I really loved this book. I started reading it on a day trip to the beach and couldn't put it down. A wonderful holiday read ( )

I really loved this book. I started reading it on a day trip to the beach and couldn't put it down. A wonderful holiday read ( )

A lite summer holiday reading classic. An entangled tale of the comings and going’s of a set of beach hut owners - light and warm, not too lovey, all tied up nicely in a big bow at the end. Perfect for a summery escape. ( )

I started this book thinking it was going to be snapshots of people's lives, and in a way I was right, but also wrong! The book follows the stories of some of the regulars of Everdene Sands beach huts - some owned, some rented, and how their lives are lived out over one summer whilst interconnecting through the beach huts. Some chapters overlap nicely, whilst others are stand alone affairs, but the whole book works well. I did see the end coming from about the middle, but then again it was never billed to be a masterful mystery of any kind.

I did find some of the characters annoying - the Milton middle generation were particularly grinding on my nerves, but perhaps this was the point, and to be honest some of the people deserved what was coming to them!

That said, the storylines weaved well and it was entertaining as a holiday read. I finished it whilst the Welsh weather howled and whipped rain against the windows and the log burner roared. Whoever thinks Wales in November is not a holiday is wrong - a book, a cuppa, a fire and no work to worry about are perfect! ( )

The Beach Hut is Veronica Henry’s 5th stand-alone novel. It consists of 14 inter-related vignettes, each one named for a beach hut on the Everdene Sands beach front. In this excellent novel, Henry examines the unique culture that is characteristic of society in these holiday dwellings. At the same time, she touches on subjects as diverse as alcoholism, adultry, self-made women, unrequited love, financial advisers, mental cruelty, jealousy, loss of a life partner, ticking biological clocks, first love, job redundancy, loss of innocence, heartbreak, revenge, overprotective mothers and building sand castles. Family tradition and the dynamics of extended families also form an important part of the stories. It may seem a big ask to draw all these disparate elements together, but Henry is more than up to the task: she does so admirably. This novel with make you laugh and cry, and leave you feeling good. ( )