An unloved child, Catrin, is sent by her flighty mother to spend the summer holidays with some eccentric aunts who run an hotel in Wales, twin sisters Catrin never knew existed. But time has passed since her mother left the area in disgrace, 13 years earlier, and much has changed. Catrin finds a family and a world she can relate to, an old book she can escape into and a mystery about her birth to explore. This is a charming, dual-time tale of love, inheritance, greed and eventual peace, beautifully executed. I loved it.

Comparison: Susan Fletcher, Sue Monk Kidd, Joshilyn Jackson.

Synopsis

Dispatched by her feckless mother to spend the summer with her eccentric great aunt at the crumbling Shrimp's Hotel in Kilkenny, young Catrin Grieve finds solace in a 200-year old Italian recipe book she finds on the premises. As Catrin discovers more about the extraordinary history behind the beautifully illustrated Le Ricette per i Cherubini, she realizes that people from the past can sometimes interlace with the present and point a way forward into the future.

Funny, warm, magical and heartbreaking, Recipes for Cherubs is the enthralling new novel from the bestselling author of A Jarful of Angels.

About the Author

Brought up in Wales, Babs Horton now lives in Plymouth where she teaches at a school for children with special needs. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation