The Visitors by Caroline Scott

Synopsis
Esme Nicholls is to spend the summer in Cornwall. Her late husband Alec, who died fighting in the war, grew up in Penzance, and she’s hoping to learn more about the man she loved and lost.

While there, she will stay with Gilbert, in his rambling seaside house, where he lives with his former brothers in arms. Esme is fascinated by this community of eccentric artists and former soldiers, and as she gets to know the men and their stories, she begins to feel this summer might be exactly what she needs.

But everything is not as idyllic as it seems – a mysterious new arrival later in the summer will turn Esme’s world upside down, and make her question everything she thought she knew about her life, and the people in it.

Review

I have been luckily enough to read Caroline Scott’s previous two books, The Photographer of the Lost and When I Come Home Again both of which I highly recommend. Her new book The Visitors keeps the World War One theme, this time from a widows point of view, and the story of those who came home. Set in 1923 Cornwall, Esme goes with her employer Mrs Pickering to stay with her brother, Gilbert, and his friends, who served under his command during the War. Whilst there she hopes to learn more about her husband, who died in the War, and had spent his childhood in Penzance, but she also learns more about herself. As the summer wears on, and friendship forged, there is a surprise in store that will change Esme’s life forever.

I have become a huge fan of Caroline Scott’s books over the past couple of years, she has a wonderful way with words and larger than life characters whom you genuinley care about, and I can say The Visitors had all this and more. It took me a while to warm to Esme, but once I got into her psyche and learned more about her I took her to my heart. Before the War she worked in a museum, being a woman who earned her own money that gave her a certain independence which she needed after the death of her parents. It is intersting at that time,in 1914 that once married she was expected to give up her job to become a wife. Before, during and after the War Esme has found solice and pleasure in nature and gardening, even writing a weekly nature column in a local magazine in Harrogate. Her position with Mrs Pickering started out as a gardner during the War, but now she is the housekeeper, a step down for her but being widowed she needs to earn a living. Mrs Pickering as a character seems formidable at first and gave me a couple of laughs; she says it like it is. Like Mrs Pickering, the summer in Penzance softens Esme, the unique lighting make her see life in a different way, and I loved that she finally found her own voice, she was no longer a widow, in her eyes a married woman, but her own person.

Caroline Scott writes most of the book from Esme’s point of view, but there are also chapters from Rory’s point of view, from a book he wrote during the War whilst stationed in France. Rory, like Esme has a love of nature and whilst his writings take in the cold, mud and rot of the trenches and the horror there are also descriptions of the woods, the flowers, the birds that thrive only a few miles away the frontline. It is this theme of nature that underpinns the book, the beauty of nature that continues to grow, life taking over from death, a constant in our world. Cornwall is a stunning settng and Caroline Scott’s descriptive prose captures the unique lighting, the differetnt flora and fauna that live there, and the wonderful history. There is also a sense of hope in this story, even the beautiful house is called Espérance, hope, hope for Gilbert and his friends, hope for Esme and hope for the future. Whilst the setting sounds idyllic, almost a Garden of Eden for them all, with the serpent included.

I’m sure that The Visitors will be another bestseller for Caroline Scott. The storytelling is masterful, taking you on a journey of discovrery with Esme throught the dazzling Cornwall landscape. The relationships between the characters are natural and each character has their own quirks and backstory. This is a captivaing and enthralling read, as beautiful as the lansdcape it is set in; simply stunning.

I would like to thank Simon and Schuster and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for the invite to be part of this blog tour in return for my honest review.