'Nightingale Wood is very impressive . . . a love story that would please Jane Austen' Sam Jordison, Guardian 'What luxury to stumble upon this quirky book, and the fascinating modern woman who wrote it. It is a rare unadulterated pleasure and high time for its encore' Sophie Dahl Life is not quite a fairytale for poor Viola. Left penniless, the young widow is forced to live with her late husband's family in a joyless old house. There's Mr Wither, a tyrannical old miser, Mrs Wither, who thinks Viola is just a common shop girl, and two unlovely sisters-in-law, one of whom is in love with the chauffeur. Only the prospect of the charity ball can raise Viola's spirits - especially as Victor Spring, the local prince charming, will be there. But Victor's intentions towards our Cinderella are, in short, not quite honourable . . .
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I read this some time ago, and remember being vaguely dissatisfied, but after enjoying the recent FM Gibbons releases I wanted to go back to it again. With my expectations not so high or perhaps so divergent from the actual book, I liked it more this time. I wish there had been more of Hetty and a less depressing ending to her story, and less of Viola, a tiresome although basically blameless character.
