The Faerie Tree

I'm so happy to have been given this opportunity to read and review The Faerie Tree because I loved this novel! I hadn't read any of Jane Cable's other work before so, while the synopsis appealed to me, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, however Cable's writing style and storytelling expertise had me completely gripped from the first page until the last. The Faerie Tree has a second-chance romance at its heart, but I felt its storyline went deeper than a standard romance or domestic drama novel. Cable weaves contemporary issues such as homelessness, children caring for parents, physical disability and mental health problems into this story, yet without ever making it feel as though this was a social commentary piece. Instead, the characters' lives flowed perfectly naturally leading me to almost see myself as one of the family. I was quite bereft after I finished reading!

I would highly recommend The Faerie Tree to readers who love unreliable narrators, especially when the characters themselves utterly believe their own truths. Cable had shared the real Faerie Tree photograph on social media prior to my starting to read and I appreciated having the same sense of authenticity regarding this anchor as both Robin and Izzie. I think it helped me to connect with them. I could strongly empathise with Robin's overwhelming grief and the way he reacted to it while, at the same time, really sympathise with Izzie's predicament as she was left alone. To even begin to try and overcome such a rift would be challenging enough, but in their circumstances and after twenty years have passed? It certainly does make for a compelling tale!