Starting Over
UPFRONT – ‘Pilcher has written one of those smart, charming stories that leaves readers feeling content and very happy that they chose to read it.’
IRELAND ON SUNDAY – ‘Compulsive, sensitive and at times quite funny, one wonders why Pilcher didn’t take up writing years ago’
Synopsis
Since the split of her 18-year marriage, Liz Dewhurst has lived with her son, Alex, and her father on their family farm on the east coast of Fife. The farm is now burdened with debt – Liz wants to keep the farm but her father feels it sensible to sell to a company who wants to make the land into a golf course.
Description
It seems a long time since life was good for Liz Dewhurst. Her marriage to Gregor ended six months earlier when she discovered he was having an affair. But Liz and Gregor’s family businesses were also intertwined. Growing up on neighbouring farms on the east coast of Fife, it made perfect sense to merge. The separation, however, has come at the worst possible time. With business bad, the two farms are barely struggling to survive on their own.
Then an extraordinary opportunity arises. An American-financed consortium is looking to build a golf course, and with Liz’s and Gregor’s land thinks it has found the ideal site. Liz is torn: the money is tempting, but the farm has passed through five generations of her family; is she really ready to give up that history, and also help Gregor and his mistress?At the same time, Liz’s student son Alex suggests renting out a room to raise some money. And the person she suggests, his German tutor Arthur Kempler, is the man to change everything. Funny, charming, he hits it off immediately with everyone. Indeed, if he were twenty-five years younger, Liz would find him extremely attractive. Then Arthur goes on holiday to Spain, and asks Liz to join him. And while over there, she meets the last person either expected to see: Arthur’s son…
Reader’s reviews
“Well worth waiting for. Another page-turner.” Sissel M. Østdahl
“I’ve just finished reading Oceans Apart and Starting Over, one right after the other. A Risk Worth Taking is definitely next, but the risk I take in doing so is losing more sleep (due to reading in bed) and not getting anything else done except read!!”
“I’d love to see Oceans Apart as a full-length movie here in the States, and not kept entirely in Europe! That’s not fair… My dream is to someday visit Ireland and Scotland, the lands of some fairly distant ancestors.”
“I’ll look forward to the release of your next book in 2007.”
25 July 2006, Joyce Schwarzrock, Minnesota USA
“I have just recently discovered your books and it’s the first time in a LONG time that I haven’t been able to put a book down. I only wish I had more than four of your books to read. Thank you for those.”
10 July 2007, Sheila Anderson
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“Robin Pilcher is popular novelist Rosamunde Pilcher’s oldest son, and living proof that talent does run in families…..with his Scottish sensibility and captivating wordplay, Pilcher is able to craft a fine and fulfilling novel.” (Booklist)
“If An Ocean Apart is any indication of Robin Pilcher’s works, then it is only a matter of time before the author becomes as well-known as his mother.” (Amazon.co.uk.)
“My family was brought up with the feelgood factor, so that’s what I write about. Real people and believable situations. My characters may be criticized by some as being stereotypical, but quite honestly, I take that as a compliment. One can associate with them.” (Robin Pilcher)