, that will teach her about courage...and about love.

Teeming with marvelous, memorable characters in a novel that is a true masterpiece, Coming Home is a book to be savored, reread, and cherished forever.

I think this is my favorite of Rosamunde Pilcher's novels. Most people rave about The Shell Seekers, and yes, it's a great book. But, I love the character of Judith in Coming Home. She's independent and feisty, yet she yearns for love and a family.  When her father must go to Singapore for work, her mother and sister accompany him and Judith is left on her own.  She befriends the spunky, rich Loveday and finds herself immersed in a new and privileged world and the Carey-Lewises accept her as one of their own.  With them she finds a family, love and even heartbreak.

As World War 2 begins, Judith also discovers her own strengths as she faces a new and unknown future. 
 
Coming Home is set in England, mostly in Cornwall, during World War 2. Pilcher's characterizations and visuals are incredibly accurate and beautifully descriptive.  She writes from experience and the book is all the richer for it. 

This is a book I read over and over again. It's like a good friend. Well worth your time.

Personal copy last read 2011

* * * *
4/5 Stars

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