Jane Bancroft has returned to Lovett, Tasmania after 20 years away, minus one ex-husband but plus one outraged teenage daughter. Life in the city – life in general – hasn’t quite panned out as she would have liked. With her mother unwell, now seems as good a time as any to come back to where it all began, and perhaps even start a new life here in the heart of Tasmanian apple country. But the legacy of Jane's wild apple youth has not been forgotten by small-town Lovett and her homecoming is haunted by past tragedy.
Jane’s not the only child of Lovett returning home. Drew Pascoe, one-time scrawny kid working the pub kitchens, now handsome celebrity chef, is also back in town and looking to re-establish his roots. With the blessing of the locals and in an effort to reinvigorate tourism to Lovett, Drew has restored the old homestead Valleyfield, and plans to televise its opening as Tasmania’s hottest new dining destination. He knows a key ingredient to success is a unique homegrown flavour: Jane's mother Thea, crowned Apple Queen of Lovett and the cantankerous guardian of the legendary recipe for apple snow. But the charm offensive he’s launched on Thea is not the only reason he's keen to spend quite so much time with Jane.
Between her mother's bitterness, her daughter's escapades and the struggle to rebuild a her life, helping Lovett’s new golden boy with his grand plans are not Jane's priority. But Drew's enchanting persistence is making Jane realise that mending old wounds and a homegrown romance may in fact be the only way to start a fresh new chapter.
I am Jane. Such a relatable story of daughters caught between their own mother, and a teenage daughter that mirrors their own life. My Mum, who did the best she could. My girl, skin to Scarlett. The grief and joy between that form the lines of life.
My mother always laughingly said that a parent’s greatest revenge is watching their children have children, and that’s what I loved about this book. It’s an intergenerational true-love story that explores the powerful vulnerability of parenthood. I felt empathy for these women…the disappointments and the failures, and the internal battles that rage when you want to draw your child in and protect them, even as letting go is required. At the end of this book I wanted to call my mum ... and give my teenage daughter a hug.