Alice Rose is a foundling, discovered on the Yorkshire moors above Haworth as a baby. Adopted but then later rejected again by a horrid step-mother, Alice struggles to find a place where she belongs. Only baking - the scent of cinnamon and citrus and the feel of butter and flour between her fingers - brings a comforting sense of home. So it seems natural that when she finally decides to return to Haworth, Alice turns to baking again, taking over a run-down little teashop and working to set up an afternoon tea emporium. Luckily she soon makes friends - including a Grecian god-like neighbour - who help her both set up home and try to solve the mystery of who she is. There are one or two last twists in the dark fairytale of Alice's life to come ...but can she find her happily ever after? Wonderfully wry, heart-warming and life-affirming, Trisha Ashley's hilarious novel is perfect for fans of romantic comedies by Milly Johnson and Jill Mansell. And it contains recipes!
Trisha Ashley is one of my favourite authors and I eagerly await each year for her latest novel to hit the book shelves and this years was definitely worth the wait. The Little Teashop of Lost and Found is the perfect book to curl up with on Sunday.
I loved the idea of this book, Alice was found on moorland when she was only a few hours old and since then has moved around the country, making friends and finding a job but in the end, always abandoned. This has had an effect on Alice and the last abandonment, her partner who died, but left her a surprise when he passed away, allowed her to buy a cafe, which she bought on a whim, without visiting and on the back of a few photographs, where she can make her mark and carve out her own living. The main draw towards this cafe is that is close to where she was left as a newborn baby and what follows is a lovely, heart warming story about Alice making a life for herself and building up a tea room that people will flock to for a posh and proper afternoon tea.
As soon as I started the book I was transported to Haworth and I wanted Alice to be happy and find somewhere where she was happy and could build her life. What I really liked was the three separate narrators and story lines - one was Alice, one was Alice's storytelling as an author and the third is a mystery letter writer. These stories are cleverly intertwined and the end result is a clever and heartwarming story which I really enjoyed. Trisha's storytellying is, as always, brilliant with her beautiful writing style. There is a great cast of characters, Alice is the tea room owner, her inherited staff members who are a great duo, the mysterious antique shop owner, Nile, and his adoted family, who take Alice in while the tearoom is being decorated, all come together to create a great story. Coupled with the cast is the great setting which all adds a little mystery to the story of Alice's birth and Alice's hunt for her mother.
Thank you to the Trisha Ashley and the publisher for inviting me to be part of this blog tour and for a copy of the book in return for an honest review.
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