September / Voices in Summer / The Carousel

by Rosamunde Pilcher

September

​As spring comes to Scotland and the hills burst into life, a dance is planned for September. The invitations summon home the group of people Violet Aird has cared for most in her long life. The oldest, strongest and wisest of them all, she sees Alexa, her vulnerable granddaughter, find love for the first time, while the decision to send her little grandson away to school is driving parents Edmund and Virginia even further apart. Far from them all is Pandora, the glamorous, exciting girl who ran away twenty years before. All will converge on Scotland this September.

Voices in the Summer

Laura never feels as if she fits in with her husband's side of the family. When she stays with them in Cornwall to recuperate after an operation, the unseen presence of his first wife and daughter are ever present to destroy her tranquility.

The Carousel

Return to the sun-drenched settings of The Shell Seekers and the rich emotion of Coming Home, as Rosamunde Pilcher takes you on an unforgettable journey of the heart. It is the passage of a young woman from a relationship that has become too tame and predictable to the excitement of a new life brimming with possibilities and the thrilling promise of love.

Genres: Romance, Fiction

720 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Rosamunde Scott was born on 22 September 1924 in Lelant, Cornwall, England, UK, daughter of Helen and Charles Scott, a British commander. Just before her birth her father was posted in Burma, her mother remained in England. She attended St. Clare's Polwithen and Howell's School Llandaff before going on to Miss Kerr-Sanders' Secretarial College. She began writing when she was seven and published her first short story when she was 18. From 1943 through 1946, Pilcher served with the Women's Naval Service. On 7 December 1946, she married Graham Hope Pilcher, a war hero and jute industry executive who died in March 2009. They moved to Dundee, Scotland, where she remained until her death in 2019. They had two daughters and two sons, and fourteen grandchildren. Her son, Robin Pilcher, is also a novelist.

In 1949, her first book, a romance novel, was published by Mills & Boon, under the pseudonym Jane Fraser. She published a further ten novels under that name. In 1955, she also began writing under her married name Rosamunde Pilcher, by 1965 she her own name to all of her novels. In 1996, her novel Coming Home won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by Romantic Novelists' Association. She retired from writing in 2000 following publication of Winter Solstice. Two years later, she was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Reviews

[Elinor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feeling the need for a little escapism, I read all three of these novels back to back. There is a comforting similarity about Pilcher's books. They usually feature a charming old house either in Cornwall or Scotland, surrounded by spectacular scenery. The house is occupied by a delightfully eccentric old lady who hosts a guest, a young woman who is struggling with difficult life decisions regarding love and career. During her visit she is healed by the wisdom of the older generation and the beauty of nature.

The books don't seem repetitious, because the characters are all so well drawn and the plots just different enough to hold my interest. I love reading about setting -- landscapes, furniture, food, and clothing -- and I am easily carried away to the delightful world of Rosamund Pilcher. Although classified as a romance writer, her obituary in The Guardian said that she had elevated the romance genre to an altogether higher, wittier level.

[Sheryl Sato · Rating 3 out of 5]

These novels are set out in the order that I liked them - September, Voices in Summer and The Carousel. All are lovely novels set Scotland and England, and all interweave stories of sorrow, joy, past and present loves. Highly enjoyable.

[Jo Fetsco · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that started out with me thinking: “What is this? Just a book about normal people's lives; this is what it would be like if I wrote a book about my life.” It turned out to be a fairly interesting look into their lives, although pretty normal, but an abnormal event turns their lives upside down for a short time. Love Pilcher’s character development.

[andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only wanted to read September since it was a sequel to the Shell Seekers.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters, the surroundings, the joy of living…
Lovely read

[Cws]

F Pil