The Last Christmas by Liz Fenwick
The Last Christmas by Liz Fenwick
When a final goodbye in Cornwall is only the beginning…
Meredith Tremayne Russell has spent her life mapping the world, first in intelligence during WWII, and later as a professor. But at ninety-eight with time running out, she faces a journey she cannot chart, a return to her old Cornish home to sell it and to scatter her beloved husband’s ashes.
With her is her twenty-five-year-old granddaughter, Grace, a dyslexic who believes she is a failure in a family of academics. For Grace the trip is a welcome escape from her mother’s demands. But when she unlocks her great-grandmother’s abandoned art studio, she finds a legacy of a passionate artist and a French resistance fighter.
As Meredith relives the frozen December of her 1946 wedding, she understands her final mission isn't to say goodbye to her old home, but to draw one last map—showing Grace how to navigate a life of her own making.
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| The Last Christmas by Liz Fenwick |
My review
This is a beautifully written book, set in Cornwall just before Christmas, but that takes us back in time too. To begin with, 98-year-old Merry is vibrant and full of life, returning to Cornwall from America, with her granddaughter Grace, to put her family home on the market. She is a strong character, in sound mind who has lived an extraordinary and independent life. However, it soon becomes apparent that Merry has decided this is one-way journey for her.
Merry is no ordinary grandmother, and as the memories of those she has loved and lost blur with the present day, her flashbacks enable us to piece together her life during the Occupation of France, her Christmas Eve wedding just after the end of the war and her life in America alongside her husband Jake. Making maps was her skill, even in childhood, and the final map she needs to create is one of the most important, to help her granddaughter Grace see where her future might lie.
Grace is a square pin in a round hole, the only non-academic in a family who struggle to understand her creative mind. The pressure to succeed has worn her down and diminished her confidence. Her first trip to Cornwall allows her to discover her French Great Grandmother’s artwork and sow the seed of where she might find her own happiness, all the while helping Merry prepare for her final Christmas. It was bittersweet to watch Grace blossom as Merry diminished.
This is an emotional read, that puts us in Merry’s mind as she prepares to join her beloved Jake, who is never far from her side. Far from being morbid, I found the presence of Merry’s ‘ghosts’ both reassuring and comforting, in a book that dealt with loss in a beautiful and sympathetic way.
This is a book to cosy up to on a winter evening, that will make you remember those you have lost, but in a positive way.
Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HH9QRQYL (ebook)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HH9QRQYL (Amazon US)
https://www.lizfenwick.com/store-1/p/the-last-christmas (paperback)
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| Liz Fenwick |
Author Bio
Liz Fenwick, dubbed ‘the queen of the Cornish contemporary novel’ by The Guardian, is an award-winning author of emotional, immersive, feel-good fiction. Her books are filled with history, mystery and love. She loves stories that pull her into their world like they did when she was young so that’s what she writes. When she’s not writing, she’s procrastinating on Instagram, plot walking, reading and painting. She lives in Cornwall with her husband and two mad cats.
Social Media Links
@liz_fenwick (insta & twitter & threads)
@lizfenwickauthor (TikTok)
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| The Last Christmas by Liz Fenwick |
Giveaway to Win 3 x Paperback copies of The Last Christmas (Open to UK Only)
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
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