Susan in NC’s Reviews > Friends at Thrush Green: A Novel > Status Update

“ Purple loosestrife and wild mint stirred in the light breeze, setting free the river smell, ‘unforgettable, unforgotten’ which brought back to the watcher on the bank a hundred memories of other loved rivers. Charles sat there for almost half an hour, letting the magic work its spell, and then he rose to return home.”

“There was something about running water which healed the spirit as surely as sleep did. For Charles Henstock, the company of the river was indeed: ‘Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,’ and he usually returned from it calmed and comforted.”

“ There was something appealingly eighteenth-century about her old friend, her archaic turn of phrase, her knowledge and use of herbs, and her unshaken belief that all things English were naturally best. Dotty was refreshingly free from doubts; they seemed to have come in during Victoria’s reign and had become more and more potent ever since, Dimity surmised.”