Anna Walker left her job as a researcher at the National Archives to come back home and help her widowed father navigate life with Parkinson’s. She likes her new job as a tour guide at Nunswick Abbey well enough. Dr Katherine Atkinson is new in town and first meets Anna when she brings her father to an appointment. Their relationship gets off on the wrong foot but the two women soon find a way to become friends, opening up about their past and all they’ve been through.
Emily Banting’s debut novel is an enjoyable read set in the English countryside. Anna’s father Henry is a really sweet character, and I liked Katherine’s best friend a lot too, as well as the wandering cat. The writing is a bit clumsy at times, and I’m over the miscommunication trope (although when the two MCs do communicate, they keep saying what they shouldn’t and not saying what they should), but the author bravely tackles a few heavy topics – grief, health issues, burnout – while maintaining the light romance tone in a way that makes me want to check out her future books.
Jude in the Stars 