 | Josephine Cox has made her mark as one of the great romance writers of her time, with her careful combination of gritty realism, empathetic characterisation and intricate plots putting her way up there with the likes of the great CatherineCookson. In Somewhere, Somehow she sets out to please her legions of loyal fans with yet another heart-wrenching, heart-warming tale filled with all the passion and intrigue of her previous work, and perhaps has produced here her best novel to date. Kelly, a woman who has lived in the shadow of a terrible secret for most of her life, faces a future without her one true love--Barney--as he embarks on a personal journey that may never bring him back. As he leaves, Kelly decides to embark on a journey of her own, taking a huge step into the past in order to lay the ghosts of her tragic childhood. As she takes her first tentative steps back towards her previous life, bravely returning to the home where her father was murdered when she was just a child, Kelly encounters the kindness of strangers, each with their own tragic secrets, but each on a voyage of discovery which brings them all into contact with darkness, evil and, ultimately, love and understanding. Somewhere, Somehow is a joy to read, and Cox writes with a wilful freshness that will make this novel irresistible to hopeless romantics and lovers of a good, old-fashioned yarn, and will also prove, if proof is needed, that this author's reputation as an accomplished storyteller who delivers the goods should certainly not be doubted. --Susan Harrison |
