A Winter in Ravensdale – Kate Fielding

ravensdale_winterWell, I finished.

A Winter in Ravensdale by Kate Fielding is eminently readable, that has to be said. I zipped through it this weekend, despite not really having a lot of time to read.

It’s Laura Grant’s second winter working as a doctor in rural Yorkshire, the story picks up somewhere after Ravensdale left off. Though Laura is undoubtedly the «main character», the narrative in this book is spread out over a lot of different people and stories, more so than the first one (as far as I can remember). I was particularly interested in Aimee and her relationship to her parents, but felt like Fielding tried rather than succeeded at dealing with the issues there. Aimee’s mother is especially invisible, and although I realise this is part of Aimee’s «quarrel» – that her father is too domineering and her mother just a foil for him – I think the story could have been made more interesting if we were treated to her mother’s point of view, too (see, I can’t even remember if she is named by name in the story).

There are also some relatively gruesome – or tragic – things going on, this is a crime story of sorts, in fact, that leave me more unconcerned than I think I’m meant to be.

Still, it’s a nice read, and reading about the Yorkshire Dales still classifies as Not A Bad Thing.

Anyway, I’ll be passing this Bookcrossing copy on (give a shout if you want it), and I’ll be looking for the next (and, I think, last) book in the series.

En smakebit på søndag: A Winter in Ravensdale

Jeg leser fortsatt på U-, men den krever sin mann – eh, kvinne – og jeg er derfor nødt til å ta pauser med lettere stoff innimellom, så akkurat nå leser jeg også på A Winter in Ravensdale som jeg fikk i posten som RABCK her om dagen. Jeg leste første boka om Ravensdale i 2005 og har hatt denne på ønskelisten min ifm Bookcrossing siden da, og jammen dukket den ikke opp til slutt.

ravensdale_winterAimee sighed. Forget the eagle. These days her father reminded her more of a farmyard hen, scratting and pecking his way around. He grew flustered easily and went over the top in his reactions. She was still occasionally scared of him, but more often scared for him instead.

(Side 30) Flere smakebiter finner du hos Flukten fra virkeligheten.

Ravensdale

Books in the mail! This one from ChristephRavensdale by Kate Fielding (funny – amazon seems to have gotten the covers for this one and A Winter in Ravensdale mixed up…)

Let’s see, what to say… This is a feel-good, heart-warming tale, with some attempts at «darker» themes – it reminded me of some of the better British «soaps», Heartbeat or Ballykissangel or some such. This is hardly great literature, but pleasant reading none the less, and when you’re hopelessly in love with the British countryside, reading about the Yorkshire Dales can never be a Bad Thing. I’ll probably want to read the rest of the series, in other words.

(Bookcrossing journal)