Book Review - Winter at Cliff's End Cottage by Sheila Norton

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Title: Winter at Cliff's End Cottage

Author: Sheila Norton

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Piatkus

Publication Date: 9th December 2021

Rating: 5 Stars

A cosy, heartwarming Christmas read about the growing friendship between a young journalist and an old woman who lives in a house teetering on the edge of the Devon cliffs, by the bestselling author of The Vets of Hope Green and The Petshop on Pennycombe Bay

Cliff's End Cottage is a local landmark. Perched on the South Devon coast, its garden has begun slowly toppling into the sea, yet the elderly and infamously stubborn owner Stella refuses to leave her home. When Holly, a young journalist and single mum struggling to make ends meet, decides to interview Stella about her life, at first she's given short shrift. However, helped by a slice or two of cake and a couple of friendly cats, a tentative friendship begins to develop between the two lonely women.

Stella and Holly may live different lives, but over the cold winter nights, as Stella shares her story, the two women discover more and more in common. Time is running out for the house on the edge, but perhaps, together, Stella and Holly can find a new way forward.

A heart-warming story by the author of The Vets of Hope Green, where two women from different generations find that a new friend - no matter how late in life they may appear - can mean everything

I couldn't get enough of this story, it was one of those rare books that completely and utterly got under my skin and wouldn't let me go until I had devoured the book.  I read it in only a few short hours and was gripped during that time. 

It's an enchanting story about Stella and Holly, two people who perhaps didn't quite realise just how lonely they were until they met each other and formed a cross generational friendship.  

For Stella is in her eighties and is living alone on a cliff top, in a house that is getting closer and closer to the cliff's edge, due to soil erosion.  While Holly is a single mother to Maisie, and has trouble trusting people  and letting them get close to her, and for understandable reasons. 

But yet when Holly starts to listen to Stella's life story, it moves her.  And Stella has lived an ordinary but incredibly interesting life, not without its intrigue and scandal. She's a fascinating character and I'm glad I had the opportunity to get to know her via this book. 

This was a utterly charming and heartwarming novel, and shows that friends can be made at whatever age you are.   Simply superb. 

Thank you to Piatkus and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.