All About Ella
Meredith Appleyard
Reviewed by Helen
This is such a beautiful story so beautifully written it is heart-breaking and heart-warming at the same time, the emotions flow from the pages and the characters, such a lovely setting a small seaside town of Cutlers Bay on the York Peninsula in South Australia. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Ella and Angie as I am sure any reader will.
Ella is seventy years old and has just lost her husband after fifty years of marriage, her world has been turned upside down as she knew it, when her three children step in and start to reorganise her life getting her to sell her house and move in with her eldest son Anthony and his family. Things don’t go to plan and Ella argues with Anthony and takes off on her own and finds herself in the town of Cutlers Bay, here she meets up with Angie who is forty and moves around a lot and an instant friendship happens, she also meets the local cop Zach, he has his own thoughts about Ella and Angie especially when Ella’s son keeps ringing him.
Angie roams a lot never settling in one place for too long, she appears happy this way, but this time she is aiming to get to Perth and look up her mother, but meeting Ella in her time of need keeps her in Cutlers Bay longer than she meant to stay and when Ella decides on buying a house Angie agrees to help her and their friendship grows even more. Angie picks up some shifts at the pub and finds herself getting closer to Zach and for the first time taking off again doesn’t seem to be calling to her like before but she must find her mother.
When Ella’s son Anthony puts a spanner in the works about the house Ella wants to buy she shows her strength and shows them that just because you are getting older it doesn’t mean that you can’t think for yourself and with the friends that Ella has made she stands up to her family and I could do nothing but cheer her on.
This is a fabulous story that I loved from start to finish, I loved how Ella stood her ground when her family decided that they could use the money more than she could and that she wanted a life that she planned and would make her happy helped along with the wonderful new friends she has made Angie, Claire, Zach and so many others from the town she shows that family doesn’t have to be blood related. This is a story that I highly recommend, truly it is a must read it shows when push comes to shove how strong you can be with the help of friends.
My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for my copy to read and review.
Ella is seventy years old and has just lost her husband after fifty years of marriage, her world has been turned upside down as she knew it, when her three children step in and start to reorganise her life getting her to sell her house and move in with her eldest son Anthony and his family. Things don’t go to plan and Ella argues with Anthony and takes off on her own and finds herself in the town of Cutlers Bay, here she meets up with Angie who is forty and moves around a lot and an instant friendship happens, she also meets the local cop Zach, he has his own thoughts about Ella and Angie especially when Ella’s son keeps ringing him.
Angie roams a lot never settling in one place for too long, she appears happy this way, but this time she is aiming to get to Perth and look up her mother, but meeting Ella in her time of need keeps her in Cutlers Bay longer than she meant to stay and when Ella decides on buying a house Angie agrees to help her and their friendship grows even more. Angie picks up some shifts at the pub and finds herself getting closer to Zach and for the first time taking off again doesn’t seem to be calling to her like before but she must find her mother.
When Ella’s son Anthony puts a spanner in the works about the house Ella wants to buy she shows her strength and shows them that just because you are getting older it doesn’t mean that you can’t think for yourself and with the friends that Ella has made she stands up to her family and I could do nothing but cheer her on.
This is a fabulous story that I loved from start to finish, I loved how Ella stood her ground when her family decided that they could use the money more than she could and that she wanted a life that she planned and would make her happy helped along with the wonderful new friends she has made Angie, Claire, Zach and so many others from the town she shows that family doesn’t have to be blood related. This is a story that I highly recommend, truly it is a must read it shows when push comes to shove how strong you can be with the help of friends.
My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for my copy to read and review.
5 stars
Expected publication: September 1st 2021 by HarperCollins Publishers Australia
