I have been a fan of Sharon Gosling books for a long time and this book is as good as all the others I have read.

Sisters, Bette and Nina are not particularly close. They have been going their separate ways for a long time. That is until the death of their father and the discovery that both of them have been left the family farm. It is the only home that Nina has known and is the home for her and her young son. Bette went away to University and has never really returned, until now what does she need with this old home.

However the secret that their father has also left is a lot of debt. There is lot more for these two women to discover as they stumble across an Orchard. The orchard could be the answer to some of their problems, but it seems that orchard also holds secrets to other long held feuds between two families.

Whilst the orchard grows the future, it seems to be healing the past between these two sisters.

Set against the wonderful Scottish landscape and a quick visit to one of the settings of Gosling’s previous novel, this is a book which is a joy to read. Perfect reading to escape in, with strong characters, good plot and a sense of empowerment amongst the pages.

When Bette Crowdie returns to the family farm after her father’s death she meets with the usual animosity from her younger sister, Nina. The Crowdie farm has been in the family for generations but with their father’s death, and much to Nina’s annoyance, both sisters now have an equal share. However, with the farm in financial difficulties, it would appear that Bette, with her lawyer background, is going to have to figure out a way to save it from ruin.

What then follows is the story of the fight to save the farm and the way in which the sisters must not only reconcile but must also pull together if they are to have any sort of future. Delightfully combining little snippets about the history of the farm, the fascinating insight into cider production and with its very own super hero, there is so much to enjoy. I especially loved reading about the secret orchard and the way in which this took on a whole personality all of its own. The author writes with such careful detail, and perfect characterisation, carefully blending snippets about the past, with their connection to the present.

Totally immersive, and with a smattering of danger and intrigue, everything weaves together so beautifully into a delightful family drama and into a story which captures the imagination from start to finish.

The Secret Orchard by Sharon Gosling

I have been a fan of Sharon Gosling’s books since reading her debut adult novel. The Secret Orchard is her fourth adult fiction book and is set like some of the others in a small community in north-east Scotland. I liked the sound of the story, with a little bit of mystery and history combined with family affairs. I certainly found it an intriguing tale from the very start, the storyline keeping me coming back for more right up to the end.

The story centres on sisters Nina and Bette Crowdie, whose father has recently died, leaving the family farm shared between them. This has angered Nina, who has been living there with her young son and working the land alongside her father. Bette, on the other hand, left home many years ago and has been working as a successful lawyer in London, seldom returning home. When it becomes clear that the farm has been left in serious financial difficulties, the sisters must work together with the help of some close friends to save their family home. The discovery of an orchard on the land which seems to have an interesting history holds a possible lifeline for the farm. While the estranged sisters work together to establish their rights, it seems that their fractured relationship could just be healed.

I very much enjoyed this story with its cast of interesting characters, stunning setting on the sometimes wild Scottish coast and air of mystery surrounding the history of the orchard. Nina and Bette seemed initially very different, but as they worked through the problems left by their father and the discoveries linked to the orchard nobody knew about, problems from the past were gradually eaten away. I loved Nina’s son, Barnaby, whose sometimes amusing antics helped smooth the way for the sisters to find common ground. It was interesting, but also frustrating, to discover as the story progressed the real reason why Bette had left home in her teens. Although much of the story involves problems for the characters, I was pleased that there is also romance for the sisters along the way. This is a book that I would definitely recommend; with its combination of family and mystery, it should appeal to many readers.

The Secret Orchard is the wonderful new novel from Sharon Gosling who is fast becoming a firm favourite author of mine. This is a story of family, specifically the relationship between sisters, but a tale also of secrets, love and second chances. Right from the first chapter, I became completely caught up in everything and found myself having read huge chunks of it in one go not noticing the chapters flying by. This is some feat considering my reading time has been curtailed recently and when I do get the opportunity to sit down and venture into a different world my attention span can be all over the place. But here there was a lovely relaxed and gentle feel to the storytelling with the most beautiful and vivid descriptions of the Scottish countryside and coastline that made me feel quite at home in the story. The land and the coastline play a significant role in the overall plot and as mentioned in the title the secret orchard becomes a focal point for a family in trouble but will it be the one thing that brings them back together?

Nina has spent five years living with her father Bern and young son Barney or Best Barnaby Barnacle as he would rather be known. This superhero persona is not just the innocence of a young boy thinking he can save the world as it will go on to have a very important role much later on in the book and boy did it work. Nina works their small dairy farm and when help is needed fellow farmer neighbour Cam steps in. The farm hasn’t been doing so well in recent years, but Nina is determined to keep everything going. But tragedy has struck with the loss of Bern and now with her distant sister Bette returning for the funeral things are about to change in a dramatic way. To say the relationship between Nina and Bette is strained would be an understatement.

Bette upped and left a long time. In her own words she says she scrambled away from it and has been doing so ever since. Visits are extremely rare as she has no longing to return to the farm. She much rather prefers her high flying job as a lawyer in the city and is just on the cusp of achieving a partnership in hr law firm. She is entrenched in work and loves every moment of it. It was all she had and everything to her. She doesn’t have a partner nor any significant friends outside of work and therefore she has dedicated everything to her career. It as evident from the first few chapters that the sister’s worlds couldn’t be further apart but would they ever be able to grow closer?

As Bette arrives for the funeral, she receives a lukewarm reception and you couldn’t blame Nina for this. For from her viewpoint she was abandoned at a time when sisters should be growing closer together and not creating a chasm that only widened with the years. Nina is happy and comfortable in the life she has established with Barney on the farm but now with the reading of Bern’s will and the revelations that ensue her security blanket is ripped from around her and any future she had planned seems uncertain to say the least. The two sisters have such opposing opinions and attitudes that it was impossible to figure out whether they could work together to save the farm considering the perilous financial situation that it faced. So much history and heritage was bound up in Nina’s love for it whereas Bette was coming at it from a more clinical and sensible stance.

Nina needed Bette and she didn’t realise how much and given there was a lot of mixed emotions flowing through her I understood how she couldn’t just change her attitude to Bette overnight. But at the same time, I could see that Bette was obviously running from something and had been for some time. The revelations around this when they came forth were surprising, but they made sense and I could see why the farm wasn’t a place where she could feel comfortable and at home. But yet family does always stand for something and deep down there was a little area in her heart that was melting and she knew Nina and Barney couldn’t end up homeless nor could something that has meant so much to her family for generations be lost without a fight.

Nina was clueless in what to do and I think if Bette hadn’t been there she would have buried her head in the sand hoping that the issues would somehow just miraculously go away. Bette has the knowledge and power to try and resolve the financial problems and save the farm and certainly some of her actions were selfless. When a change in her working situation arises it really sets the cat amongst the pigeons and I felt desperately sorry for her. She was trying to come up with solutions but there seemed to be so many obstacles thrown in her direction. Initially, she was like the ice maiden and you couldn’t get past the barriers she had installed around her but over the course of the main part of the book you slowly see her start to melt and the relationship she established with Barney was fabulous.

I loved how things weren’t so clear cut with herself and Nina. It wouldn’t have been realistic for the pair to run into each other’s arms, hug it out and let bygones be bygones. I enjoyed the tussle between them as they wrestled with conflicting emotions and that it wasn’t easy and they needed to realise working on personal things takes time and effort from both parties. Repairing a fractured relationship wouldn’t happen over night but forgiveness and understanding would have to come from both sides. Peace and understanding is challenging for the sisters to find but the discovery of the secret orchard of the title really got the story moving up another gear and if I wasn’t already enthralled by the story I certainly was now.I loved the historical element creeping in but also how important the discovery was in terms of how they could go about saving the farm and securing its future.

As the weeks passed, Bette seemed to become a new person. Yes, she retained some of her old qualities that were necessary in the corporate world but there was a softening of her. When she is forced to confront the past this too made me admire her even more. I do think in general I preferred Bette over Nina. I thinks she was better developed as a character and there were elements of myself that I could identify within her. The last quarter or so of the story was excellent and there were some dramatic moments which had me rapidly turning the pages. The connection back to The Lighthouse Bookshop, my absolute favourite book from this author was just brilliant and made me desperately want another book featuring those characters. It was just so nicely done and the perfect merging of the two stories. Of course, there had to be some romance and there was but to be honest I wasn’t that fussed about it. I was more interested in reading about the sisters relationship and whether the farm could be saved.

The Secret Orchard is another triumph from Sharon Gosling and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the time I spent reading it. It was a beautiful story very well written and perfect for curling up in the evening time as the nights draw in at this time of year. Overall, a lovely, genuine and heart-warming story that will satisfy many readers.

I had an enjoyable time reading The Secret Orchard by Sharon Gosling. It’s well written, paced just right and held my attention, I read it in three sittings.

After the death of their father, Bette and Nina have a time of it, whilst estranged and frosty with each other, they have to pull together to save the family farm. Bette has returned from her high flying lawyer job to do this, but will it bring the sisters closer and cause Bette to reconsider her life? Can they save the farm? The discovery of the secret orchard brings new life to the whole situation. I enjoyed the drama and the guessing, the friendships and dynamic between the sisters and their mother. 5 Shiney Stars. Recommeded.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I absolutely enjoyed reading this book. The story had me hooked from the beginning.

The funeral of Nina’s father has taken place, and she’s not interested in being nice to her sister who hasn’t really been around much.

But, at the hearing of her father’s will, she’s shocked at what it says and it also means that Nina will have to cooperate with Bette, her estranged sister.

Bette, has a life in London, she’s a lawyer and hoping to get a promotion to be a partner at the firm she works at. What she doesn’t want is to be informed she and her sister are joint owners of the family farm.

The farm isn’t in a good financial position, together they both try and find a way to ensure they don’t lose it. But it’s not easy, that is until they come across the secret orchard.

But will that be enough to save the farm.

The story was very well written. Loved the characters and setting. M

I highly recommend this book.

I was immediately caught up with the story and I was so intrigued by the relationship between the two sisters, Bette and Nina. The evolving relationship between the two was such an integral part of the story. To begin with, Bette is a difficult character to warm to, while Nina is much more sympathetic. There’s quite an age difference between them which hasn’t helped but as a young girl, Nina just wanted her big sister to love her and felt abandoned when she left for university and never came back. Having worked with her father on the family farm with, it seemed, no support from Bette it was easy to understand why she was hurt and angry with the changes in her father’s will leaving half the farm to Bette.

Bette though had several shocks to deal with including news that the farm was in huge debt, unexpected and unwelcome changes at work and the appearance of her ex, Ryan, the man she has never forgiven, never forgotten but also never got over. Over the course of the novel, I enjoyed seeing how she and Nina had to work together to save the farm and began to understand each other and grow closer.

To briefly touch on a few other strands of the story, it was fascinating reading about the orchard, apple growing and harvesting and a little about the cider making process too. The slowly developing romances for the sisters were lovely to follow. I must also mention Nina’s young son Best Barnaby Barnacle (and his faithful dog Limpet), such a wonderful character who became the superhero he always wanted to be. It was a delight to spot a reference to the bookshop and archive from probably my favourite of the author’s previous novels, The Lighthouse Bookshop.

The Secret Orchard is a gorgeous story about second chances, sisters and, of course, secrets. I loved this one, easily another five-star read from Sharon Gosling.

I enjoyed this book and in particular the reference to the Lighthouse Bookshop. Likeable characters with excellent geographical references, another triumph.

A really enjoyable read once you get into the story. There is some predictability to it but also a twist that I didn’t see coming. An easy read that paints a wonderful picture of the east coast of Scotland, with strong characters that you really become invested in.

Fantastic read had me hooked from the first page. Nina has just buried her father and the last thing she needs is to play nice with her estranged sister, but at the reading of her father’s will she’s expected to do just that. Bette is a high flying lawyer with her foot in the door for a partnership at her prestigious law firm the last thing she needs is to be co owner of the family farm with her little sister.
Together the girls find a peace and understanding but the farm’s financial situation is dire. Until the stumble across the secrets orchard but can that really save the farm?
Enjoyed this book immensely

I think this is my favourite of Gosling's novels so far. Her description of the tensions between sisters Nina and Bette is really brilliantly done - ten years is a big age gap, so forming a relationship as adults can be tricky even without the additional complications of the plot. It's properly spiky and awkward between them in a very convincing way.

The sisters are pushed into proximity by circumstance - the death of their father. Nina's been home for a while, along with her six-year-old son, helping out on the family farm, but Bette's life these days is very different, working as a lawyer in London.

As they try to work out how they can spend time together without fighting, as well as how to ensure the farm has a future, they are both forced to address things in their lives that they've been trying to ignore or forget.

Beautiful descriptions of the east coat of Scotland, lots of fun characters, some reasonable levels of jeopardy both romantic and interpersonal as well as practical, and the titular orchard, which leads to all sorts of discoveries and loads of fascinating information about apples. I really enjoyed it.

following two estranged sisters, bette and nina’s as they reunite for a family funeral.

as the sisters repair their relationship as they find a secret orchard on their family farm. family secrets as well as british history is entwined through the book.

this is such a beautiful, feel good autumnal - sitting by the fire read. it touches on sisters mending their relationship and learning of their family history.