Customer Reviews

Return to Drumveyn

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This book is a continuation to Alexandra Raife's "Drumveyn". The main character is 23 yr old Cristi, the adopted daughter of Archie and Paulie. Just out of college, Cristi unexpectantly inherits a legacy from her mother's family in Brazil. She returns to Brazil to a family she never really knew, and to figure out what to do with her inheritance and what to do with the rest of her life. Will she stay in Brazil or will she return to her love Dougal and her family in Scotland? An enjoyable story, with a little romance, highlights the need for for family and the need for belonging. The story-telling is much like Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy.

I've read Pilcher and Binchy and I believe that Alexandra Raife's books are more heartfelt and touching. The people are real and the plots are less a morality tale then those of the other authors to which Raife is compared. Not that a morality tale is a bad thing, but the evolution of the characters in Alexandra Raife's books seem to be more organic, less crafted to reach a certain deserved end.

This book is a continuation of the Drumveyn book. The main characters of that book: Madeline, Tom, Archie and Paulie are only lightly dealt with however. Cristi and Dougal are the main characters in this book. So, if you did not read Drumveyn, you can still read and enjoy this book. However if you did read Drumveyn, it is satisfying to read a little more about the characters from Drumveyn, especially Archie and Paulie-two of my favorite characters from that book.

The rich descriptions of Brazil are a treat and a different setting from Raife's other books which mostly take place in the Scottish highlands. This is a different book in other ways from her other books. Not just the setting, but the relative youth of the characters. Cristi and Dougal are in their early twenties and at the beginning of their lives. Both don't know what they want and are very much aware of the difference in their class. As an American, I found this discussion of class difference and how it affected Cristi and Dougal's choices very interesting.

Set in Scottland, this is a story of change in one family. Sir Charles dies and his wife Madilane realizes that for 26 years, she has had no life of her own. So begins the story that has a facinating cast of personalities. Lisa returns home in need of support and peace with a surprise in tow. Archie, with his distant wife Cecil are expecting their first and are having their own problems. This is one of those stories where you root for the person who is changing and the roadblocks that are overcome, eagerly encouraging them on. This is a feel good story and one that puts the emphasis on character, rather than sex, sex, sex. Don't get me wrong, there is romance here and it it the most down to earth, believable kind of romance.