Blackthorn Winter [Hardcover]

Sarah Challis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

In April, when blackthorn blossom clothes the hedgerows like a wedding veil, there sometimes comes a spell of frost or snow so severe that it seems as if spring and summer will never return. This is what country people call a blackthorn winter.

For Claudia Barron, the blackthorn winter of that particular April is like a metaphor for her whole life: for the end of glamour, financial security and marriage. Her rich and powerful husband has been sent to prison, leaving her homeless and virtually penniless. Hopeless to cling to the remnants of her old life, pointless to stand by a man who has betrayed her in almost every way a man can betray a woman.

Instead she goes into hiding, buys the only house she can afford in the Dorset village of Court Barton - a hideous bungalow built in an old kitchen garden - and changes her name. Under a cloak of anonymity she sets out to get herself a job in the local school. But villages don't much like anonymity and before very long Claudia finds herself drawn into the gossip and the grumbling, the lives and loves and quarrels of Court Barton in a way that she had never expected. Blackthorn winters do always give way to spring in the end.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When her famous and unfaithful husband is sentenced to prison for fraud and divorce proceedings are under way, Claudia Barron eschews the London scene and moves to a modest cottage in the Dorset hills. Anonymity is her goal, but Claudia quickly discovers the alacrity of village gossip: her previous life soon becomes the focus of discussions in upper-class dining rooms and the local pub. Aided by her two grown children, Lila, a vivacious free spirit who lives in New York, and Jerome, just returning from a year in India and his own personal tragedy, Claudia forges a new identity in her adopted village. She makes ends meet first by picking mushrooms, then by cooking at the village school; she even manages to find a couple of romantic interests, as her spunky attitude attracts both a local dandy and the quiet widower next door. Inspired by the farms, fields, and stables she so obviously loves, Challis has crafted another charming village tale spiced with just the right amounts of near tragedy and romance. Deborah Donovan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Sarah Challis, whose father is the distinguished cinematographer Christopher Challis, traveled widely with film units as a child. She has since lived in Scotland and California but is now happily settled in a Dorset village. She is married with four sons. Blackthorn Winter is her third novel.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312324561
• ISBN-13: 978-0312324568
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,289,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites in 2004, January 19, 2005

By 

Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blackthorn Winter (Hardcover)

BLACKTHORN WINTER by Sarah Challis
January 19, 2005

One of my favorite books read in 2004 was BLACKTHORN WINTER by Sarah Challis. I can't say enough about this novel. The characters, however, was the driving force behind this book, although the center of the story was Claudia Knight's life as she tried desperately to begin a new one in a village called Court Barron. She does everything including change her last name, in the hopes that her neighbors will not know who she is, or discover that her husband is Roger Baron, the man who was recently sent to jail for a financially related crime.

While Claudia does her best to start a new life as a single woman, she also has to deal with her two adult children. Her daughter continues to defend Roger, even though he's in jail and has also had an affair with a woman he would rather be with than his own wife. Her son is in India and emotionally and physically is as far from Claudia as he will ever get. She does have a true friend in her sister-in-law Minna, who supports Claudia through phone conversations and communications through the lawyer, David.

Hiding her true story from the neighbors is a 24-hour job. She doesn't know how long she can keep up this charade, especially with the newspapers that often cover Roger's story on the front page. As she builds a new life for herself, she slowly gets to know the neighbors, and the story unfolds. Challis does a great job developing the characters and their various relationships, and it is the relationships and the personalities that make BLACKTHORN WINTER a delight to read.

This book is highly recommended by the Ratmammy.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A winning story, January 21, 2005

By 

Annie "bookwishes4" (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blackthorn Winter (Hardcover)

Claudia Barron was living the high life in London with good clothes, a nice home, and social friends but it all came to an end when her husband was arrested and sent to jail for fraud. Claudia was being hounded by the newspapers and photographers so she decided to leave London and head off to the small Dorset village of Court Barton to start a new life. She changed her name to Claudia Knight, rented a small cottage, and got a job at a local school as a cook. She is trying hard to keep her past life a secret but circumstances beyond her control are forcing the truth out.

Blackthorn Winter is a special treat to read if you are a fan of Maeve Binchy or Rosamunde Pilcher. The first chapter is a little bit confusing because of how it opens but stick to it, you will not be sorry.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sarah Challis Weaves Endearing Characters Into Charming Village Tale, August 28, 2006

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blackthorn Winter (Hardcover)

This was my first Sarah Challis novel and I found her delightful characters living in a charming English village completely captivating. Readers who are enchanted by Rosamunde Pilcher and Marcia Willett will find Challis to be an equally enjoyable writer to spend time with.

Claudia Barron has led a glitzy and glamorous life in London. Alas, her well-known husband has recently been splattered across the tabloids, convicted of fraud, and exposed as an adulterer. Humiliated, Claudia flees to an inconspicuous village and hopes to live anonymously and detached from fair-weather friends. Even though she changes her name, her reclusive behavior causes mumblings in the village and before she can say "no comment" she has been thrust into a cast of characters as endearing as any you would want to meet: Julia Durnford, her nosey parker neighbor who manages every detail of the village; Peter, Julia's milquetoast husband; their daughter Victoria who is feeling the pangs of being the left-out and lonely teenager at boarding school; Jena, the ten-year old gypsy who runs free; and Valerie, the semi-alcoholic neighbor to whom Claudia can reveal her secrets. Add to this mix, Claudia's visiting adult children: the lively Lila who flies in from New York and Jerome, the brooding son who returns from India with a secret too devastating to share. And finally, there are the two available men who catch Claudia's eye---will she succumb to the sexy and suave Anthony Brewer or be stabilized by Chris, the straightforward widower with four daughters?

Cozy and comforting, this is a most appealing novel I was sad to see end.