Nonagenerian Meredith Russell has returned to her family home in Cornwall for Christmas. She has lived in America for many years, working professionally as a professor and raising her family, but she has always kept hold of Kestle. Now, she must decide what to do with the property.
Accompanying Meredith is her granddaughter Grace, who was forced to travel by her mother given that she only works in a bar which isn't a real job. Grace is the odd one out in her family. Her mother, Marina, sees her as directionless and an underachiever. She certainly has no interest in becoming an academic like her sister, her parents and her grandparents.
What Meredith hasn't told anyone is that she knows that her time on this earth is coming to an end. She is looking forward to being reunited in the afterlife with her beloved husband Jake. This visit is a chance for Meredith to say goodbye to friends, and to visit the places that have been so important in her life and to spread her husband's ashes. The memories are strong at Kestle, including those of her marriage to Jake on Christmas Eve 66 years previously.
Meredith, Jake and her mother lived quite extraordinary lives, particularly during WWII. Meredith worked in the map rooms, and she worked closely with someone who is very well known now, but for different reasons, Ian Fleming. In addition, her mother worked behind enemy lines. Don't be mistaken, whilst Meredith does share her memories and I would love to have heard more, these WWII memories are not the true focus of this book. Rather they help us understand Meredith and Jake were when they met and fell in love.
One of the last things Meredith wants to do is to help Grace map out what her life might look like, but with Marina interfering from the other side of the Atlantic it's not going to be easy. The longer Grace spends at Kestle, the more she begins to bloom.
Yesterday I reviewed another Christmas book where I used words like silly, fun and festive to describe it. This book is no less Christmas focussed but has a completely different feel. The words that I would use to describe this book would be emotional and poignant
I love that this book references quite a few instantly recognisable things. For example, the property has Frenchman's Creek as one of its boundary, which you may recognise as the name of one of Daphne du Maurier.
I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below, and if you are in the UK, enter into the giveaway.
Rating 4/5
The Last Christmas
When a final goodbye in Cornwall is only the beginning…
Meredith Tremayne Russell has spent her life mapping the world, first in intelligence during WWII, and later as a professor. But at ninety-eight with time running out, she faces a journey she cannot chart, a return to her old Cornish home to sell it and to scatter her beloved husband’s ashes.
With her is her twenty-five-year-old granddaughter, Grace, a dyslexic who believes she is a failure in a family of academics. For Grace the trip is a welcome escape from her mother’s demands. But when she unlocks her great-grandmother’s abandoned art studio, she finds a legacy of a passionate artist and a French resistance fighter.
As Meredith relives the frozen December of her 1946 wedding, she understands her final mission isn't to say goodbye to her old home, but to draw one last map—showing Grace how to navigate a life of her own making.
Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HH9QRQYL (ebook)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HH9QRQYL (Amazon US)
https://www.lizfenwick.com/store-1/p/the-last-christmas (paperback)
Social Media Links –
Giveaway to Win 3 x Paperback copies of The Last Christmas (Open to UK Only)
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
