Christmas at the Cabin by Rebecca Boxall - #bookreview #blogtour

 

There are worse places to be homeless than St Helier. Jersey is one of the smartest places in Britain, after all, and the people are generally very nice. They don't like to look at me - I'm a blot on the beautiful landscape - but they're generous when they see me busking, tossing their coins past my dog, Lola, into my open guitar case.

The weather here isn't too extreme - rarely too hot or too cold, though you'd be surprised how bitter it can feel when you're trying to sleep in a bleak multi-storey in the thick of winter. And there are charities, soup kitchens, shelters, hotstels - even some vicar who seems to have made it his mission to befriend me...

***

A festive, coming-of-age tale about an Oxbridge candidate and a young homeless man who find themselves in the bittersweet predicament of falling in love with exactly the right person at exactly the wrong time. 

Well-to-do Jed never imagined he’d end up homeless, but family circumstances have made it his only option. Local vicar, Ben, tries to help him but there’s an element of self-punishment to the homelessness that makes Jed continue to put up with his situation – until disaster leads him to re-consider the vicar’s offer of a place to stay. 

Hattie is on the cusp of adulthood, frantically trying to persuade her mum that she doesn’t want to attend an elite university, preferring the idea of pursuing her love of art and textiles. When she meets Jed, she badly wants to understand his circumstances and why, when she has everything at her fingertips, he doesn’t. 

Hattie’s mum, Christine, has had a hard life and is desperate for more for her only child. When she meets Ben, the vicar who’s trying to help Jed, she finds an unlikely ally, and the two heartbroken souls find themselves drawn to each other. Until they find their relationship suddenly tested to the limit. 

One thing’s for certain: none of these characters is looking forward to Christmas. It’s the worst time of year for each of them, for different reasons. But perhaps this year, the festive season could defy all expectations.

***

This is a lovely story which begins with the plight of a homeless man. However, if that makes you think that the plot will be a little depressing I urge you not to as this is one of the most uplifting books I have read in a while.

It is the story of four people and how their lives interact. Jed is the homeless man I referred to previously, Ben is the local vicar, Hattie is studying for her A levels and Christine is her mum. Christmas is fast approaching (for them and us) and none of them are looking forward to the festive season. Each of them had a complex background which had led them not to trust others.

I was completely gripped by this book and enjoyed reading every word. It has been well written in an engaging style. Ms Boxall brings her story and characters to life on the page which made me want to get back to this book on every occasion. 

Throw in a dog, Lola, to the story and you have the perfect festive read. I have not read anything by this author before and she seems to specialise in novels set at Christmas. I would love to fit another one in before the festivities but I may be being a little optimistic timewise. Never mind, there is always next year!

Formats:  e-book - currently available on Kindle Unlimited

About the Author:

Rebecca Boxall was born in East Sussex in 1977 and grew up in a bustling vicarage always filled with family, friends and parishioners. She now lives by the sea in Jersey with her family and Rodney the cat. 

She read English at the University of Warwick before she trained as a lawyer and more recently worked at a psychiatric unit.

She is the No. 1 bestselling author of Christmas at the Vicarage and Christmas on the Coast as well as the bestselling writer of Home for Winter, The Christmas Forest and Christmas by the Lighthouse, in respect of which she was nominated for the Romantic Novel Awards in 2020. She is also the author of Christmas at the Farmhouse and her popular short story, A Winter’s Day. 

(e-book and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)