Thoroughly enjoyed the storyline although the wording and detail were at times lengthy and found myself refocusing quite often in order to get through quite a lengthy read.

English country living in modern time, with traditional ways, e.g. the English house (cottage, manor, garden, cabin), golf, shooting game, country club (ball, feast), etc., detailed and enlivened in amusing narrations and witty repartee.
Aside from the leading man and woman - winkled love birds, Grace and Sandy surprised me in author's smart depiction. Twin Churchill's fate, in contrast with a predictable fate of the romance, manifest the moral, rather than dwelling on a disappointment.
A few exaggerations are not in sync with my sensibility though, I resonate with the clashes of race, religion, material wealth, property, class.

Overcoming racism in modern England. For background, try Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown. Although this book has ethnic Pakistanis as the objects of disrespect, Rushdie delves more thoroughly into the problems of empire, whether political or religious.

reference by julia spencer fleming

Loved it! I wish Masterpiece Theatre would produce this novel.

Charming and very sweet book. Good to know chivalry isn’t dead!

I guess this is a book that you love or dislike based on the many reviews. Put me in the like very much camp. If you love the English wit and propriety it will entertain you. Agree that it would make a great Masterpiece Theater piece.

Alcona Caledona

After a promising first chapter, I read two more ... and quit. Totally predictable.

A completely charming, humorous, and skillfully written romance of modern English manners. Don't be put off by the word "romance." -- this is entertaining for BOTH male and female readers.

Major Ernest Pettigrew, retired as a soldier and retired a second time as a teacher at a boys school, lives alone in a small English village. His life is jarred when he receives news that his brother has died suddenly from a heart attack. Ironically, at the same time he realizes he is becoming attracted to the Pakistani widow who runs the local market and discovers that life just might have meaning again. Nothing could be farther from English tradition than a retired major falling in love with a “foreign” shop keeper. And yet, Jasmina is more like him than anyone else he knows. She is English-born, educated, thoughtful, and also trapped by her family’s tradition, which devalues a woman’s independence.

Every paragraph is polished, with witty observations that make you want to turn to your friends and read aloud. Simonson is also a master of characterization, with even minor appearances coming to complete life and with most characters having multiple layers revealed. A kidnapping, a rescue, and an attempted murder ramp up the excitement later in the story, without taking anything away from the charm, but further revealing the character of the Major. A great book.