The Cornish Cream Tea Christmas by Cressida McLaughlin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another great read in this series. I love the landscaping in the novel as I feel like I have visited Cornwall through the eyes of the writer. This book introduces Noah and Hannah who have a working relationship on the Crystal Waters hotel. Hannah's role is to help make the hotel more environmentally friendly. She meets Charlie and is introduced to the delights baked in Gertie the Bus.

I enjoyed that the book had two plots running through it. One for the hotel and the other for Hannah, it added a little mystery which made this an even more enjoyable read.

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The Girl Behind the Gates by Brenda Davies
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the kind of novel that makes me do further research into the subject being written about. It’s also the kind of novel that engages the emotions. Parts of this story made me shake my head in disbelief at the knowledge of what went on back in that time that Nora Jennings was aged 17 in 1939. Parts made me want to cry and other parts made me downright angry.

Nora gets pregnant after just one night in the arms of someone she loved and hoped to marry. Once her parents find out she’s going to have a baby her father becomes violent and her mother doesn’t save her. Nora has tried, in her panic, to get rid of the baby and once a doctor and the church become involved, Nora is labelled a ‘moral defective’ and sanctioned under an actual official act called ‘The mental deficiency act’. She’s incarcerated, told her baby is dead and left there for 40 years enduring horrific cruelty.

This act was not made up for the book. The Mental Deficiency Act 1913 was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which made provisions for the institutional treatment of people deemed to be "feeble-minded" and "moral defectives". It was darkly fascinating to Google this and read what it truly entailed and the fact that it wasn’t repealed until 1959.

Fast forward to 1981 and psychiatrist Janet Humphreys comes across Nora, heavily institutionalized, still living in the hospital and sets about working with Nora to help her leave the hospital and finally have a life to live outside of the gates. It opens Janet’s eyes to her own life at the same time and she works on herself while working with Nora. Their journey together brings some sunshine and warmth into the story line.

The end of the book is very moving and does leave a smile on your face. This is a five-star read.

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