Stately Pursuits - Katie Fforde

I am a big fan of the novelist Katie Fforde and have read many of her books. Although I generally seem to have kept up with her later books, I realised that there are a few earlier ones that I have not read. Stately Pursuits, written in 1997 was one that I had not read until recently when I managed to pick it up quite cheaply in a charity shop. Having now read it, I can safely say that her style really has not changed over the years and the only difference is that technology has moved on quite a bit. I couldn’t help noticing that very few of the characters have mobile phones in the book and no ... more

I had never read anything by Katie Fforde before and was having real trouble in my local library trying to find something I thought I would enjoy reading. I saw this book and another book by her, Wedding Season on the recently returned shelf and decided to give them a go. What instantly attracted me was the cover, it was primarily purple with a cartoon design showing a gate and a hedge which I could only imagine belonged to a stately home. Reading the blurb I realised it was my sort of book-easy to read chick lit and promptly checked it out! Stately Pursuits introduces us to Hetty, a very ... more

Stately Pursuits “Delicious … gorgeous humour” ~ Sunday Times The last thing Hetty was expecting to find upon her arrival at Alistair’s cottage was her boyfriend wrapped around another woman; little did Hetty know that this shock discovery would catapult her life into a totally new and wonderful direction. Whilst taking time to sort out her life Hetty takes up temporary residence in her Uncle Samuel’s home – Courtbridge House whilst he is in hospital awaiting surgery, her role is to maintain the house but to her surprise this isn’t going to be half as easy as she thought. Samuel’s closest ... more

Stately Pursuits is by author Katie Fforde who has also written bestselling novels Paradise Fields, Flora's Lot & Restoring Grace amongst others. The book follows Hetty Longden who has had her heart broken by her first ever love who has been cheating on her and her mother has decided she'll be perfect at looking after her Great Uncle Samuel's stately home which is in a state of disrepair and her Great Uncle is suffering financial difficulty so Hetty moves in to the house to look after it while her Great Uncle is recovering from ill health in a hospital and she begins to become part of the ... more

Having just caught her boyfriend Alastair in bed with another woman, Hetty, our heroine is suffering from a broken heart. Her mother thinks and ideal cure would be for her to house sit for her Uncle Samuel - not really an Uncle, more a second cousin a few times removed, who is in hospital and doesn't want Courtbridge house, the stately home he inherited, to be left empty. However, what initially looked to be an easy way of spending a few weeks till her heart mends turns out to be anything but as Hetty discovers details of Samuels mounting debts and has to come up with ever more ingeneous ways ... more