Play Book Tag discussion

Hanna Casey returned to her childhood home of Lissbeg, Ireland, after her 20 year marriage ended when Hanna found out her husband Malcolm had been carrying on an affair nearly the entire time. With her then teenaged daughter Jasmine (Jazz) in tow, Hanna moved back in with her cantankerous mother Mary. Hanna's dreams of becoming the curator-librarian at an art museum in London died with her marriage and now she reluctantly fills her days as the librarian at the Lissbeg Library and as the driver of the mobile book van. Jazz is now grown and on her own and Hanna increasingly feels the need to move out of her mother's home and into one of her own. A great aunt had left Hanna her tumble-down shack of a house on the coast and Hanna believes she can have it rebuilt to become her own cozy nook.

The town of Lissbeg pales in comparison to the surrounding cities and local politicians are ready to leave Lissbeg in the lurch and develop nearby areas for a hoped-for tourist influx. Unfortunately that means that the library will be on the chopping block. Although Hanna is not thrilled with her job, she and her coworker Connor, don't want to see it close. At the age of 50+ is Hanna about to be unemployed? And with a loan for house renovations coming due? Somehow the town will need to come together to fight big business and save their town on the edge of the world.

This was a light, breezy story of a woman who was thrust into a life she didn't particularly want but who learned that maybe she had closed herself off to wonderful possibilities. Hanna is a strong character, stronger than she even realizes. The supporting cast of Connor, Mary, Fury O'Shea the renovator, and several others make for a fun read. This is the first book in the Finfarran series and I will get to the rest of them eventually.

And my library has the audiobook available for download! Thanks for this review.

I read this a couple of years ago and had a similar reaction and rating. Really enjoyed it. I too will eventually get around to reading more in the series.