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Coming Home to Island House
- Narrated by: Jenny Funnell
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Women's Fiction
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The Dandelion Years
- By: Erica James
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Ashcombe was the most beautiful house Saskia had ever seen as a little girl, providing a perfect sanctuary to hide from the tragedy which shattered her childhood. Now an adult, Saskia is still living at Ashcombe and, as a book restorer ,devotes her days tending to broken, battered books. When she discovers a notebook carefully concealed in an old Bible, Saskia finds herself drawn into a heart-rending tale of wartime love....
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Lovely story nicely read
- By Mr S Gregory on 30-06-15
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Letters from the Past
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With its winding high street lined with a greengrocer, post office, pub and church, Melstead St Mary is the perfect English village. Neighbours look out for neighbours, and few things trouble the serene surface of the community. But when residents start to receive anonymous letters containing secret information about their pasts - secrets that no one else is meant to know - life in Melstead St Mary is about to change, possibly forever....
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My first and last Erica James book
- By S. Christie on 07-06-20
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The Hidden Cottage
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We all hide things, some more than others...Mia Channing appears to have an enviable life: a beautiful home in the village of Little Pelham, a happy, stable marriage, a job she enjoys and three grown up children to whom she's devoted. But appearances are deceiving; the truth is that it's all a precarious balancing act. When the family gather for her son's thirtieth birthday, Daisy, her youngest daughter, drops a bombshell in the way only Daisy can.
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Loved it!
- By Saffy on 06-09-13
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Swallowtail Summer
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Linston End on the Norfolk Broads has been the holiday home to three families for many years. The memories of their time there are ingrained in their hearts: picnics on the river, gin and tonics in the pavilion at dusk, hours spent seeking out the local swallowtail butterflies. Everyone together. But widower Alastair has been faced with a few of life's surprises recently. Now, he is about to shock his circle of friends with the decisions he has made - and the changes it will mean for them all. For some, it feels like the end. For others, it might just be the beginning....
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Not as good as previous books
- By Nicola on 10-07-19
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The Song of the Skylark
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Lizzie has always had bad luck. Losing her heart to her boss leads to her losing her job, and with no money in the bank Lizzie finds herself forced to move back home with her parents. Now in her 90s, Mrs Dallimore is also coming to terms with her situation. Old age is finally catching up with her. As they form the bond of unexpected friendship, Lizzie begins to realise that she's not the only person to attract bad luck and that sometimes life has a way of surprising you....
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Spoilt by the narrator
- By Jill Parker on 18-06-17
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At 30, Katie Lavender thinks she is better than most when it comes to dealing with life's surprises. But when she gets a request to visit a solicitor, she's not expecting the dramatic turn her life is about to take. There, she receives a letter from her deceased mother that literally changes everything she ever knew about herself...
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A good read
- By Karen on 24-06-12
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The Dandelion Years
- By: Erica James
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Ashcombe was the most beautiful house Saskia had ever seen as a little girl, providing a perfect sanctuary to hide from the tragedy which shattered her childhood. Now an adult, Saskia is still living at Ashcombe and, as a book restorer ,devotes her days tending to broken, battered books. When she discovers a notebook carefully concealed in an old Bible, Saskia finds herself drawn into a heart-rending tale of wartime love....
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-
Lovely story nicely read
- By Mr S Gregory on 30-06-15
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Letters from the Past
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- Narrated by: Jemma Redgrave
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Overall
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Performance
-
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With its winding high street lined with a greengrocer, post office, pub and church, Melstead St Mary is the perfect English village. Neighbours look out for neighbours, and few things trouble the serene surface of the community. But when residents start to receive anonymous letters containing secret information about their pasts - secrets that no one else is meant to know - life in Melstead St Mary is about to change, possibly forever....
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My first and last Erica James book
- By S. Christie on 07-06-20
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The Hidden Cottage
- By: Erica James
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
We all hide things, some more than others...Mia Channing appears to have an enviable life: a beautiful home in the village of Little Pelham, a happy, stable marriage, a job she enjoys and three grown up children to whom she's devoted. But appearances are deceiving; the truth is that it's all a precarious balancing act. When the family gather for her son's thirtieth birthday, Daisy, her youngest daughter, drops a bombshell in the way only Daisy can.
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Loved it!
- By Saffy on 06-09-13
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Swallowtail Summer
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Overall
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Performance
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Linston End on the Norfolk Broads has been the holiday home to three families for many years. The memories of their time there are ingrained in their hearts: picnics on the river, gin and tonics in the pavilion at dusk, hours spent seeking out the local swallowtail butterflies. Everyone together. But widower Alastair has been faced with a few of life's surprises recently. Now, he is about to shock his circle of friends with the decisions he has made - and the changes it will mean for them all. For some, it feels like the end. For others, it might just be the beginning....
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Not as good as previous books
- By Nicola on 10-07-19
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- By: Erica James
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- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Lizzie has always had bad luck. Losing her heart to her boss leads to her losing her job, and with no money in the bank Lizzie finds herself forced to move back home with her parents. Now in her 90s, Mrs Dallimore is also coming to terms with her situation. Old age is finally catching up with her. As they form the bond of unexpected friendship, Lizzie begins to realise that she's not the only person to attract bad luck and that sometimes life has a way of surprising you....
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Spoilt by the narrator
- By Jill Parker on 18-06-17
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The Real Katie Lavendar
- By: Erica James
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- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At 30, Katie Lavender thinks she is better than most when it comes to dealing with life's surprises. But when she gets a request to visit a solicitor, she's not expecting the dramatic turn her life is about to take. There, she receives a letter from her deceased mother that literally changes everything she ever knew about herself...
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A good read
- By Karen on 24-06-12
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Summer at the Lake
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A fateful car crash sets in motions a series of events for Floriana, Esme. Floriana gathers the courage to attend the wedding of her one true love, and Esme journeys with her to Lake Como to find the man who stole her heart many years ago. It’s time for Esme and Floriana to face the past - and the future - on the shore of the most romantic and enchanting of lakes.
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Gently romantic story set in Oxford and Italy.
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Angel Sands is an old-fashioned seaside resort of bed and breakfasts, cottages to let, and teashops. And with the best views of the tiny beach is Paradise House, home to the Baxter girls. With their mother taking time out to find herself, it’s down to them to maintain the smooth running of the family-owned bed and breakfast. Not an easy task given that their father - now that his wife isn’t around - has suddenly become a moving target for the opposite sex.…
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a family saga
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Disappointing
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Impetuous Ali Anderson has always been a loose cannon. While she’s still trying to come to terms with the death of her baby son and subsequent divorce from Elliot, she takes it upon herself to play God with her best friend’s incomprehensible marriage. Ali’s meddling has disastrous consequences. Finding herself cut off from those she loves, she comes to realise that a little forgiveness goes a long way...
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Another good book from Erica James.
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Having married once for love and been abandoned by her husband, Ellen is determined that her second marriage will be for money. And conveniently Duncan, her divorce lawyer, is not unattractive - and he’s enticingly single. But when she meets painter Matthew, Ellen has to remind herself very strongly indeed that Duncan is the man for her....
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Good story
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The Queen of New Beginnings
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Clayton Miller's life is a mess. His career as one of the country's best comedy script writers has stalled and his long term girlfriend has left him for his ex best friend and ex writing partner. Just when he thinks his life couldn't get any worse, he commits a spectacularly public fall from grace and with the press hounding him, his agent banishes him to the middle of nowhere until the dust has settled.
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The Queen of New Beginnings
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From Sunday Times best-selling author Santa Montefiore comes a novel about losing yourself, but finding your future.… Ellen Trawton is running away from it all - literally. She’s getting married to a man she doesn't love, her job is depressing, and her mother is getting on her nerves. So she escapes to the one place she knows her mother won't follow her - her aunt's house in rural Ireland. Once there, she uncovers a dark family secret - and a future she never knew she might have.
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Good story let down by the performances
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As a young child, Lydia and her sister were sent to live with grandparents they'd never even met. It's a cruel and loveless new world for them and it teaches Lydia to grow up fast. She learns to keep secrets and to trust sparingly. And through it all she suppresses her grief and guilt, believing she is to blame for her mother's death.
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great read
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Villa in Italy
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Marvellously atmospheric tale of strangers summoned to a grand but neglected villa on the Italian coast. Each of them has been named in a will, but nobody knows their benefactress.... Four very different people are named in a will. Delia, an opera singer robbed of her voice by illness; George, an idealistic scientist who cannot face what his skills have created; Marjorie, desperately poor and unable to dislodge her writer’s block; and Lucius, ostensibly in control but whose personal life is in chaos.
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enthralling
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Out of Practice is based around a large country medical practice, which proves to be a hotbed of rivalry, resentment and romance - and that's just the doctors. Think James Herriot meets House.
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A Truly Enjoyable Read
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Foreign Fruit
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Story
Merham is a well-ordered 50s seaside town - the kind of town where everyone knows their place (and those who don't are promptly put in it). Lottie Swift is an evacuee who has grown up with the respectable Holden family and loves Merham. The Holden's daughter Celia, however, chafes against the constraints on the town and longs to escape....
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Slow burner but stick with it!!!
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The Throwaway Children
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Rita and Rosie Stevens are only nine and five years old when their widowed mother marries a violent bully. Under pressure from her new husband, she is persuaded to send the girls to an orphanage. It is not long before the powers that be decide to send a consignment of orphans to their sister institution in Australia. Among them, without their family's consent or knowledge, are Rita and Rosie, the throwaway children.
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A wonderful novel, beautifully narrated.
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Summary
Summer 1939: After touring an unsettled Europe to promote her latest book, Romily Temple returns home to Island House and the love of her life, Jack Devereux. But when Jack falls ill, his estranged family are called to his bedside.
With war now declared, each member of the family is reluctantly forced to accept their new stepmother and confront their own shortcomings. But can Romily cope with the life that has been so unexpectedly thrust upon her?
Critic reviews
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What listeners say about Coming Home to Island House
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rosemary Gardner
- 02-04-18
Always a good story teller
In the past I've always enjoyed Erica James novels and read the lot till a few years ago. This is my first catch up with her novels in some time and the first in audio. I do hope there are more I've missed in the meantime. Jenny Funnel is an excellent narrator. Erica James stories have a good bit more substance than a lot of her contemporaries of the same genre. The heroines are not silly airheads who are always getting into stupid situations that need a man to validate them. Give Erica James a try if you want a good read or listen.
34 people found this helpful
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- Susan
- 11-02-18
Praise for Erica James
Another brilliant book with wonderful characters., couldn't stop listening to it. I absolutely would recommend this book. Erica James just gets better and better.
16 people found this helpful
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- suet
- 31-01-18
Really Coming Home
What a beautiful book, one out f Erica James's best, beautifully read by Jenny Funnell.
12 people found this helpful
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- Paula
- 22-05-18
Absolutely fabulous
Oh what a wonderful book, I was so sad it had to finish. The story was beautiful and the narrator exquisite. Jenny Funnell truly brought the characters to life. My next read will have a lot to live up to. Thank you
11 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-02-18
Fabulous
I really enjoyed this book. I just couldn't stop listening. I will definitely be recommending to friends. I have listened to all of the books written by Erica James and enjoyed every one of them. Brilliant.
22 people found this helpful
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- Mr. Ronald Barkess
- 25-03-18
Loved it!
Loved the story. As usual another brilliant and entertaining book by Erica James. Great narration too. Highly recommend.
9 people found this helpful
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- Linda
- 14-08-18
Guilty Pleasure
Whilst Erica James does unfortunately have to be categorised as 'chick lit' if she has to be categorised at all - her books are far superior to the usual run of the mill. This book doesn't disappoint and as an easy listen full of characters whose storylines you are genuinely keen to follow, its spot on. I am always drawn to war time tales and so it gets extra points for that. No it doesn't set the world alight or engage you in burning issues but it'll give you 16 hours enjoyment.
6 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 30-01-18
A great listen
Another great book by Erica James. It's captivating from the beginning to the end. Loved it. When's the next one
19 people found this helpful
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- carole
- 15-02-18
loved it
such a moving novel. will look for another by this author. couldn't stop listening to it.
7 people found this helpful
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- barbara
- 23-06-18
Brilliant
If I could have given this story more stars I would have done so! I absolutely loved it . The narrator read it so well and I must look immediately for another book written by Erica James!
5 people found this helpful
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- Wendy Robertson
- 15-06-19
Loved this book
The characters really came to life. Excellent story of a estranged family who were brought together by one very special lady.
Enjoyed the narator, So pleasant to listen to.