Rebecca is trying to establish a life in London. She works in a bookstore and has been furnishing her new apartment with second hand antiques, when she receives a letter summoning her to her mother’s bedside in Ibiza, Spain. Her mother’s inconsistent parenting and bohemian way of life has created a distance between the two and they haven’t seen each other for a couple years.
The letter is a month old by the time Rebecca receives it thanks to lax former roommates who took their time about forwarding her mail to her. Rebecca arrives in time to spend a final day with her mother who is dying from leukemia. In that day, Rebecca finally learns who her family is and where they live. After the funeral, she sets out to Cornwall to find her surviving grandfather and cousin.
Along the way, she runs into a young man, an outsider who for some unknown reason is involved in her Cornwall family’s affairs.
As Rebecca meets this family she didn’t know she had, and they meet her, she uncovers the family dynamics at play between a semi-famous grandfather, her aunt, her cousins, and assorted other members of the household.
Pilcher’s characters are complex and realistic and I like the independent Rebecca, who has pretty much been on her own in the world thanks to her mother’s benign neglect and an unknown father. Pilcher’s stories all have similar themes that I gravitate towards. Specifically in The Day of the Storm, the themes are family secrets, caregiving, and the dynamic between parents and their adult children.
The pacing of the story is pretty quick, and each chapter ends naturally on a slight cliffhanger or surprise revelation. The book has a mystery feel to it, especially at the end as all of the plot lines come together for the reveal of the true motives of each of the people Rebecca has met in her travel to Cornwall.
Details in the story create a warm and appealing atmosphere with people standing before or lighting fires, balmy or stormy weather, beautiful landscapes, and a variety of paintings that hold clues to the mystery Rebecca uncovers. Even the differences and descriptions of the interiors of each character’s home lend to both the characterization and the atmosphere.
The story feels timeless, though going by the description of some of the clothes, it probably is set in the 70s, which is when it was written. Otherwise, it still feels current.
There is one character in the book who in today’s terms would be labeled narcissistic. Maybe the fact that the term is used so much more now than it was back then makes it stand out, but I was surprised to read such an accurate description of the trait. She captured exactly how charming yet disconnected and self-absorbed that type of person can be.
Locations: The story starts in London with a brief stop at Ibiza, a sun-drenched island off the coast of Spain. The rest of the story takes place in Cornwall. The descriptions of Cornwall are so compelling that I looked it up online. By car or train, it’s about 4½ hours from London to Cornwall.
Rosamunde Pilcher lived in Scotland and was best known for her first NYT Bestseller The Shell Seekers. She was 63 when The Shell Seekers was published, after starting her writing career at age 30. She wrote 26 books most notably, The Shell Seekers, Coming Home, September, and Winter Solstice. Her books were worldwide bestsellers, some were made into movies and television shows, and all are still available today as e-books. The Day of the Storm is her seventeenth book. You’ll probably find some of her books in your library.
Sarah McDuling on Booktopia had this to say about the author, who passed way at 94 in 2019:
Rosamunde Pilcher is credited for taking what was known as ‘romantic fiction’ in the later half of the 20th century and bringing it to a whole new level. She wrote captivating page-turners that became famous for capturing a vivid sense of place and time. Her stories explored themes of family and life, love and loss, grief and upheaval.”
Rosamunde Pilcher is up there with Maeve Binchy for her contributions to the popularity of women’s fiction. I’ve read a few of her books, like The Shell Seekers, so I might track down the others, too.
The Day of the Storm is highly recommended.
Book cover by carynwrites
Street by Pete Linforth from Pixabay / filtered from original