All Desires Known

by Georgie Newbery, Katharine Smith (Editor)

All Desires Known… And from whom no secrets are hid. (from the collect before Communion in the 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer.) Lay out your classic English village in a little bowl-shaped you’ll need a church, village hall, couple of farms, row of council houses, old rectory, and a river. Take the following One disaffected vicar One vicar’s wife, rural-life-fantasist A jobbing gardener and log man The gardener’s mother (who happens to be the vicar’s ex) The gardener’s one young and bright, one a recovering addict and single mum The vicar’s a frail but wise old bird One actor-falling-on-hard-times (who once dated the vicar’s wife) One village church A bitter church warden Pour all of the above into the village and stir. All Desires Known is a story about country life. Not chocolate-box-perfect with roses round the door, this is chick-lit for grown-ups, and the first in a series to be set in and around the villages strung along the fictional river Hindle.

346 pages, Paperback

Published April 28, 2016

Reviews

[Merry]

I found Georgie on Twitter as The Flower Farmer. Knowing her flowers were gorgeous I thought I'll order her first novel too, read it at some point sort of thing. After reading a couple of depressing modern novels I got round to it, hoping it would be a pleasant light read. I wasn't expecting it to be so good and entertaining. It is! So much so that I'm quite bereft now I've finished it.

The characters are vivid: she's excellent at drawing people with a few strokes here and a few there, warts and all, they could step off the page into life easily. The story-telling is solid and accomplished, I was drawn in quickly and remained a captive audience. There is also a touch of magic, just occasionally, which I loved.

Overall: thoroughly enjoyable, it has restored my faith in contemporary fiction.

[Nellie Williams]

Loved it. The beauty of a good book is the ease in which the reader can fall into it and know every sight, sound and smell. This happened with All Desires Known, the characters were people one wanted to spend time and now I've got to the end I feel a tad homesick. Realistic and believable, village life, romance, intrigue. Great read.

[Karen]

Brilliant read! Loved the book and the characters. Having grown up in a little country village, I could find likenesses with the people I grew up with In our village. I can't wait for the next book. - when is it out?