Published 3rd April 2023 by Lake Union Publishing.
From the cover of the book:
Four decades. Four seasons. Four chance encounters with the same man.
Spring 1986, Oxford. Rachel has landed on her feet: engaged to handsome author Jonny, soon to be stepmother to his young daughter Teddy, and with a dream to open her own art gallery. It’s everything she wished for during her unsettled childhood. So when she meets candid and carefree American artist Gabe at a party and feels a familiar spark, she knows she needs to resist.
But as her perfect life moves forward, Gabe is never far away, and there’s no denying the lure of the spontaneous, wildly adventurous existence he seems to offer. His is a world of endless possibilities—ones Rachel can’t let herself be tempted by if she’s ever to stay the safe course with Jonny. But how can she focus on the life she thought she wanted when she can’t help imagining the alternative?
One thing’s for certain: Gabe is more than a minor character in Rachel’s life. And as their paths intersect over seasons and decades, each meeting presents Rachel with a choice that could alter everything, and she has to wonder whether the life story she once fought for is the version she’s meant to be living…
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Spring 1986. Rachel believes she has finally found everything her heart desires, and is looking forward to a long and happy life with her fiancé, aspiring author Jonny, the man who promises the safe and secure life she craves. But her calm assurance that she is on the right path is thrown into disorder when she meets handsome American artist Gabe, and feels a spark between them that she is determined to ignore.
Over time, Rachel doggedly sticks to the path she has mapped out for herself as loving wife, and step-mother to Jonny's trouble daughter Teddy. She takes on the local art gallery and transforms it into a growing enterprise, but somehow her success is always overshadowed by Jonny's burgeoning career.
As the years fly by, bringing trials and tribulations, Rachel and Gabe's lives touch in different seasons, and each time they feel the undeniable pull of an attraction between them. Whenever they meet, Rachel sees the possible other life she could be living, but is the chance of another life worth leaving behind all she has built with Jonny?
I am a massive fan of Collins' previous wonderful book Summer in the City, which is one I frequently recommend far and wide as a story that ticks all those 'in the feels' boxes, so I could not wait to dive into her brand new novel Spring, Summer, Autumn, Us. I was a little apprehensive, since I loved the last book so much, but I really should not have worried because this book is every bit as emotionally rewarding.
Our story begins in the 1986, and is filled with every conceivable spot on popular culture reference that my 80s loving heart could wish for. Against this back drop, Rachel is a young woman with a painful childhood, whose only wish is to be with a man who will offer her a secure future - and she is sure she has found this with the man of her dreams Jonny... but then she meets American visitor Gabe. Gabe is unlike any other man Rachel has met before, and she finds herself opening up to him in a way that surprises her. There is a spark between them that both of them feel, but Rachel is determined to resist his charms and their brief acquaintance ends with many things left unsaid.
Over the next forty years, Rachel's professional success is acknowledged by almost all, but her personal life is not quite as picture perfect as she would like. Fate decrees that Rachel and Gabe meet again, and each time they do they are forced to confront the fact that something magical could happen between them if only they would let it. Each time life intervenes to keep them apart, by accident or design.
This is very much a story about the path not taken, and it is filled with an atmosphere of yearning so thick that you could cut it with a palette knife. Collin's beautifully explores the dilemma Rachel faces in trying to decide where true happiness lies with heart-wrenching poignancy. How do you decide whether it is best to stick with the life you have created, even if it turns out not quite as you expected, or if you should take the plunge into the unknown based on a feeling, however strong? It takes forty years for Rachel to decide, but when she does you know she has finally made the right choice.
Collins touches on lashings of complex themes in this story, focusing on controlling relationships, infidelity and betrayal, and the impact these have on mental health. The way Collins examines how the relationships that surround us in childhood shape our own notions of what makes a healthy romantic partnership is especially striking. I also love the way in which Collins echoes the theme of seasons throughout the story in literal and metaphorical ways.
This is an epic, and somewhat unconventional romance, filled with light and shade, love and destiny. It looks at relationships from many different perspectives, and really makes you think about the myriad little moments that define the directions we take. It is another absolute winner from Fiona Collins, and I loved it from captivating start to sob-fest ending.
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Us is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Fiona Collins for providing me with a Netgalley copy of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
Fiona Collins grew up in an Essex village and after stints in Hong Kong and London returned to the Essex countryside where she lives with her husband and three children. She has a degree in Film and Literature and has had many former careers including TV presenting in Hong Kong, traffic and weather presenter for BBC local radio and as a film and TV extra.
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