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Summary
Summary
" The Long Way Home is Robin Pilcher at his best. I devoured every word of this masterful storyteller."--Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author In the vein of Maeve Binchy, Rosamunde Pilcher, and Nicholas Sparks, New York Times bestselling author Robin Pilcher returns with his most enchanting novel yet, filled with captivating twists and turns of heart. When Claire Barclay receives news that her beloved stepfather has had a stroke, she's more than a little shaken. Leo is her last real relative, and his own children rarely check up on the old man. Claire and her husband, Art, leave New York and fly back to Scotland to care for him during the summer. Their visit makes clear that Leo is no longer capable of living on his own, but he is determined to stay in his beloved old house. Art comes up with the idea of turning the place into a conference center, thinking they could purchase the place from Leo and build him a cottage on the property. But the situation is much more complicated than it seems. Claire's old flame, Jonas Fairwether, has become Leo's caretaker and trusted confidant. Though Claire distrusts Jonas's motives, Leo chooses to take his advice to put the house up for public auction rather than sell directly to Art and Claire. Claire is immediately suspicious, and even more so when she finds out that another application has been submitted to develop the property. Does Jonas Fairwether want to knockdown the Leo's house and build a development? It looks like whoever is behind the plan is being driven by financial gain, but there may be an even stronger motive. The Long Way Home will keep readers on the edge of their seats. This is a masterful novel from a master storyteller.
Author Notes
Robin Pilcher was born on August 10, 1950 in Dundee, Scotland. Before becoming a full-time author, he worked as a cowboy, an assistant film cameraman, a farmer, a public relations and marketing consultant and a tennis coach. His books include An Ocean Apart (1999), Starting Over (2002), A Risk Worth Taking (2004), and Starburst (2008).
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Pilcher (An Ocean Apart) goes bland in his uninspired fifth novel. Claire Barclay has always been close to her stepfather, Leo, so when Leo suffers a stroke, Claire returns to his estate in Scotland with her husband, Art, to help out, only to land in the middle of wrangling over what to do with the estate. Among the players, childhood friend and chaste love Jonas Fairweather may have ulterior motives beneath his altruistic exterior, and Marcus and Charity, Leo's children from his first marriage, who have never liked Claire, want Leo to sell his house and property. Claire and Art, meanwhile, devise a plan to convert the estate into a conference center. Unfortunately, the characters are more caricature than flesh and blood, particularly the spiteful Marcus and Charity, and Jonas's secrets are pathetic when not contrived. Leo is the best thing going, but he's relegated to a plot device. With such slapdash character work, it's tough to care about where it's all going. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
An agreeable tale of friendshipbroken and mendedset in the Scottish countryside. Nine-year-old Claire and her mother Daphne get along just fine, thank you very much, since the death of Claire's father. But when Daphne invites an exotic-plants expert for a talk at her Sussex garden club, Leo enters their lives for good. A funny, preoccupied man Claire likens to a clown, widower Leo marries Daphne and whisks the two away to his grand, dusty, Scottish estate named Croich. Leo's own children, Marcus and Charity, are spoiled and rotten, but are luckily away most of the year at school, leaving Daphne to befriend Jonas Fairwether, who lives on a farm on Leo's estate. Claire and Jonas are best friends for years, but just as Claire is finally prepared to confess her undying love, Jonas vows never to see to her again. Heartbroken, Claire postpones college, travels the world and ends up in New York, where she marries a restaurateur. Much of the novel takes place in the present after Daphne's sudden death and Leo's declining health. Claire's husband Art is looking for an investment and thinks of turning Croich into a conference center (with a condo for Leo) but heartless Marcus and Charity have other ideasthey want to put Leo in a home, bulldoze the estate and put up a housing development. Then there is Jonas, returned to the farm rich, with a Swedish wife and maybe with a bit too much influence over Leo, or so the bitter Claire thinks. Though it's unclear why developing Croich into a business center is such a good idea, or how the gentle Leo managed to raise two horrible children in Marcus and Charity, Pilcher's unhurried tone and cozy description of Scotland makes for a companionable, if unexceptionable, read. Mild-mannered stuff for a rainy day. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
When Claire Barclay's widowed mother marries Leo Harrison and they move to an estate in Alloa, Scotland, Claire's only friend is Jonas, who lives on the estate's rundown farm. The pair is inseparable until the night she decides to confess her love, and he says he wants nothing to do with her. Shocked and devastated, Claire takes time to travel rather than start university right away. Whe she meets Art Barrington in New York, loves blossoms between them. Years later, she returns to Alloa when her mother dies, and she finds Leo suffering from dementia. Because the house means so much to Claire, Art conceives the notion of turning it into a conference center, but they aren't the only ones interested in the house. Jonas, who has made his fortune, has also been running Leo's life, leaving Claire to question his motivations. Pilcher weaves a wonderful story filled with love, deceit, and friendship that is reminiscent of his mother Rosamunde's work.--Engelmann, Patty Copyright 2010 Booklist
