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Sarah Jane Smithson was born and grew up in Sussex, where she spent most of her adult life. She worked as an administrator, then a secretary and later as a recruitment consultant. In 1995, she moved with her twin daughters to Italy, where she bought and restored a crumbling house. She now works in the hospitality business. She is a proud grandmother.
The hopes and fears of the honest and hard-working Reuben Catt are brought vividly to life in this charming and heartwarming tale, a wonderful evocation of a rural community in East Sussex towards the end of the reign of Queen Victoria. Highly recommended to anyone curious as to how our forebears lived, loved and survived in the beautiful country villages we admire so much to this day.
I thoroughly enjoyed this lovely gentle book. I really cared about the characters and their lives. The diary format made it an easy read. It gives a wonderful insight to the warmth and humanity of the time as well as the tough lives that working folk led. I do hope that this will not be the only book by this author.
A thoroughly enjoyable read, brought back happy memmories of Sussex and the surrounding area where I grew up. It gives a real insight into how hard farming, and life in general, was in those days. Reuben's story is both heartwarming and gripping. Once you get to know a little about Reuben, you get hooked.
This is a lovely story. It transports you back in time and you feel you ARE Reuben: you can picture the Sussex countryside and the simple but hard life of a farmer in the late 1800's. Love, hardship, happiness, murder. It has it all. I was laughing then crying. As my title says, a beautiful read.
A lovely insight to days gone by. Altogether a good and enjoyable read.
