The House on Willow Street

By: Cathy Kelly

Narrated by: Amy Creighton

The warm, engrossing new novel from the No. 1 bestseller, Cathy Kelly

Tess used to be happy with her lot: she lives in the idyllic Irish coastal village, Avalon, with her teenage son, Zach and nine-year-old Kitty, and works in the local antiques shop. Her only regret in life is that everything went so horribly wrong with her first love. Then her marriage falls apart and her first love returns to Avalon.

Suki, Tess’s sister, fled Ireland years ago to marry politician Kyle Richardon, but when Suki discovers that a biographer is planning to tell all, there is only one place she can go to ensure that her secrets stay hidden.

Danae is the village post mistress in Avalon and she’s worked very hard to make sure nobody knows where she came from or who she is… Her past is her business and that’s the way she would like to keep it.

In Galway, Mara sits with a smile glued to her face at a wedding; she only wants to ask the groom one thing: why did he tell her he loved her? Needing to put her past behind her, Mara packs up her life and gets ready for a fresh start.

Can these four women lay their pasts to rest? Or do they need to look back before they can begin to live for the future?

Critic reviews

‘Utterly relaxing … left me with a warm feeling. The House on Willow Street delivered exactly what I needed’ The Bookbag

'Devotees regard Kelly as the successor to Irish fiction queen Maeve Binchy. She’s that and more' Sunday Mail Adelaide

‘Warm, lyrical, fascinating and comforting … genius!’ Marian Keyes

'An interweaving tale of recovery and second chances … brimming with secrets, passion, tragedy and women dealing with the challenges of being a woman in our time. A book of breathtaking scope that is always realistic' Irish Independent

‘One of our favourite authors delivers again with this feel-good page-turner. The character’s lives interweave as they revisit their pasts and try to build a better future, and you’ll find yourself cheering every step of the way’ Women’s Day

Warm loving village

It is about a warm village with warm people and it contains suddenly a very serious subject. Good to give attention too. But all together it stayed a warm loving book

Extremely light and predictable

Would you try another book from Cathy Kelly and/or Amy Creighton?

No, I don't think so. This was my first Cathy Kelly book and it was too light for my taste. The characters were not given any space to truly evolve, and they came out flat and boring. The story was predictable and a bit hard to engage in.

Has The House on Willow Street turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, not at all, but the thing about this light chicklit books is that they have to be well-written and hva interesting, loveable characters, something this book is sorely missing.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It is OK as a light read, as background noise to make housework more enjoyable, but don't expect too much of the story or the characters.