BY EMMA POWELL

 

Fans of Katie Fforde and Catherine Alliott, will enjoy Vintage Girl by Hester Browne, a romantic novel filled with wit and humour.

Evie Nicholson works for an antiques expert who doesn't appreciate her love of vintage wedding photos, satin gloves and French Champagne glasses, viewing them as 'junk'. To Evie every item has a story to tell and she is able to hear those stories. When she is invited, via her sister, to Kettlesheer Castle in Scotland to value the antiques belonging to the McAndrew family, she is carried away with romantic images of castles, maidens, candelabras and butlers. The reality she is met with is in fact an extremely cold castle where rather than 'dressing' for dinner everyone adds on woolly layers for warmth.

When Evie arrives at Kettlesheer it is in the midst of the family organising the Kettlesheer ball, a huge annual event which traditionally concludes with a marriage proposal. With the idea of a romantic ball adding to Evie's rose-tinted dreams, she begins to explore the castle and starts to discover the stories being unlocked by the castles possessions. During her stay she meets Robert McAndrew, an heir to the castle and a somewhat cynical and bad tempered member of the McAndrew clan, who during the course of the novel reveals himself to be the hero of Evie's fairy-tale-like dreams.

This novel is an easy read, engaging and entertaining. It is well written and the Scottish setting ensures it is set apart from the usual novels of this kind. Evie is a likeable character and overall it is a good read.

 

This book was published by Quercus and is available to buy for £7.99. It can also be borrowed from The Hive as well as other Worcestershire libraries. Click here to check availability and check it out.