With so many Christmas novels on the market I was struggling to decide on just one for my Christmas break read. So I handed the choice to my other half and he gave me DILLY COURT, The Christmas Card which, on first glance, I thought was not my usual genre due to the opening page giving the setting as in the 19th Century. That said I began to read and soon could see and feel the atmosphere and all along I have felt it could be a blockbuster film and/or television series.
It made me feel grateful for living in the 20th/21st Century and the relative luxury my life is compared to this period of Dilly's work of fiction. Alice, the protagonist, is a very strong young woman, determined, fearlessly independent in a man's world and not afraid to speak out when others go along with being dominated by others. It is a nail-biting, exciting read, full of suspense whilst being both chilling and heart-warming. Family secrets come to light and by Alice's determination are looked at from more than one angle enabling happy endings.
At the centre of the tale is a Butterfly brooch. Anyone who knows me well knows that butterflies are very meaningful to me so the neatly weaved in tale of a brooch lost and found adds great significance to the entanglements of broken families and their subsequent re-uniting.
It left me with an uplifted spirit, a determination to keep going to reach my dream. It teaches its readers that facing your fears rather than running away is what we should all do to untangle any mess we find ourselves in or whatever negative self-talk we convince ourselves of. Reason, perseverance and grit prevails.
Well done Dilly Court. Can't wait to see The Button Box in the shops later this year - I have had one of those in my life for as long as I can remember. It will be interesting to see how you have made a novel out of such a collection of fasteners.
