One Enchanted Evening by Katie Fforde

 

One Enchanted Evening by Katie Fforde.

Published 2nd March 2023 by Century.

From the cover of the book:

Ever since she can remember, Meg has wanted to be a professional cook.

But it's 1964, and in restaurant kitchens all over England it is still a man's world.

Then she gets a call from her mother who is running a small hotel in Dorset.

There's an important banqueting event coming up. She needs help and she needs it now!

When Meg arrives, the hotel seems stuck in the past. But she loves a challenge, and sets to work.

Then Justin, the son of the hotel owner, appears, determined to take over the running of the kitchen.

Infuriated, Meg is determined to keep cooking - and soon sparks between them begin to fly.

Will their differences be a recipe for disaster? After all, the course of true love never did run smooth...

***********

Meg longs to be a professional cook, but in 1964 the idea of a female chef running a kitchen is considered ridiculous. Undaunted, she has plans to travel to France and work on her already impressive skills to chase her dream of becoming a pastry chef.

When she gets a call from her mother asking for her help, she puts her plans on hold to help out in the kitchens of the shabby, but delightful country house hotel, Nightingale Woods. In the absence of the hotel's part owner Andrew, Meg's mother Louise has been left in charge, but things are not going well in the catering department. Just as Meg arrives, the chef who has caused all the trouble walks out, and she suddenly finds herself running a kitchen sooner than she has anticipated. However, Meg is always up for a challenge, and despite the scary prospect of an impending gala dinner, she gets down to work.

Everything is going rather well, with the Nightingale Woods' team pulling together like a little family, until the arrival of Andrew's son Justin, who has very firm ideas about what should be happening at the hotel while his father is away. Justin has divided loyalties, and he sees little prospect of a future for Nightingale Woods, but Meg has fallen in love with this little corner of rural heaven. She is sure that this could be just the place for guests who would appreciate its charms, if only a few careful improvements could be arranged. This might be more of a challenge than Meg anticipated, but she is not ready to give up the fight...

One Enchanted Evening picks up the story from Katie Fforde's previous books A Wedding in the Country and A Wedding in Provence, this time concentrating on Meg's story. You may recognise some familiar faces if you have read the earlier books, but this is a stand-alone story based around the delightful Nightingale Woods country house hotel.

Everything about this book beautifully evokes rural 1960s England, and Fforde does a lovely job of immersing you in the world of a family business struggling to keep up with the modern age. Fortunately for Nightingale Woods, Meg arrives in the nick of time and recognises that the kind of charm this hotel offers is worth preserving, and she is not afraid to fight for its future. Unfortunately, this is 1964 and sexism is alive and well, and not just in professional kitchens...

I loved Meg from page one. Her determination to succeed is endearing, and although her over-confidence does make things complicated at times, she rises to the challenge when provoked into action - and there is a lot here to provoke her, especially when it comes to Justin. The sparks fly thick and fast from the moment of their meeting, but Fforde contrives a delicious story that makes your heart burst at the seams with joy.

Along the way, you get to know a lovely cast of characters, with a sprinkling of nasty people to make your hackles rise. I adored the little band of locals, Meg's ever helpful friends, and the formidable Ambrosine (who I had an inkling would become rather important to the story). Inevitably, there are all the dramas and misunderstandings that make the course of love run un-smooth, and they make the wonderful ending all the more heart-warming. There is a welcome visit to picturesque Provence to add to the fun, and an intriguing look back at courageous deeds of the past too... but no spoilers here!

This book is full of warmth, humour, love, romance, and food! It casts an eye back to the grand days of country house life, and forward to the way the world was changing in the 1960s in a number of ways - especially in cuisine. As someone whose son is a chef, I can tell you that Fforde does an excellent job of shining a light on quite how much work goes into the world of hospitality. I am rather pleased that she gives you a glimpse of the professional kitchen too, as it is quite different from that of a country house hotel. Being a chef is hard work, and I think that comes across well.

This is the perfect escapist read, and I really hope Fforde picks up the story of these characters once more, because I am not ready to let go of them just yet!

One Enchanted Evening is available to buy now 8n hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Ed PR for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Katie Fforde lives in the beautiful Cotswold countryside with her family, and is a true country girl at heart. Each of her books explores a different profession or background and her research has helped her bring these to life. She’s been a porter in an auction house, tried her hand at pottery, refurbished furniture, delved behind the scenes of a dating website, and she's even been on a Ray Mears survival course. She loves being a writer; to her there isn’t a more satisfying and pleasing thing to do. She particularly enjoys writing love stories. She believes falling in love is the best thing in the world, and she wants all her characters to experience it, and her readers to share their stories.