#Review: Keeping a Christmas Promise by Jo Thomas @jo_thomas01 @TransworldBooks @PenguinUKBooks #Christmasread #romance #Iceland #RespectRomFic

Just a week to go, and I always knew I was being a tad over-ambitious when I chose my pre-Christmas reading list of a dozen – two reviews done, six more this week, and my apologies to those authors whose books I’m just not going to get to this year. But that does mean that I’ll have reviewed 27 Christmas reads this year (you’ll find links to the other 19 here), so I really have given it my best shot!

So, I’ll have two reviews today – the second will be along later – and, for my first, I’m delighted to share my review of Keeping a Christmas Promise by Jo Thomas. Published by Penguin/Transworld, it’s now available as an ebook on all major platforms, in paperback (and what a gorgeous cover to add to your shelves…) and as an audiobook. The e-copy I read was my own – purchased via Amazon for my kindle. Once more, an author I haven’t read before – although we always say hello to each other at bookish outings, and I really have no idea why it’s taken me so long to pick up one of her books…

One Icelandic Christmas holiday. One snowstorm. An adventure they’ll never forget!

 

Twenty-five years ago, Freya and her three best friends created a bucket list. The future seemed bright and full of hope . . . But now they are travelling to Iceland in memory of the friend they’ve lost, determined to fulfil her dream of seeing the Northern Lights at Christmas.

 

They didn’t count on an avalanche leaving them stranded! Handsome local, Pétur, comes to the rescue, showing them how the community survives the hard winter. With Christmas approaching, Freya and her friends throw themselves into the festivities, decorating and cooking for the villagers using delicious local ingredients.

 

But will they manage to see the Northern Lights? And can Freya’s own dreams come true, this Christmas?

This book… well, I have to say that I thought it was one of the best books I’ve read this year, and I’m kicking myself that it’s taken me so long to discover the author’s wonderful writing.

A few years ago I had to cancel a planned trip to Iceland – and had this book simply been an opportunity for some armchair travel, I’d have been perfectly happy. And the book, at the start, looked like it was going to be very much what I was expecting – three female friends of a certain age, each with their own lives and emotional baggage, reunited for a trip to the Northern Lights to celebrate the life of the fourth friend, who didn’t make it to her fortieth birthday. I would have been happy with that too – I always enjoy a book about female friendship and support, and each of them had plenty of depth and a few hidden secrets and decisions to make, more than enough to keep it interesting. But when they set out in a snowstorm on their friend’s birthday to have the experience that was on her bucket list, the book turned into something very different – an avalanche, the road closed, no way back to their hotel, and they find themselves joining an isolated Icelandic community while they await the possibility of rescue.

Freya – the lead character – is a cook. Well, that’s how she tends to introduce herself, although she’s actually a chef in a Michelin starred restaurant – her dream had always been to have her name above the door, but instead she’s cooking a menu devised and planned by the restaurant’s owner. I’d read that the author’s books had a particular focus on food, and my goodness, I couldn’t have possibly asked for more. As the community pulls together to feed and look after the elderly and isolated, she finds herself cooking Icelandic specialities, delivering them on horseback through the snow, playing with unusual flavours, learning from the locals, incorporating the smoked wild salmon that is host Pétur’s speciality and passion.

The setting is spectacular, and quite wonderfully described – often awe-inspiring, frequently challenging to travel around, wonderful sights to discover, and a wealth of new experiences. The extreme cold is something you can really feel (it certainly had me turning up the central heating…) – but you also really feel Freya’s increasing bravery, the joy of every new discovery, her journey towards a new perspective on her life (something shared by her friends too) and an increasing realisation of what it means to really live, and live well.

Of course, there’s a romance too – one that builds slowly and convincingly, and that I both felt and believed in. And there’s a really strong environmental focus – not a tag-on in any way, but fundamental to the survival of the isolated community, and beautifully handled. And there’s an ever present threat to that community and its way of life, giving the whole story sometimes rather sharper edges and a developing storyline that follows an unexpected direction. The community itself is quite wonderfully drawn – both the individuals and their way of life – and the whole unfolding story was one in which I felt entirely immersed and invested. And, of course, it’s set at Christmas – not the familiar one of tinsel and fairy lights, but all the more engaging because of that focus on caring for others that moved me to tears at times and entirely warmed my heart.

If this one isn’t already on your reading list, add it now – it’s quite wonderful, and I’ll certainly be sure to read everything Jo Thomas writes in future. I really loved this one…

About the author

Jo Thomas worked for many years as a reporter and producer, including time at Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and Radio 2’s The Steve Wright Show.

Jo’s debut novel, The Oyster Catcher, was a runaway bestseller and won both the RNA Joan Hessayon Award and the Festival of Romance Best eBook Award. Her recent book Escape to the French Farmhouse was a #1 bestselling eBook and in every one of her novels Jo loves to explore new countries and discover the food produced there, both of which she thoroughly enjoys researching.

Jo lives in Pembrokeshire with her husband and three children, where cooking and gathering around the kitchen table are a hugely important and fun part of their family life.

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