What do you think?
Rate this book
Katherine #1
Katherine Wentworth
Book by Stevenson, D. E.
473 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
D.E. Stevenson
72 books673 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Dorothy Emily Stevenson was a best-selling Scottish author. She published more than 40 romantic novels over a period of more than 40 years. Her father was a cousin of Robert Louis Stevenson.
D.E. Stevenson had an enormously successful writing career: between 1923 and 1970, four million copies of her books were sold in Britain and three million in the States. Like E.F. Benson, Ann Bridge, O. Douglas or Dorothy L. Sayers (to name but a few) her books are funny, intensely readable, engaging and dependable.
Dorothy Emily Stevenson was a best-selling Scottish author. She published more than 40 romantic novels over a period of more than 40 years. Her father was a cousin of Robert Louis Stevenson.
D.E. Stevenson had an enormously successful writing career: between 1923 and 1970, four million copies of her books were sold in Britain and three million in the States. Like E.F. Benson, Ann Bridge, O. Douglas or Dorothy L. Sayers (to name but a few) her books are funny, intensely readable, engaging and dependable.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
March 18, 2022
This was clearly a book that was just at the right time-light, but in a satisfying way. I immersed myself in the Scottish landscape and Katherine's family and homes, came away delighted with another DES favorite!
November 4, 2021
3.5 for this. I love Katherine as a character and her voice. Her children are delightful as well. I particularly loved her relationship with her 16-year-old stepson Simon and how close they are to each other. It's refreshing to read about a stepmother who becomes a loving mother to a stepson. Alec is delightful as well.
This DES felt almost Rosamunde Pilcher-like to me. There was more psychological realism in it than in a normal DES. Zilla is quite an interesting, complex, and rather sad character in some ways. Her relationship with Alec is also a bit troubling. The Limbourne section (especially the Treasure Hunt, yikes!) felt (mildly) sinister. I know this was crucial to the plot, but it wasn't as cozy to read about as what I consider a usual DES (e.g. Miss Buncle's Book, Vittoria Cottage, The Four Graces). It did make for some good character development for Simon, though, and I'm curious to read the sequel to see how it plays out. I enjoyed meeting Peter very much and DES slipped him in there very cleverly.
I love DES' writing style and the love she has for Scotland. I always enjoy being up in the Highlands with her for long walks, good plain food, friendly locals, and changeable weather.
This DES felt almost Rosamunde Pilcher-like to me. There was more psychological realism in it than in a normal DES. Zilla is quite an interesting, complex, and rather sad character in some ways. Her relationship with Alec is also a bit troubling. The Limbourne section (especially the Treasure Hunt, yikes!) felt (mildly) sinister. I know this was crucial to the plot, but it wasn't as cozy to read about as what I consider a usual DES (e.g. Miss Buncle's Book, Vittoria Cottage, The Four Graces). It did make for some good character development for Simon, though, and I'm curious to read the sequel to see how it plays out. I enjoyed meeting Peter very much and DES slipped him in there very cleverly.
I love DES' writing style and the love she has for Scotland. I always enjoy being up in the Highlands with her for long walks, good plain food, friendly locals, and changeable weather.
April 16, 2015
When you need a book to be a security blanket, as I did this week, you could do well to turn to the work of D E Stevenson.
This isn’t her best book; it isn’t a book that would stand up to very much scrutiny; but it is mid 20th century romantic fiction done rather well.
Katherine Wentworth was a young widow, living in Edinburgh in the most genteel kind of poverty, and bringing up a teenage stepson and two young twins. She missed her husband terribly, but she knew that he would have wanted her to carry on and to make a happy home for their family, and she knew that was the very best thing for her to do with her life.
She did well, and I found that I liked Katherine and her family – her sensible step-son, and her adorable twins – very much.
Over the course of one spring and summer a great deal happened.
Katherine met Zilla, an old school-friend. She was surprised at how delighted how warmly she was greeted, as they hadn’t been close at all; and as she saw more of her she was disappointed that Zilla didn’t appreciate that lifestyle and choices that her wealth gave her, or the lovely home that she shared with her brother. That brother became a good, supportive friend to Katherine, and he clearly enjoyed visiting a family home, forming a lovely relationship with her children along the way.
When Simon, Katherine’s step-son, came home from school for the holidays received an invitation from his father’s family. Katherine was concerned, because though her husband had said little about his family she knew that he had not come from a happy home and that he had never had any thought of building bridges. She and Simom talked about that, and they decided that they would go as a family, leaving the twins with her aunt.
After what happened there, Katherine was glad that seized the chance of a family holiday, in a cottage in the Highlands. It was idyllic, her twins, Daisy and Denis, were in their element, and their mother loved seeing the enjoying themselves, as well as enjoying her own escape.
But, of course, real life – the good things and the bad things – caught up with Katherine, allowing things to be tied up nicely and the story to reach the conclusion that I had been expecting from the start.
That ending was a little rushed but it was a very good ending; a proper conclusion but plenty of potential for a sequel.
The story is predictable. I correctly predicted how each character’s storyline would play out as soon as they appeared; and I spotted so any familiar elements that appear in so many of D E Stevenson’s works.
But the emotions were real, and they rang very true. D E Stevenson was very good at emotions, and at families, and at places.
Storylines and character’s fates played out exactly as I wanted them too, but there was just enough depth to the story to make it interesting; and I have to admit that I rather like this idealised era when the war was long ago, the modern age was far ahead, and the world was so much simpler and nicer.
Some of the characterisation is less than subtle; and the parts of the story that deal with bad behaviour and mental health suggest that D E Stevenson had little experience of that side of life and didn’t do much in the way of research.
I’m inclined to think that she sailed blithely past those things because she liked Katherine and her family, and because she wanted to reached the Highland setting that she so clearly loved.
That allowed me to do just the same; and I have to say that this was a definite case of the right book at the right time.
This isn’t her best book; it isn’t a book that would stand up to very much scrutiny; but it is mid 20th century romantic fiction done rather well.
Katherine Wentworth was a young widow, living in Edinburgh in the most genteel kind of poverty, and bringing up a teenage stepson and two young twins. She missed her husband terribly, but she knew that he would have wanted her to carry on and to make a happy home for their family, and she knew that was the very best thing for her to do with her life.
She did well, and I found that I liked Katherine and her family – her sensible step-son, and her adorable twins – very much.
Over the course of one spring and summer a great deal happened.
Katherine met Zilla, an old school-friend. She was surprised at how delighted how warmly she was greeted, as they hadn’t been close at all; and as she saw more of her she was disappointed that Zilla didn’t appreciate that lifestyle and choices that her wealth gave her, or the lovely home that she shared with her brother. That brother became a good, supportive friend to Katherine, and he clearly enjoyed visiting a family home, forming a lovely relationship with her children along the way.
When Simon, Katherine’s step-son, came home from school for the holidays received an invitation from his father’s family. Katherine was concerned, because though her husband had said little about his family she knew that he had not come from a happy home and that he had never had any thought of building bridges. She and Simom talked about that, and they decided that they would go as a family, leaving the twins with her aunt.
After what happened there, Katherine was glad that seized the chance of a family holiday, in a cottage in the Highlands. It was idyllic, her twins, Daisy and Denis, were in their element, and their mother loved seeing the enjoying themselves, as well as enjoying her own escape.
But, of course, real life – the good things and the bad things – caught up with Katherine, allowing things to be tied up nicely and the story to reach the conclusion that I had been expecting from the start.
That ending was a little rushed but it was a very good ending; a proper conclusion but plenty of potential for a sequel.
The story is predictable. I correctly predicted how each character’s storyline would play out as soon as they appeared; and I spotted so any familiar elements that appear in so many of D E Stevenson’s works.
But the emotions were real, and they rang very true. D E Stevenson was very good at emotions, and at families, and at places.
Storylines and character’s fates played out exactly as I wanted them too, but there was just enough depth to the story to make it interesting; and I have to admit that I rather like this idealised era when the war was long ago, the modern age was far ahead, and the world was so much simpler and nicer.
Some of the characterisation is less than subtle; and the parts of the story that deal with bad behaviour and mental health suggest that D E Stevenson had little experience of that side of life and didn’t do much in the way of research.
I’m inclined to think that she sailed blithely past those things because she liked Katherine and her family, and because she wanted to reached the Highland setting that she so clearly loved.
That allowed me to do just the same; and I have to say that this was a definite case of the right book at the right time.
April 22, 2022
I realised that I was worn out in body and spirit with the strain of struggling along by myself, coping with the children and trying to make ends meet on an inadequate income. I had prided myself upon my independence and somehow or other I had managed . . . but now I began to wonder whether independence was so important. Perhaps one could pay too highly for it. Here, in this peaceful spot, with Mrs. MacRam to provide a firm cushion to lean upon, I gradually began to feel like a different creature. I felt years younger, with a returning zest for life—as one sometimes does when convalescent after a long illness. Colours looked brighter, food tasted delicious and every day was a pleasure.Well, it’s a tie. This book is tied for my favorite D. E. Stevenson so far with Miss Buncle’s Book or the 4th in the Miss Buncle series, The Four Graces. But this is very different from the Buncle books. While those were clever and gentle satires of English country life and just funny, there wasn’t much funny or quirky about this one. It is a lovely family drama reminiscent of Rosamunde Pilcher’s best. It is about both the consequences of freedom and independence versus being "chained up" and, sort of conversely, the importance love and sharing one's burdens.
Katherine Wentworth is a 27-year-old widow raising her 16-year-old stepson, Simon, and her two own young twins. Although a very happy “whole family” they struggle financially. We learn that her beloved late husband, Gerald, was from a very wealthy titled family but was cast off when he refused to fall in with his father’s plans for his future and made his own way after going to Oxford and later becoming a professor. To add to those sins, as a young man, he married an Italian girl who later died in childbirth. Katherine has had nothing to do with his family and vice versa. Meanwhile, she meets a former school acquaintance, the neurotic shallow Zilla who has a very nice and attractive brother. Despite being independently wealthy, Alec works as a successful lawyer much to his sister’s frustration. She is very possessive and manipulative and wants him constantly at her beck and call. In spite of Zilla, Alec and Katherine become good friends. At the end of Part One, Zilla offers Katherine, who sorely needs a care-free vacation, her remote cottage in the highlands of Scotland for the summer. And much to my wonderment, as I went into this book cold, Simon is contacted by his grandfather and summoned to his father’s family’s estate, Limbourne. It seems the heir is dead, and the estate and title will eventually pass to Simon. As Simon says, He wants to make sure I “don’t eat peas with my knife.”
Part two takes place at Limbourne.
Part 3 takes place at the rustic cottage in Scotland where Katherine is spending the summer with her 2 young children.
This was so good. I loved the lovely Katherine and her family with their strength and wholesomeness matched up against their wealthy and outwardly nice but inwardly corrupted relatives. The inevitable romance turned surprisingly tender and touching. I sighed. I am just starting the sequel now and am anxious to read if we visit Limbourne again. Can this family be saved? This book ends on a hopeful note. Maybe?
February 7, 2019
A gentle, old-fashioned novel with a strong sense of place (Scotland) and well-drawn characters who face their problems head-on with honesty, integrity and strength. This was the perfect comfort-read for me at a time I found it particularly difficult to settle on a book, so I appreciated it even more than I might have at another time. As usual, there's a quiet depth in D.E. Stevenson's books that speaks to me and make her books wonderful additions to my personal library. This one is a keeper as well.
June 16, 2025
Another wonderful, gentle love story from one of my favorite authors. I can (and have) read this story again and again.
July 15, 2025
2025 review: I enjoyed this just as much the second time through. This time my pleasure was augmented by audiobook version. I knew that most of Stevenson's stories take place in Scotland, but never knew how much fun it would be to hear them read in a soft Scottish brogue. Also, this time I paid more attention to the books mentioned: Alice in Wonderland, Pilgrim's Progress, John Buchan novels, etc. When an author mentions books, I often feel I'm getting a glimpse into their own favorites, which is delightful.
2018 review: Sometimes a book comes along at just the right time and is pure pleasure. That's how I felt when I started reading Katherine Wentworth. The calm dignity of the protagonist, the stark beauty of the Scottish countryside, the stalwart friendship of Alec, and the gentle kindnesses of the minor characters all joined together to make a refreshing tonic for my tired heart. Underneath it all is a current of quiet happiness that I found irresistible.
Katherine is a widow raising three children. She's come through the heartache of losing her husband and has learned to be independent and self-sufficient. She is strong, yet insecure enough to be believable. She is sure of one thing. When a new man comes into her life, she isn't the least bit interested in matrimony. A lovely book!
2018 review: Sometimes a book comes along at just the right time and is pure pleasure. That's how I felt when I started reading Katherine Wentworth. The calm dignity of the protagonist, the stark beauty of the Scottish countryside, the stalwart friendship of Alec, and the gentle kindnesses of the minor characters all joined together to make a refreshing tonic for my tired heart. Underneath it all is a current of quiet happiness that I found irresistible.
Katherine is a widow raising three children. She's come through the heartache of losing her husband and has learned to be independent and self-sufficient. She is strong, yet insecure enough to be believable. She is sure of one thing. When a new man comes into her life, she isn't the least bit interested in matrimony. A lovely book!
August 3, 2016
A lovely book, so relaxing to read, making one a bit nostalgic for old-fashioned values such as integrity and respect. The story is simple, cosy and soothing and the characters endearing (except for the nasty Wentworths, of course). On to the sequel... I love D. E. Stevenson books.
May 13, 2025
This has such a different tone than other DES books but I thoroughly enjoyed it. On to book two!
September 12, 2018
A light, entertaining read.
Katherine Wentworth is a widow bringing up Simon, her stepson and her twins. She bumps into Zilla, an old school friend who is bored and wants to renew their friendship, so she is invited to the big house that Zilla lives in with her brother, for tea. She and Alex start spending time together, but something is a bit off with Zilla.
Katherine manages to steer her family through various situations, to happy conclusions.
Katherine Wentworth is a widow bringing up Simon, her stepson and her twins. She bumps into Zilla, an old school friend who is bored and wants to renew their friendship, so she is invited to the big house that Zilla lives in with her brother, for tea. She and Alex start spending time together, but something is a bit off with Zilla.
Katherine manages to steer her family through various situations, to happy conclusions.
October 13, 2010
Since I love Scotland and since I really like reading about gentle people in less modern lives, this book was wonderful! Very much "comfort food" for the weary heart and mind.
October 16, 2016
Sigh... I just love books like this.
July 28, 2026
Such a treasure! I adored rereading this D.E. Stevenson favorite! It remains a 5🌟 read for me—yay!
Beth Bonini's description of Katherine is perfect: "She is a gentle, kind, ‘sensible’ (the word is often used) person - but not a bit saccharine or boring."
WHAT I LOVED:
❤️ Sweet, gentle and endearing domestic fiction
❤️ The cozy descriptions of nature and also everyday, mundane details
❤️ Katherine's charming children - Daisy and Denis (the twins) and her stepson, Simon
❤️ Following the growing friendship between Alec Maclaren (of "The Cedars")
❤️ The family's August vacation in the Scottish highlands
❤️ Craig en Ron (is that spelling right??) - a beautiful cottage with no electricity near Loch en Ron
❤️ Katherine's friends, The Heaths (vicar, wife and son)
❤️ The way that Katherine (and her children) view and react to life—with practicality, truth, thoughtfulness and compassion.
The most difficult thing for me was to read about Zilla, Alec's sister. (She went to school with Katherine (she calls her "Kit") and was a few years older.) From the moment they meet again in Edinburgh, Zilla begins her bullying, lying and controlling treatment of Katherine. It's so painful for me to read and even the most saintly person would want to avoid her at all costs.
My advice is to start reading this novel in early July. The story ends in late August (and the next book in the series starts in September)—so you will get all of the best mood reading and descriptions if you follow the timing. But, truly, you will love it at any time of year! (Also, it helps if you read Smouldering Fire first. There are characters in that book that tie in with this one.)
A joy to read and I hope you love it, too!
Beth Bonini's description of Katherine is perfect: "She is a gentle, kind, ‘sensible’ (the word is often used) person - but not a bit saccharine or boring."
WHAT I LOVED:
❤️ Sweet, gentle and endearing domestic fiction
❤️ The cozy descriptions of nature and also everyday, mundane details
❤️ Katherine's charming children - Daisy and Denis (the twins) and her stepson, Simon
❤️ Following the growing friendship between Alec Maclaren (of "The Cedars")
❤️ The family's August vacation in the Scottish highlands
❤️ Craig en Ron (is that spelling right??) - a beautiful cottage with no electricity near Loch en Ron
❤️ Katherine's friends, The Heaths (vicar, wife and son)
❤️ The way that Katherine (and her children) view and react to life—with practicality, truth, thoughtfulness and compassion.
The most difficult thing for me was to read about Zilla, Alec's sister. (She went to school with Katherine (she calls her "Kit") and was a few years older.) From the moment they meet again in Edinburgh, Zilla begins her bullying, lying and controlling treatment of Katherine. It's so painful for me to read and even the most saintly person would want to avoid her at all costs.
My advice is to start reading this novel in early July. The story ends in late August (and the next book in the series starts in September)—so you will get all of the best mood reading and descriptions if you follow the timing. But, truly, you will love it at any time of year! (Also, it helps if you read Smouldering Fire first. There are characters in that book that tie in with this one.)
A joy to read and I hope you love it, too!
March 15, 2019
Highly recommended if you are a fan of gentle domestic fiction - particularly the mid-century British kind. This one is set in Scotland - Edinburgh and the Highlands - which definitely added to its appeal.
The title character and protagonist of the novel is a young widow with three children to raise: her 16 year old stepson Simon, and 7 year old twins Daisy and Denis. She is a gentle, kind, ‘sensible’ (the word is often used) person - but not a bit saccharine or boring.
Freedom is an important theme in the novel and it plays out in different ways. Several of the secondary characters are autocratic and/or emotionally manipulative, and Katherine - by contrast - understands the importance of loving people without attempting to control them. Her child-rearing style is much like my own, so no doubt that is part of the reason I found her so appealing.
Stevenson has a lucid and undemanding writing style. I’ve not read many of her books - only the more famous Miss Buncle’s Book, published by Persephone - but I’m definitely a fan.
The title character and protagonist of the novel is a young widow with three children to raise: her 16 year old stepson Simon, and 7 year old twins Daisy and Denis. She is a gentle, kind, ‘sensible’ (the word is often used) person - but not a bit saccharine or boring.
Freedom is an important theme in the novel and it plays out in different ways. Several of the secondary characters are autocratic and/or emotionally manipulative, and Katherine - by contrast - understands the importance of loving people without attempting to control them. Her child-rearing style is much like my own, so no doubt that is part of the reason I found her so appealing.
Stevenson has a lucid and undemanding writing style. I’ve not read many of her books - only the more famous Miss Buncle’s Book, published by Persephone - but I’m definitely a fan.
April 4, 2024
Ranking up near the top of my Stevenson favorites, I really love this novel. It's just so delightfully sensible! There's nothing boring about it, either.
Weaving in practical lessons in common sense, Stevenson shows what happens when parents never let up and allow their children any freedom as they grow older. I wish every parent could read this book before their children reach "tween" age.
Meanwhile, the "romance" is delightful (read: minimal) and seeing that "Katherine #1" up there made me crazy happy. I have to see if I can find more books in a series! EEEP!
Weaving in practical lessons in common sense, Stevenson shows what happens when parents never let up and allow their children any freedom as they grow older. I wish every parent could read this book before their children reach "tween" age.
Meanwhile, the "romance" is delightful (read: minimal) and seeing that "Katherine #1" up there made me crazy happy. I have to see if I can find more books in a series! EEEP!
May 25, 2024
I enjoyed it even more this time through, as I realized I had not reread it since our trip to Edinburgh in 2007. I loved this read through, since I could visualize places I had seen for myself, as she described walking round Edinburgh, or a trip out through the countryside, etc. Definitely made it come alive. I took some descriptive passages from the book, in a little notebook with me on our trip. Next trip want to take descriptive passages from Josephine Tey's 'Singing Sands' and go to the island with the singing sands. : )
March 24, 2022
Another charming comfort read by DES. The final third set during a summer holiday in the Scottish Highlands was by far my favorite part. I look forward to returning to these characters in the sequel.
June 5, 2026
3.5 Stars. The solid writing you expect from D. E. Stevenson, but I felt like this one was not as complete as her other books. I am hoping that is because the sequel will add more. Still, it was a sweet, relaxing read. I liked Katherine. She has the right combination of spunk and kindness. I like her hard working nature and her faithfulness to her children and her late husband. I look forward to reading the rest of her story.
December 25, 2018
4.5 out of 5 stars
April 18, 2021
Set in Scotland, Edinburgh, Loch Ron near inverquill and Wandlebury. Widowed 27 year old Katherine is bringing up her seven year old twins Denis and Marguerite/Daisy and 16 year old step-son Simon as she hopes her Oxford educated husband, Gerald Wentworth would have wanted. She runs into a very idle and ill-tempered former girls schoolmate, Zilla Maclaren, and through meets her older brother Alec, a well to do lawyer. Zilla knows people named Wentworth at Limbourne estate near Wandlebury, who Katherine says are probably Gerald’s relations. Aunt Liz who brought Katherine up still sees Katherine and the children weekly.
Zilla’s excessive selfish jealousy and manipulations, the heirs to Limbourne dying, putting Simon next in line and a visit that displays many troubles on that prison like estate, trying to make ends meet, all add barriers for the growing attraction between two lonely people.
Wentworths:
Sir Mortimer
Henry, a barrister with one son Mortimer-both dead
Florence-widow with wild son Lance at Cambridge and flighty artistic daughter Anthea
Gerald m. 1-Violeta who died when Simon was born
M2- Katherine London when Simon was 7, premature twins Devin and Marguerite
Peter
Zilla’s excessive selfish jealousy and manipulations, the heirs to Limbourne dying, putting Simon next in line and a visit that displays many troubles on that prison like estate, trying to make ends meet, all add barriers for the growing attraction between two lonely people.
Wentworths:
Sir Mortimer
Henry, a barrister with one son Mortimer-both dead
Florence-widow with wild son Lance at Cambridge and flighty artistic daughter Anthea
Gerald m. 1-Violeta who died when Simon was born
M2- Katherine London when Simon was 7, premature twins Devin and Marguerite
Peter
February 11, 2019
4 1/2 stars
I loved this charming story of Katherine Wentworth, a widow with young twins and a teenage son from her deceased husband's first marriage. She has been raising the children on her own for several years, since the death of Gerald Wentworth. They are a "complete" family. I think that means they are happy together, happy with life even though resources are meager.
One day she meets an old school friend and is introduced to the friend's brother. Alec and Katherine's relationship begins as a good, solid friendship. He likes the children and offers practical support with cricket coaching as well as practical advice on various situations that arise.
I love the quietness of this novel, the goodness of Katherine and Alec, the emphasis on family and doing what is right for each member. I love the gentle parenting that is modeled, the willingness to let Simon, the teenage son, make his own decisions because he has been taught well and has the counsel of a good mother. And I love the quiet reference to prayer, the peace found in church, the reliance on the Lord. Faith is a part of these gentle lives without fanfare.
I loved this charming story of Katherine Wentworth, a widow with young twins and a teenage son from her deceased husband's first marriage. She has been raising the children on her own for several years, since the death of Gerald Wentworth. They are a "complete" family. I think that means they are happy together, happy with life even though resources are meager.
One day she meets an old school friend and is introduced to the friend's brother. Alec and Katherine's relationship begins as a good, solid friendship. He likes the children and offers practical support with cricket coaching as well as practical advice on various situations that arise.
I love the quietness of this novel, the goodness of Katherine and Alec, the emphasis on family and doing what is right for each member. I love the gentle parenting that is modeled, the willingness to let Simon, the teenage son, make his own decisions because he has been taught well and has the counsel of a good mother. And I love the quiet reference to prayer, the peace found in church, the reliance on the Lord. Faith is a part of these gentle lives without fanfare.
January 7, 2025
2013: I read this book for the first time last year and listened to an audio version this month. One of my new favorite books (and authors)! I love Katherine and her family and the scenery and the narrator's Scottish accent.
I'm glad the audiobook is available on Audible because the book is sadly out of print.
2017: This book did not disappoint on a re-listen. Completely cozy and satisfying!
2025: Yup, still a lovely book.
I'm glad the audiobook is available on Audible because the book is sadly out of print.
2017: This book did not disappoint on a re-listen. Completely cozy and satisfying!
2025: Yup, still a lovely book.
February 29, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed this one, even more I think because of a couple of recent trips to Scotland. A delightful comfort read that I purchased years ago from a used bookshop. I enjoyed it so much I immediately went to my local library looking for more by this author as I will definitely be seeking out additional titles for a pleasant diversion.
September 6, 2017
As someone who has been to Scotland and Edinburgh, I enjoyed hearing about the the area from long ago. The sights and sounds of the lochs and hills...this book put me in a mind of the Anne of Green Gables books. There is a romance here, but it's as much about the people and the land as it is about the romance.
I enjoyed it...I want a cup of tea.
I enjoyed it...I want a cup of tea.
May 31, 2021
Katharine is a widow raising her step-son and twins. It is, in typical D.E.Stevenson fashion, a novel of daily life with a nice romance. The theme appears to be freedom. Katharine's late husband broke with his family over freedom. Freedom becomes an important issue for two other characters and one of them might be a love interest.
December 1, 2020
I really loved this absolutely charming light romance story about a young mother. Such a lovely view of motherhood with quaint, old-fashioned Scottish life thrown in. So perfect for right now. I am looking forward to continuing the sequel via kindle unlimited☺️
August 7, 2021
Perfectly lovely.
June 15, 2024
I love DE Stevenson. She was one of the first clean romance authors I started reading after discovering the genre through the Mitford series. Her books are mostly set in England or Scotland during the WW2 time frame, though as a whole they aren’t WW2 books (if that makes sense). I picked this book because I was headed to Scotland and wanted to read a book set there. This was a good one! I don’t know how I hadn’t read it before.
Katherine is a widow raising her stepson and twins. Each of the kids are great characters with very different personalities. Katherine is a great mom and works hard to keep her family together and happy. She meets a friend from childhood, Zilla, and becomes reacquainted with her brother Alec.
The romance in DES books isn’t overt. They are more “women’s fiction” than romances, but I still love the romance in them. Katherine and Alec are both wonderful. All of DES’s books are clean. I recommend her wholeheartedly!
Katherine is a widow raising her stepson and twins. Each of the kids are great characters with very different personalities. Katherine is a great mom and works hard to keep her family together and happy. She meets a friend from childhood, Zilla, and becomes reacquainted with her brother Alec.
The romance in DES books isn’t overt. They are more “women’s fiction” than romances, but I still love the romance in them. Katherine and Alec are both wonderful. All of DES’s books are clean. I recommend her wholeheartedly!
June 28, 2018
DE Stevenson is such a good choice if you need a comforting read with lovely people. Her stories are delightful slices of life. There's not much conflict so if you only read for plot then these likely aren't the books for you. If you enjoy character and setting then I highly recommend DE Stevenson.
March 30, 2025
Charming. Delightful. And so wholesome. Katherine Wentworth is a dynamic character who you will root for throughout entire story. This is my first D. E. Stevenson, and I look forward to reading many more.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews