REVIEW: The Teashop on the Corner by Milly Johnson
B- ReviewsContemporary / England / friendship / second chances10 Comments
Life is full of second chances…if only you keep your heart open for them.
Spring Hill Square is a pretty sanctuary away from the bustle of everyday life. And at its centre is Leni Merryman’s Teashop on the Corner, specialising in cake, bookish stationery and compassion. And for three people, all in need of a little TLC, it is somewhere to find a friend to lean on.Carla Pride has just discovered that her late husband Martin was not who she thought he was. And now she must learn to put her marriage behind her and move forward.
Molly Jones’s ex-husband Harvey has reappeared in her life after many years, wanting to put right the wrongs of the past before it is too late.
And Will Linton’s business has gone bust and his wife has left him to pick up the pieces. Now he needs to gather the strength to start again.
Can all three find the comfort they are looking for in The Teashop on the Corner? And as their hearts are slowly mended by Leni, can they return the favour when she needs it most…?
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Dear Ms. Johnson,
Cheers to Cate for recommending this one to me. It took me a while but I finally followed up on her email. This is a very nice book about mostly very nice people finally finding their place and their way in life. It’s filled with second chances, fixing life’s mistakes, and learning to believe in yourself. The not so very nice people are easy to spot and don’t change their spots throughout the course of the book. Which might make it easier for people who don’t want characters changing up on them to decide to read it.
It’s definitely a group, ensemble production with multiple threads and plot lines all eventually converging, some sooner than others. The way is clearly marked and the characters don’t stray from it. Readers looking for twists and surprises will probably not be intrigued but if they want something a bit safer and a known quantity, then here we go.
The descriptions of the characters, their lives and their issues are well drawn and they come alive as the story unfolds. Even the ones not much in the book, or in the case of one man never there, were 3-D to me. I could see them in their nice, or odd, or quaint, or horrid estate, homes and in the lovely teashop which Leni has fitted out with so many things that we as fellow book lovers would enjoy browsing whilst – note my Britishism – sipping delicious beverages and snarfing down Leni’s home made cakes and scones. Recipes for these scrumptious sounding desserts would be appreciated.
But I will say that for me, the middle section was swimming in sea of treacle. By this point all the nasty peoplez are pretty much gone leaving only the good and true hearted who are all good and true hearted to each other in a glow of sunny happiness. Then the uglies begin to appear on the horizon – which I pretty much figured out ahead of time -and all the G&T people rally to each other in a wash of tea – after all, we’re British – and sympathy. Nice but it got a bit twee.
This is definitely a story chock full of British “feel” with a roofer who isn’t broke but skint, who doesn’t help fix up a flower store so much as kit it out and who is chuffed to meet a lovely woman to take the place of the one who left him about whom he doesn’t give a toss rather than doesn’t give a rat’s ass.
There is one subplot that I guessed a bit about but I’ll quickly own up to the fact that when the fit hits the shan about it and the truth is revealed, I was sniffing back some tears at work – shhhhhh – at how loyal friends and well wishers respond.
In the end, new friends and loves find each other, old loves discover truths they wanted to know, a book lover finds a new mum and a cat gets a new home. There aren’t too many absolute surprises here but what is in the story is sweet and mostly kind. Thanks again to Cate for steering me in the direction of this book. B-
~Jayne
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This was the first Milly Johnson I read and I liked it very much. Yes, it’s relatively predictable in terms of plot, but it hits the spots and makes perfect comfort reading with a dash of something more in the serious issues dealt with (a bit like Marian Keyes, but not as laugh-out-loud funny.) And I like the hopefulness.
I liked White Wedding and A Summer Fling too, although the title of A Summer Fling has absolutely nothing to do with the content of the book as far as I can tell.
It’s set in Britain and written by a British author so it would be surprising if it didn’t have a British feel. :)
@Jewell: Sometimes when books set in Britain and written by British authors make it across the pond, most if not all traces of Britain have seemingly been purged – I guess with the intention of making the book more marketable.
@Jayne Thanks for explaining that. It would be difficult to Americanise this one, I see what you mean.
@Jewell: Years ago Jane and I both fell in love with Elizabeth Young’s English chick lit books and made the effort to buy them from Amazon.uk just so we’d get the original “feel” of the setting. I remember quizzing an English friend with long lists of questions about the phrases and slang but loving every minute of reading them.
I’ve never read this author but this sounds really appealing. Sold, Jayne!
@Sunita: From what I gather based on the blurbs, Johnson appears to include lots of characters in her books rather than focusing on just one hero + heroine.
@Sunita: I think you’ll like her, Sunita. I haven’t read this book but Johnson writes very much in the tradition of British chick lit authors like Jill Mansell.
@Jayne:I’m so glad you enjoyed it .. I’m not a huge fan of chick-lit, so Milly Johnson pretty much blew my socks off with this book. It also takes an awful lot to make me cry…& this book had me sobbing into my Yorkshire Tea ! @Sunita: If you like ensemble casts, with a very strong sense of place,you’ll love Milly Johnson. She’s a Yorkshire writer, and her books are very firmly grounded in good Yorkshire earth. I can also highly recommend The Yorkshire Pudding Club, and Here Come The Girls.
I also love the fact that some of her characters from her other books have cameo appearances …. as I had a massive MJ glom after reading Teashop, I read a few out of order (not that it really matters) & had to go back & check… & there they were :) !
I think I may be a chick-lit convert ….*sigh*… yet another trope to shell out on !
Thanks, everyone! I’m definitely trying this. Cate, I love ensemble casts and a strong sense of place, and Jayne and Ros rarely steer me wrong. Sold!
@Cate: The ending of the Leni subplot had me crying a bit and I’ve had a fondness for Yorkshire settings ever since watching the “All Creatures Great and Small” series so this was a good start to her backlist.