Stevie‘s review of Rachel’s Pudding Pantry by Caroline Roberts
Contemporary Women’s Fiction published by Harper Impulse 18 Apr 19
I’m always happy to find new romance or women’s fiction novels that centre around food businesses, especially when we’re promised recipes to go with some of the offerings described in the story. Since I also know a fair bit about sheep farming, and have written about it once or twice in my time, this book looked like it might be an excellent introduction to a new-to-me UK author. I was also very taken by the idea of a farm and associated bakery business run and staffed by several generations of women.
Rachel is a single parent to five-year-old Maisy, and took on the management of her family’s Northumbrian farm after her father’s unexpected death. Her mother still lives in the farmhouse with them, taking on the majority of the housework while Rachel deals with the more strenuous outside tasks, helped by their one farmhand and occasional input – not always useful – from their immediate neighbours. The farm has been struggling financially for some years, and Rachel knows they need to diversify into other sources of income if the business is to survive and they are to keep their home. Reluctant to tap into the local tourist trade by offering accommodation, Rachel hits on the idea of selling her mother’s homemade puddings, most based on handed-down family recipes, first to local shops and then direct to the public from a teashop she decides to establish in an unused barn.
There’ll be extra expenses at first, but Rachel is confident of being able to raise some money through grants and the rest through selling off some of her land. I had to suspend my disbelief at how little Rachel was selling the land for, although I could sympathise with her reaction when the only offer she received was for a fraction of that. Fortunately help arrives in the form of another neighbour, Tom, who offers to rent the land, thereby saving Rachel from having to break up the farm. Tom is a generally all-round useful chap, actually, although Rachel’s head is initially turned by other less suitable single men in the area. And then there’s Maisy’s mostly absent father, who’s not a love interest, but does manage to cause chaos on the few occasions he makes contact.
I took a while to get into this book; the prose was a little simplistic and unexciting for my taste, and there were none of the promised recipes within the story itself, although we got a couple at the very end. Things got going eventually, but, as with the story of the attempted land sale, I felt that a lot of the farming scenes were a little dumbed down for my tastes and the business seemed to solve all the problems as hoped, without any real sign of things actually getting busy. All in all, not my favourite for this subgenre, but I can see it appealing to less cynical readers.
Grade: C
Summary:
Primrose Farm is Rachel’s very own slice of heaven. Come rain or shine there’s always a pot of tea brewing by the Aga, the delicious aroma of freshly baked puddings, and a chorus of happy memories drifting through the kitchen.
But the farm is in a spot of trouble. As the daffodils spring, Rachel must plant the seeds of change if she wants to keep the farm afloat, and it’s all resting on a crazy plan. She’ll need one family cook book, her Mum Jill’s baking magic – and a reason to avoid her distractingly gorgeous neighbour, Tom . . .
Swapping their wellies for aprons, can Rachel and Jill bake their way into a brighter future? The proof will be in the pudding!
Read an excerpt.
