It's Rosamunde Pilcher - English countryside, lovely homes in London and Ibiza, a lonely but beautiful heroine, gardens, antiques, dogs, etc. This novel is no Coming Home or September, but it serves nicely. I had been reading Frances Farmer's memoir and I needed a break from reading about her ugly, ugly world. I figured reading Pilcher would help cleanse my palate.

As for the plot of this novel, it's rather slight. A young woman - whose mother had been estranged from her parents - decides to go seek her grandfather out after her mother dies. Who, of course, lives in a lovely home in the English countryside. Beautiful garden, charming village, loving servants, loyal dog etc. The only part of the book that struck a discordant note for me was the heroine's creepy romance with not one, but two first cousins of hers. *shiver* Ok, fine, she's never met any of her family before but that still doesn't make it kosher in my book. I guess it must be some upper class British thing - let's keep all the money and lands within the family. It was not a romance I was rooting for.

Still, even with the creepy cousin love, it was a fine break from reading about Frances Farmer eating poop covered toilet paper and getting gang raped.