The story begins in mid-August and then works up to Christmas. Lizzy Pharamond lives in Perseverance Cottage in the grounds of her husband's family estate. Lizzy is married to the philandering Tom who regularly disappears for days at a time. The relationship between Lizzy and Tom is getting worse and worse. Lizzy is waiting until their son Jasper goes to University in the Autumn and then she plans to leave Tom and find somewhere else to live. This could be a problem as Lizzy lives a very self sufficient lifestyle, she grows all her own fruit and vegetables, keeps chickens and her only form of income, other than bartering her goods, is 'The Perseverance Chronicles' which she writes. These contain funny things which happen around the cottage, and recipes for some of her creations with the food she grows. They are published into books from time to time, but don't earn her a lot of money.
Following an accident Lizzy suddenly finds herself widowed. A number of women then come forward to claim that they were the love of Tom's life and Lizzy becomes the focus of some male attention around the village and is also the target of some vicious actions.
Lizzy, as a member of the Christmas Pudding Circle, is busy creating seasonal recipes and cooking up her share of the required items for the annual senior citizen Christmas hampers. There is also an annual Boxing Day Mystery Play to rehearse and cooking of preserves and pies to be entered into the annual Village Show, for which this year Lizzy has some serious competition from Tom's cousin Nick.
There are a couple of recipes given at the end of the book.
I enjoy Trisha Ashley books, there is usually a bit of gentle romance blossoming within the stories. I have also read 'Twelve Days of Christmas', 'A Winter's Tale', 'Chocolate Wishes' and 'Sowing Secrets' and have 'Wish Upon a Star', 'Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues' and 'Good Husband Material' on my bookshelf.
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