A Rural Affair by Catherine Alliott. Photo / Supplied
This story opens in well-trodden territory. Poppy is a young wife and mother who has settled into a lacklustre marriage to Phil, a man she doesn't really like but who fits the bill as a family provider, although a tight-fisted oneand a less-than-doting father.
They live in a picturesque village in England. Poppy occupies herself looking after her two children, hanging out with her friends and trying to save money for a winter coat from her allowance Phil spends all his spare time on his racing bike - until he's killed by a piece of "blue ice" which falls from the undercarriage of a descending aircraft. It's called blue ice for a specific reason.
As the story progressed, the happier I was that a piece of it knocked Phil off his bike because his racing cycle wasn't the only bike he was keeping company with.
Poppy is feeling guilty because she isn't grief-stricken. That comes when she finds out who Phil really was and what he was up to. I particularly liked the chapter when she snapped out of "widderhood" at the church choir practice.
Alliott does a good job of exploring the bewilderment and mess left behind when somebody young dies unexpectedly. She's also very good at writing interesting secondary characters. I liked Poppy's friends in the village, including snide, chain-smoking Peggy with her secrets, and Jennie and her out-of-control husband. Salvation arrives for Polly in an unexpected way. He's lovely. Much too nice to be struck down by a piece of blue ice.
A Rural Affair
By Catherine Alliott
Penguin, $40
* Reviewed by chick lit writer Michelle Holman, whose Hand Me Down (HarperCollins) is published next month.
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