Book Review - Close Knit by Jenny Colgan

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Title: Close Knit

Author: Jenny Colgan

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton 

Publication Date: 15th August 2024

Rating: 5 Stars

Everyone knows her life story.

But who will win her heart?

Gertie has always had her head in the clouds, wondering what her life might be like if she could only pluck up the courage to leave the remote Scottish island where she was born.

It's the only place she knows, but you can't do anything there without everyone knowing - the glue of this close-knit community is the Knitting Circle, a group of strong, capable and frankly nosy women who work hard, gossip, knit and support each other through thick and thin. At the centre of this sisterhood is Gertie's mum Jean and her grandmother Elspeth, and the three generations of women live together, surrounded by wool, in one small cottage.

When the chance comes to make changes - a new job working with old schoolfriend Morag on the local airline, new friends and even a possible new romance - a world of possibilities opens up before Gertie. Is this the way to make her dreams come true?

Fifteen million copies sold. A readership that spans the world. It's time to fall in love with Jenny Colgan.

I can never resist jumping into a new Jenny Colgan book, so this was barely on my kindle before I dived right in. 

And it didn't take me long to feel right at home within the pages of this story. It's set clearly in Jenny Colgan's Scotland, there are mentions of Mure (which will please fans of that series), and we also get a fair bit from Morag from The Summer Skies too. 

But it is a totally standalone story, having never really come across Gertie before, or Struan before who are our other main leads in addition to Morag. 

And Gertie who starts with her head in the clouds as an almost professional daydreamer, living a very sheltered sort of life that she seems to enjoy. But she is rather fed up with her bedroom being full with enough wool to open a shop with, and would love to move out of the family home. 

And as Gertie slowly lets the world in, the rewards are so great, and the more we see her grow, and turn into a really fabulous person. 

There is humour in the story, there is warmth, there is a whole deal of utterly unputdownable edge of the seat drama, and a lot more besides.  I was loving the community on this island and how many side characters had nice little storylines too. 

There is also as the title suggests, a great deal of knitting in this book, from the Knitting Circle (I'd argue a circle of gossips), to Gertie who even in stressful situations is able to pull out her knitting to calm down and focus her mind, this just adds to the warm and cosy nature of this book. 

I am loving these books featuring Morag, who is shaping up to be another one of the author's iconic characters, and hope to see her again soon. 

Everything you want from a novel from this author and more.  Brilliant. 

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.