Sunday 19 July 2009

A Romance

Finished July 17
Water, Stone, Heart by Will North
A little romance is sometimes exactly what you need. Here we have Andrew Stratton, professor of architecture, recently divorced by his wife who derides his choice of profession. He decides to take a summer course in building dry stone hedges in England while he thinks about his passion for architecture linked to the earth.
Nicola, a painter, has been living a quiet life since she left her abusive husband.
Both are in Boscastle, a small village on the coast of England and they get to know each other through the friendship of a small girl, wise beyond her years.
The story is told against the real-life background of Boscastle and the real-life event of a 2004 flash flood that destroyed much of the village. Nicola has a argumentative bent that she uses as a protective device. Andrew is suffering from a crisis of confidence. Both find something in the other that they need.
I learned a lot about dry stone hedges and how they are built (which was interesting), and enjoyed the setting and the characters. There are lots of intriguing people here and this is no cookie-cutter romance.

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