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Brook Breasting
The new Treasurer of the Brook Breasting Fete Committee the Reverend Rolf James has discovered an anomaly in the accounts. He calls for an Extraordinary General Meeting. Is there a villain to unmask? Chapter by chapter, we see the lives of the main characters in this book held up to close scrutiny. The build up to the fete and subsequent events are central to the story, but other issues and happenings in and around the village vie for attention. The sudden unexpected death of one of the main characters and the threatened closure and attempted armed robbery of the post office, followed by a tragic accident involving a boy and a spate of organised poaching incidents, are just some of the plotlines weaving in and out of the story. Author John White brings this story to life with a cast of unforgettable characters in an inspiring tale of courage and determination, love and loss. On the outside, Brook Breasting is a picturesque English village. On the inside, it has the characters that make it uniquely, Brook Breasting.
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First published October 14, 2010
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John White
871 books7 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 15, 2012
My first impression that Brook Breasting would be a cosy, charming read was dispelled fairly quickly. However, it definitely was an enjoyable novel that focused on one year in the life of the title village. Picture one of the small villages in a Midsomer Murders mystery, gwithout the murders, and that was more or less how I visualized the setting.
The story opens with the Brook Breasting Vicar (and newly appointed fete treasurer) finding an anomaly in the fete financial records--large enough to warrant calling an extraordinary meeting of the fete committee. Ah ... a mystery!
The next eight or nine chapters introduce us to the key players in this novel, i.e. the fete committee members. Each character's chapter culminates in the receipt of a handwritten "invitation" from the vicar to the fete meeting.
Yes, you got it. There are nine main characters in Brook Breasting and sundry others popping in and out as the story requires. That was, perhaps, the biggest problem with this novel--the lack of a main character and central point of view. The number of characters and story lines in such a short novel meant that the reader never really had a chance to connect well with any of them. It also meant the reader quite often forgot who was who (particularly in the early stages, and even occasionally toward the end). Personally, I feel it would have been a stronger novel, structurally, if written from one character's point of view, possibly that of the vicar or newspaper editor.
Even so, this slice of village life, with all its good and bad goings on, made for a quite enjoyable, quick read. As mentioned, a few too many story lines and key characters in such a short novel, and no real central plot, as such, but isn't that what life is like? Lots of ins and outs and comings and goings. I still found myself happily turning pages as each little event unfolded.
Although the initial mystery really didn't develop into anything all that mysterious, and in fact actually played a very small part in the overall story, I was still quite pleased that the author rounded up his novel with the solution. (Thank you for that!)
For a first novel, I think John White has done a good job with Brook Breasting. Any of the main characters could branch off into separate novels (with varying degrees of difficulty), and the little village of Brook Breasting could quite easily live on for a long time to come.
The story opens with the Brook Breasting Vicar (and newly appointed fete treasurer) finding an anomaly in the fete financial records--large enough to warrant calling an extraordinary meeting of the fete committee. Ah ... a mystery!
The next eight or nine chapters introduce us to the key players in this novel, i.e. the fete committee members. Each character's chapter culminates in the receipt of a handwritten "invitation" from the vicar to the fete meeting.
Yes, you got it. There are nine main characters in Brook Breasting and sundry others popping in and out as the story requires. That was, perhaps, the biggest problem with this novel--the lack of a main character and central point of view. The number of characters and story lines in such a short novel meant that the reader never really had a chance to connect well with any of them. It also meant the reader quite often forgot who was who (particularly in the early stages, and even occasionally toward the end). Personally, I feel it would have been a stronger novel, structurally, if written from one character's point of view, possibly that of the vicar or newspaper editor.
Even so, this slice of village life, with all its good and bad goings on, made for a quite enjoyable, quick read. As mentioned, a few too many story lines and key characters in such a short novel, and no real central plot, as such, but isn't that what life is like? Lots of ins and outs and comings and goings. I still found myself happily turning pages as each little event unfolded.
Although the initial mystery really didn't develop into anything all that mysterious, and in fact actually played a very small part in the overall story, I was still quite pleased that the author rounded up his novel with the solution. (Thank you for that!)
For a first novel, I think John White has done a good job with Brook Breasting. Any of the main characters could branch off into separate novels (with varying degrees of difficulty), and the little village of Brook Breasting could quite easily live on for a long time to come.
Displaying 1 of 1 review