Reviewed by Alexander
TITLE: For a Rainy Afternoon
SERIES: Tales of the Curious Cookbook
AUTHOR: RJ Scott
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 2 hours, 5 minutes
NARRATOR: Ian Gordon
BLURB:
Robbie MacIntyre manages a small post office in the old Station House on the outskirts of sleepy Barton Hartshourn, northwest of London. He’s stunned when the owner, Maggie, who’s a close friend, bequeaths him the post office and the Station House.
The rest of her estate is left to an American writer, Jason Young, and when he moves to the village, Robbie is thrown by the attraction he has for the man who has more of a claim on the Station House than he does.
Then, there’s a box that holds several rare first editions and a cookbook. Only when the secrets of the ingredients in a particular recipe are finally revealed does everything begin to make sense, and a love cut short 70 years earlier is finally discovered.
REVIEW:
As a part of the A Tale of the Curious Cookbook series, (the second of the five that I have listened to, btw) I liked how the cookbook became the unifying thread between the two stories, and presumably the other three stories as well. Now I found out that For a Rainy Afternoon is the first story, and so now I know how the cookbook, or an incarnation of it has arrived in two different homes, in two different countries, which just makes me so curious to know if it is the same magical cookbook or an identical copy.
Both Robbie and Jason (not me, btw) were characters that I could not help but fall for. They were both so kind and sweet, and as they soon found out, perfect for each other. Of note, is the slow buildup of Robbie and Jason’s relationship, which in a story of this length is normally a challenge, but Ms. Scott did a good job by not rushing it, as the slower pace suited the guys well. If I had to pick a favorite sequence of events, it would have to be the easy camaraderie displayed by Jason and Robbie before they became romantically entangled, setting the stage for a viable and realistic long-term future.
The British narration by Gordon was a shock at first, primarily because of the rarity of a British narrator. Once I got past my surprise, I was pleased with the results, the story was set in the UK and so it suited the local speech perfectly, and Gordon also did a good American voice for Jason. Gordon’s pace was “spot on” and his speech was clear, and easy to understand. The story truly came to life thanks to Gordon’s performance.
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