Cold Enough to Freeze Cows

Lorraine Jenkin’s third novel is set in Welsh hill-farming country. No less funny and heart-warming than her other novels, it has a strong sense of the hard realities of life running a family farm, but also an eye for different sorts of loneliness, even in close communities. Her characters are very credible and easy to identify with, even the slobby, over-protected Louisa and her frustrated mother, Esther. The book follows the fortunes of four families through winter to summer (with some significant flashbacks); through great changes to their personal lives but always with the sense of how the demands of farming give a permanent framework. The warm, chaotic Bevans are at the heart of the book and Iestyn is its shy hero. His sparky friend Johnny ‘Brechdan’ is, at first, a less likeable character but Johnny’s warm relationship with his grandparents, who are beautifully drawn, makes his change of heart credible. Menna Edwards is a heroine to admire but also a girl whose experiences provoke great sympathy. More problematical are the Harrisons, who have moved from the nearby town to a village which comprises mostly of deserted ‘second-homes’. David and his daughter Louisa work in town and take for granted their pampered life, relying on Esther who is increasingly bitter and resentful. While Louisa and David’s stories provide both subtle and farcical comedy, they remain rather outside the main focus on the farming families. Sima, Iestyn’s beautiful and brilliant sister-in-law, is the Dea Ex Machina who hastens some of the changes. There is much comedy in the contrast of her metropolitan life-style and expectations with the Bevans’s ways. She is, perhaps, a bit too good to be true but gives the story another dimension. It is ironic to compare the success of her life-coaching and poor Esther’s efforts to improve her neighbours lives. Because Lorraine Jenkin creates characters we can care about, she carries us along easily and eagerly to a happy conclusion. Caroline Clark It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. — Welsh Books Council