This book whispered and sang about her life. One could smell the rooms in the houses shown and touch the fine furniture, feel the wind on one's face and Rosamunds love for the world she lives in.

I have enjoyed Rosamunde Pilcher's writing for over twenty years. This book, "The World of Rosamunde Pilcher" opens a window into the land and people that inspire her. There is a brief (all too brief in my opinion), autobiographical section of her childhood, and her husband's upbringing. Her mother-in-law has a love story worthy of a Pilcher book. There are photographs of her as a child, and young married and with her family. The bulk of the book is devoted to the country in which she now lives. The story she tells of acquiring the Bank house could also be straight out of a Pilcher book. There are pages of photos of the highlands of Scotland, the coast of Cornwell and the hustle and bustle of London. It also goes into the homes she inhabits and the furnishings. We are able to see how and where she lives, get a sense of her as a person. It is easy to feel a sense of the country she loves so well, and the photos are accompanied by the author's own words. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys this prolific author, and gives an insight into what inspires and colours her wonderful tales.

Reminded me of my childhood. There are so many simple things they did like going to the ocean that filled my heart with gladness and gave me fond memories. Always looking for "a home" too, I've found where I'd like to spend my retirement.

I love Rosamunde Pilcher and this is just another great read of many of her writings combined. The following stories were my favorites in this book:

Flowers in the Rain-is all about loving and letting go of a dear old friend Mrs. Farquhar,who lived in the 'Big House,' and loved children.

The Doll's House-was a great story about a brother who made his sister a dollhouse after his father had promised, but then passes away.

Cousin Dorothy-was another of my favorite stories about learning to love a difficult person.

Skates-another great story about two sisters,competing with one another.

Each of the stories were great and is sure to delight a reader who needs a quick 'feel good,' read.

I love this book. The short stories are great reading specially while on vacation. This book has many little love stories that warm your heart. Clean, pure and romantically written. I read pretty much all of Rosamunde Pilcher's books and love her style of writting!

Without knowing what to expect, "Chrsitmas With Rosamund Pilcher" turned out to be everything one could hope for. There are numerous photos of the authur and her family, which include views of her home, her kitchen, parlour, etc., in which she gratifying shines as the warm individual we, who enjoy her books, feel she must be. But there are also wonderful photos of her beloved Cornwall, and it is an opportunity to peek into the land about which we, her readers, have read so much. The surprises (which you must read to appreciate - so telling does not really ruin them) include some family details and history, recipies of the season (particularly delightful for the Anglophile cook) and even a short story at the end of the book. All in all, it felt to me that Rosamund Pilcher and her home, and Aunt Lavinia and the Dower house of "Coming Home", have a lot in common. I felt as if I had visited both in this delightful book.

Ms. Pilcher has a talent for creating a place and drawing you into the world of her charactors. Each place, person and situation feels real. In a few sentences you begin to know the people and feel immersed in their environment. You want to live with them for a while, see their world, feel their feelings, hope with them, dream with them. Here are real charactors, not just stories about what happens next. Although life is not perfect in each microcosm, some additional happiness or hope has been created before the end of each story. If you want to feel good, not depressed, read without fear. You will find a box of treasures, stories that are gems to be savored.

Although not as in-depth as her bigger, later books, these three offerings of Pilcher's offer the same warmth and sense of being there. You can smell the flowers and the sea and the burning peat and feel the damp climate without ever growing cold.

Penelope Keeling is a character that you just cannot help but love ~~ hosting dinner parties for friends and family, wearing shabby clothes simply because clothes aren't that important to her and talking about wine, literature and art ~~ sounds perfect to me! I am not fond of Nancy and Noel ~~ two of her children who seems to expect too much from their mother, while Olivia is my favorite child ~~ she's so much like her mother except for being career-driven. She doesn't put many demands on her mother ~~ she's the daughter every mother wishes she has!

Pilcher writes convincingly of the human relationships between Penelope and her children as well as the other characters. She writes of ordinary lives transformed by love. Her descriptions of Cornwall are so vivid that you can almost see the breakers on the beach as well as smelling the salt in the air. It must be artists' paradise!

What captures my fancy is how Penelope is such a warm-hearted person who uses her inheritance to pay for a trip home. Too many people expect their parents to leave them money after they have gone, whereas Penelope spends her inheritance prudently and wisely. She has never followed the rules and she does it with so much grace and love ~~ it makes one want to be more like her instead of like two of her greedy children.

This book covers more emotions and depths of the human lives and these characters become as real as your family. It's a great summer read (or even a winter read ~~ with a pot of hot tea nearby and delicious scones!) and the characters will linger long after the last page is turned.

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read! I actually read this book quite some time ago, and it was the first book by R. Pilcher that I read. Since then, I have purchased every book she has written. Her vivid and rich descriptions of the people and places she writes about make me want to hop a plane and go visit. Penelope Keeling is a character that is real and believable, from her memories of her childhood to her thoughts of her grown children and their future. This story brings a realistic view of two of Penelope's grown children whose only thoughts are of the money that could come from the sale of Penelope's father's painting. And of her third child (also grown) who only wants her mother's happiness. Rosamunde Pilcher has a real winner with this story.

This is one of the best books I've read in ages and I love re-reading it. Pilcher's stories create worlds the reader wants to settle into and stay in.

Penelope (I see her as Kate Hepburn in "Summertime") has a painting that she especially loves. Her father did it years ago, of her playing on the beach, and titled it "The Shell Seekers." Now her deceased father's paintings have become valuable. When the story begins, Penelope returns home from a hospital stay. She has released herself, feeling that she has sufficiently recovered from her heart attack. She feels an increased sensitivity to life and relationships and she's driven by a need to accomplish some final things with family and friends.

There's a great deal to be desired in her relationship with two of her children and with their relationship with each other. They want her to sell the painting and their motives are selfish.

As the story progresses, Penelope feels the need to return to her childhood home. She invites each child to go with her and each refuses for one reason or another. So she takes two cherished young friends on a pilgrimage into her past that changes their destinies. And hers.

Pilcher creates women characters who are strong and independent and at the same time feminine. Penelope doesn't need a man to help her work through her problems but when one comes along, she's gracious and kind.

This book is about values and relationships, hope and dreams, rights and wrongs. It's a delightful story that I hated to end. I wanted it to go on and on and on.

I loved this book, as I have the other 4 Pilcher books that I have read. Pilcher takes you into her world, and you feel the vulnerability, the joy, pain, and everything in between of her characters in this book. Her descriptions of the countryside are superb.

This short and sweet novel of Pilcher is as usual, very well written. Caroline, persuaded by her brother Jody at the beginning of the book, decides to take a trip to Scotland to see their brother Angus, of whom they haven't seen for years. So when a neighbor friend agrees to let Caroline use his old car to travel, they set off for this trip.

What happens as snow falls in April over in Scotland, is the two get stuck in snow, leaving them stranded, but not for long. They are almost to their destination when they meet a kindly gentleman, Oliver Cairney, who provides shelter and food for Caroline and Jody.

Sparks fly between and Oliver and Caroline, but she is engaged to be married soon. The story has a very interesting turn out in the end.

This is a quintessential Rosamunde Pilcher novel. Her characters are almost subdued, a little more like ordinary mortals with their rather unadorned personalities, which give them (esp the major characters) something that attracts kinship with the reader. The story is about how life for anyone has an unexpected whimsy, and finding love in the unlikeliest of places and in the rather unimagined person. Rosamunde Pilcher has mastered the craft of how to make love seem always sweet and precious, in this modern day where everyone is all eager to jump under the covers. Characters in this novel are unpunctuated, yet with all their loose-ended personalities, one sees a possibility that real love is able to blossom despite all kinds of improbabilities. This is a real "must read" for those of us hopelessly in love with love!

This is a collection of short stories. While the stories do not have the depth that her longer novels have the stories are quick to read and are great portraits of life and love.

Rosamunde Pilcher has a gift for telling a story like nobody else. These stories, first published in the Eighties, are as lovely to read as any of her recent best-sellers, and every bit as riveting.

I first read this collection years ago, but I had forgotten the stories, forgotten how Pilcher can describe a bedroom, a drawing room, a beach, a sunny day, a cloudy day, an aging spaniel in its basket. When I am deep into a Pilcher story, I can taste the soothing cups of tea. In each story, I am there, as I imagine every reader must be as well. I am simply transported, just as I am when reading her books.

I simply marvel at the sheer simplicity of Pilcher's writing. It is so deceptive. Her stories seem to be mere pieces of fluff, but in fact, they are so much more. I already knew that, of course, but I had to be reminded how wonderful her short stories are to read. I cherish this small paperback, and will never let it go.

This collection of short stories is one of my favorites. I have the original hard cover edition (I picked it up for 25 cents at our local library many years ago) and I wouldn't think of parting with it. This is the book I go back to whenever I want a quick but satisfying read or just need to feel "cozy and comfortable". I agree that these stories don't have the depth of Ms. Pilcher's novels, they are still pure Pilcher, with situations and characters with whom the reader can relate. Stories such as "Home for the Day", "Christmas with Miss Cameron" and "An Evening to Remember" will enchant the reader time and time again.

I enjoyed learning about Scottish traditions and the countryside north of Britain.

However, plot is nonexistant, and there's really no story to speak of other than the upper-class, clannish Scots going about their daily lives and traditions during the early autumn.

Still, I love learning about distant peoples and foreign lands and sort of travelling without having to leave my living room couch. This is a better way to learn about a foreign land and its people than, say, reading a guidebook.

But for the lack of any action, Rosamunde Pilcher's writing is highly literate and very reader-friendly. She has a very detailed way of describing the scenery and atmosphere which strangely does not bore.

If you enjoy modern English authors like Ian McEwan (Atonement) and like a British-sort of banter without suspense, peril, or action, then you'd like this.

Although there was nothing much going on plot-wise, and none of the characters were ever in any jeopardy or peril....I still loved Pilcher's intimate descriptions of the daily minutae of Scottish life.

This is my first Rosamunde Pilcher. Because of her writing style, and even with only 3 stars, I am still planning to read more by her.

Between love and passion, feuding families, mother and son, and all other possible relationships involved in a small village ~~ Pilcher covers the range of human lives. This book is so wonderfully refreshing compared to a lot of novels today. It's a sequel of a sorts to "The Shell Seekers," but the characters are different people than the ones that occupys "The Shell Seekers." Only Noel is presented in this book and it's such a nice change to see him growing up into a real man throughout this book. If anyone can prove that they can redeem themselves, Noel is the best example of that!

Be sure to read this book right after you've finished "The Shell Seekers." That way, Noel and his tendencies are still fresh in your mind and you can see Pilcher at work intertwining lives of people in both books.

Pilcher is an author I highly recommend to everyone to read. She's a clean writer, refreshingly so! Her descriptions of every day life in Scotland and England are vivid ~~ where you can see the loch in its glory on a fall day, smell the tea, see the rainy mists just outside the windows. She takes you with her on her journeys. And it lingers long after the last page.

September is the first book I have read by Rosamunde Pilcher, but I have to say, it will not be last! The families in this book are so mysterious and with such rich histories. Reading this book almost reminded me of watching an episode of Dynasty! I was not aware that "The Shell Seekers" was a prequel to this novel, and I have no problem following the story line.

Pilcher'd descriptions of Scotland were breathtaking. You feel as if you are there with the characters, in the Highlands. She is fantastic author and I can't wait to get a hold of her other novels!

I've read the book 3 times, so I must find it worthwhile. Some very good characterizations: Judith, Gus, Jess and some very interesting relationships that I wish had been developed more fully. Unfortunately, there were some central casting characters as well: Diana is straight out of a 1930's MGM movie. But many of the scenes Pilcher writes (especially Judith's reunions with Jess and Gus) seem true to life and that's what you'll remember. My I recommend Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles to any of you who liked this book? Starting with "The Light Years", this series of 4 books tells the story of an English family from 1938 to 1947. An excellent work!

This is my favorite book. I'm reading it again - again.

My favorite thing about this book is the way you get to feel so close to all of the characters. You follow the life of one girl through WWII. It might sound a little boring but, believe me, this girl's life is anything but ordinary. She is left in a British boarding school while her parents are living in Singapore. She is 14 and starting school in an unfamiliar place. Eventually she makes friends with Loveday Carey-Lewis (silly name, I know) and this changes her life drastically.

As Judith grows she encounters loss, love, and a creepy old guy. It's a book about growing up and, of course, coming home.

Rosamunde Pilcher makes all of the characters seem so real. It is easy to picture them in your mind and even easier to feel for them. Judith is not the only character whose life you get caught up in. There are many characters who we can all relate to. Personally, I think I'm a bit like Loveday.

Anyway, this book is a definite must-read.

This is my favorite book ever. By the end of the book, I felt so close to Judith, the main character. Ms. Pilcher does such a beautiful job of following Judith's life, you feel as if you know her. Definitely Rosamunde Pilcher's best.