September (Coronet Books) [Paperback]

Rosamunde Pilcher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 1991 | Series: Coronet Books

As spring comes to Scotland and the hills burst into life, a dance is planned for September. The invitations summon home the group of people Violet Aird has cared for most in her long life. The oldest, strongest and wisest of them all, she sees Alexa, her vulnerable granddaughter, find love for the first time, while the decision to send her little grandson away to school is driving parents Edmund and Virginia even further apart. Far from them all is Pandora, the glamorous, exciting girl who ran away twenty years before. All will converge on Scotland this September.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A wonderful, not-to-be-missed novel that is destined to provide many hours of pleasurable reading' -- Woman and Home 'Pilcher's storytelling skills are serene and beguiling' -- The Times 'It is never too soon to discover Rosamunde Pilcher' -- Good Housekeeping 'Whether she is being poignant, wry or perceptive, Rosamunde Pilcher is always gentle' -- Woman's Realm

From the Inside Flap

In the tradition of Rosamunde Pilcher's majot bestseller The Shell Seekers comes a rich, satisfying listening experience that will transport you into the aristocratic world of two Scottish families.

Lynn Redgrave, whose superb dramatic reading of The Shell Seekers was widely acclaimed, returns in a breathtaking three-hour abridgement of September- a sweeping story of the private relationship between husbands and wives, children and parents, with an authenticity and understanding that speak directly to the heart. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (April 4, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034054287X
• ISBN-13: 978-0340542873
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,625,683 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Once again Pilcher captures essence of the human race, February 20, 2001

By 

Busy Mom (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: September (Paperback)

Between love and passion, feuding families, mother and son, and all other possible relationships involved in a small village ~~ Pilcher covers the range of human lives. This book is so wonderfully refreshing compared to a lot of novels today. It's a sequel of a sorts to "The Shell Seekers," but the characters are different people than the ones that occupys "The Shell Seekers." Only Noel is presented in this book and it's such a nice change to see him growing up into a real man throughout this book. If anyone can prove that they can redeem themselves, Noel is the best example of that!

Be sure to read this book right after you've finished "The Shell Seekers." That way, Noel and his tendencies are still fresh in your mind and you can see Pilcher at work intertwining lives of people in both books.

Pilcher is an author I highly recommend to everyone to read. She's a clean writer, refreshingly so! Her descriptions of every day life in Scotland and England are vivid ~~ where you can see the loch in its glory on a fall day, smell the tea, see the rainy mists just outside the windows. She takes you with her on her journeys. And it lingers long after the last page.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, engaging and deeply moving. . ., July 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: September (Paperback)

Pilcher does a masterful job at extending several key characters from "The Shell Seekers" into this lovely book. While each story can stand alone, start with "The Shell Seekers" and move onto this. The character of Noel is one I find so interesting and believeable- rather callous and self-absorbed in "The Shell Seekers" and then growing and learning to understand and appreciate the world his mother created for him in "September". Noel has a love interest in this book that starts in a most unlikely manner, but is richly satisfying as the book goes on. I won't give away the story, but even though the book is richly populated with Pilcher's usual lovable if eccentric folk, the emotional journey of Noel Keeling is at the heart of "September".An unlikely hero, the changes we see in Noel gives us hope for ourselves and those we care about deeply.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "September" Tops My List of Favorite Family Sagas, February 11, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: September (Paperback)

I'm an avid reader and this is, without a doubt, my favorite book of all time by my favorite author of all time.

At the heart of "September" is Noel Keeling, a man sorely self-absorbed and with a life in disarray after a bitter fight with his mother and her subsequent death in "The Shell Seekers." Noel is drawn into the life of London caterer Alexa Aird, whose family and their good friends, the Balmerinos, are the pivotal families in this rich tale of love, betrayal, loss, despair, and redemption on the moors of Scotland.

You will meet Violet Aird, the aging matriarch rich in compassion yet fretful as she watches her son Edmund and his second wife Virginia grow apart over a disagreement concerning their son. When a former lover reenters Virginia's life, their son Henry disappears from boarding school, and a pathetic madwoman begins to dredge up the past, there is plenty to worry about. Add to the mix their good friends Archie and Isobel Balmerino, the lord and lady rich in titles but so short on cash they must open their family home to visiting American tourists. Their daughter Lucilla, a free-spirit who has been traveling through Europe with her Austrailian boyfriend, returns home with a most surprising guest in tow---Archie's sister Pandora who left twenty years ago over whispered-about circumstances and whose return changes lives forever.

This is another trip into the world of Rosamunde Pilcher, one rich in family ties, unsurpassed local color of her beloved Scotland, and characters that will long be in your memory. If you're looking for an engrossing book to curl up with, one you will be hard-put to set aside, this is the book for you.