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sandra_elaine's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
As usual, very upset when this book had to end. Delightfully engaging and informative through war time characters.
katiegilley's review against another edition
5.0
This is my first Pilcher! I picked it up thanks to a Fiction Matters buddy read and couldn't put it down. I have tried to write a summary but am finding that difficult. It was such a sweeping story - following fourteen year old Judith from pre-war Cornwall through WWII and the release of the prisoners held in internment camps in the East Indies by the Japanese. So many people came into Judith's life to help her through some difficult times and I loved meeting each and every one of them (except one or two horrible people).
Pilcher's writing is top-notch. I loved her descriptions and highlighted so many beautiful passages. Her settings made me want to take a dip in the sea, nurture my flowers and gardens, and bake steaming loaves of bread. Every scene felt intentional and carefully drawn. The homes she described fit the characters well and were so cozy. I loved how she told this story, moving from character to character, allowing us to understand their states of mind and intentions. I laughed, cried, and read furiously to find out what was going to happen. My edition is 930+ pages long and it was a strange juxtaposition: I wanted to know the resolution but I absolutely didn't want it to end. I can't wait to pick up another book by Rosamunde Pilcher in a few months.
Pilcher's writing is top-notch. I loved her descriptions and highlighted so many beautiful passages. Her settings made me want to take a dip in the sea, nurture my flowers and gardens, and bake steaming loaves of bread. Every scene felt intentional and carefully drawn. The homes she described fit the characters well and were so cozy. I loved how she told this story, moving from character to character, allowing us to understand their states of mind and intentions. I laughed, cried, and read furiously to find out what was going to happen. My edition is 930+ pages long and it was a strange juxtaposition: I wanted to know the resolution but I absolutely didn't want it to end. I can't wait to pick up another book by Rosamunde Pilcher in a few months.
dianagarcia's review against another edition
5.0
Es el libro más bonito que he leído nunca, nunca antes había querido que 1154 páginas se convirtieran en 1154 páginas más. Intenté alargar la lectura todo lo que pude, ahora me queda un sentimiento de vacío que no se como voy a poder llenar. Me llevo para siempre con mucho cariño a Judith y a Jeremy y a los Carey-Lewis. En definitiva, un libro precioso.
rbgeiss's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
shirleytupperfreeman's review against another edition
At nearly 1000 pages, this book requires an investment of time. But it's a great British WWII saga in which to escape. I read it decades ago but couldn't remember the details. Really enjoyed losing myself again in the story of Judith and her family and friends. You might shed a tear or two along the way.
ljchicago's review against another edition
It’s good! It’s very long - 968 pages. I’m about halfway through.
gwalt118's review against another edition
5.0
I savored my third Rosamunde Pilcher novel over the course of a month, and I’m absolutely thrilled that’s how I chose to read it. Out of the three Pilcher novels I’ve read – Winter Solstice, The Shell Seekers, and Coming Home – I can confidently say that Judith Dunbar, the protagonist in Coming Home, is my favorite character. I still think Winter Solstice is my favorite novel of the three, but Judith is a phenomenal and well-developed character.
Over the course of Coming Home, we see Judith grow up, fall in and out of love, mourn the loss of family members, find and lose friends, discover what it means to be a member of a family through love rather than blood, and find her home in both the physical and emotional sense. The writing, the characters, the sweeping tale of ordinary people during extraordinary times, the strong sense of place – it’s all immensely well done.
This is a tale of found family, of how people and places can be “home,” and what it means to actually “come home” to people, to places, to feelings, to oneself. I absolutely loved this book. Like Winter Solstice, I will most assuredly reread it and it will have a place on my bookshelf forever.
Over the course of Coming Home, we see Judith grow up, fall in and out of love, mourn the loss of family members, find and lose friends, discover what it means to be a member of a family through love rather than blood, and find her home in both the physical and emotional sense. The writing, the characters, the sweeping tale of ordinary people during extraordinary times, the strong sense of place – it’s all immensely well done.
This is a tale of found family, of how people and places can be “home,” and what it means to actually “come home” to people, to places, to feelings, to oneself. I absolutely loved this book. Like Winter Solstice, I will most assuredly reread it and it will have a place on my bookshelf forever.
rebroxannape's review against another edition
5.0
This is my favorite of Rosamunde's "Big" books. Her little books are gems. I loved the setting of the novel and the WWII time period in England. Loved the romance, but there was too long a time and too long a misunderstanding, where we are teased with them crossing paths again and resolving everything but it just doesn't happen until the end. Such a pleasure to read about two nice people with no horrible "issues". Loved the mini-series as well!
macheath's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Read on a recommendation by the fine SF writer Jo Walton. This long novel is usually shelved as a romance novel because it's concerned with the lives of women but it's not really that, it's what used to be derisorily called a "women's novel" (maybe they still are) as though the lives of women are inherently of less interest than the lives of men. Starting in the 1930s, we follow main character Judith, a girl who is enrolled in a boarding school in Cornwall when her parents move for work reasons to Singapore. As we progress through Judith's schooldays and her friendship with an upper-class family who take her in when family complications arise, World War Two begins to creep in around the edges. This is a book about the idyllic last summers of the 1930s, after which everyone's lives irrevocably changed. There is deprivation and rationing, the charming young men in Judith's social circle begin to disappear, she joins military service, and her parents and young sister, well, they are in Singapore. To her credit, Pilcher doesn't succumb entirely to nostalgia; a sexual assault occurs, and Judith comes to realize that with the wealth and privilege her adopted family enjoys also comes irresponsibility. This was really good, a vividly described and compelling doorstopper of a novel to just sink into.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, War, Infidelity, and Sexual assault
joanns's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
The perfect book to begin 2024 and a new favorite!