Review by Booklist Review
When Douglas Fairley-Hume married the dazzling Athene Forster, Vivi Newton kept her heartbreak to herself. Thirty-five years later, Susanna Peacock is miserable living back in Dere, but she and her husband, Neal, need both the austerity and the help of her parents after going broke in London. Susanna has always felt like the odd duck in the properly well-achieving Fairley-Hume family, so she sets out to create something of her own: a shop in town. She just doesn't want help or to talk to anyone. Fortunately for her, Jessie shows up looking for a job, and her stubborn gregariousness draws customers in, particularly Alejandro, a lonely midwife from Argentina. Each of them has a secret pain that draws them to each other, despite their differences. Originally published in the UK in 2005, The Peacock Emporium is occasionally bogged down by repressed feelings and is more of a cross between Penny Vincenzi and Debbie Macomber than Moyes' more recent books (like After You, 2018). Still, Susanna's journey from a frustrated, spoiled housewife to her own woman is full of Moyes' signature sweet, tear-jerking moments.--Susan Maguire Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Moyes moves forward from her Me Before You trilogy with an emotionally luscious, freestanding novel about generations of mothers and daughters navigating grief and the satisfaction of self-discovery. Suzanna Peacock lives in a small town in Suffolk near the estate of the family from whom she has estranged herself, and struggles with an unsettled marriage and pressure to have a baby. Despite her awkwardness with people, she opens a quirky coffee and curio shop. A young mother in an abusive relationship and an Argentinian male midwife become her close friends at the shop, but she keeps even from them her inner turmoil about her relationships to her missing birth mother, wild debutante Athene Forster, and to Vivi Fairley-Hulme, the mother who raised her. Moyes moves back and forth though the timeline to tell Suzanne and Vivi's stories with profound sympathy. Though this is not a romance novel like Moyes's previous works, it maintains their legacy of diving into the emotions of desire and connection, and a spirit of optimism and setting the world right. Agent: Sheila Crowley, Curtis Brown (U.K.). (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A British woman struggles to deal with her eminent family's legacy and her own unhappiness as she opens an eclectic shop in her hometown.Suzanna Peacock's mother, Athene, a glamorous socialite who was known for being flighty and spoiled, died before Suzanna could ever get to know her. Raised by her father and his second wife, Vivi, Suzanna grew up with lots of love but also Athene's complicated legacy hanging over her head. That's why Suzanna was all too happy to escape her family and move to London. But when she and her husband, Neil, are forced to move back to her small hometown and live on the family estate, Suzanna feels trapped and isolated. Looking for an outlet, she opens a shop, The Peacock Emporium. She fills it with things she finds beautiful and offers espresso, hoping to create a place of her own. What she inadvertently designs, though, is a gathering place for the town's residents. Suzanna becomes particularly interested in Alejandro, a male midwife from Argentina who seems to understand her more than her husband does. She also makes friends with Jessie, a friendly and free-spirited young mother who starts working in the shop. With the help of several townspeople, Suzanna discovers that she must take control of her own life and come to terms with her family's history if she ever wants to be happy. Moyes excels at creating quirky characters and sweeping stories, but her latest lacks the sense of humor and epic love story that made her hit Me Before You (2012) such a success. Although this is Suzanna's story, frequent point-of-view shifts are distracting and make it more difficult to focus on her journey. Still, there are quite a few tear-jerking scenes and lovable characters that should make Moyes fans happy.An interesting premise that's stuffed with too many characters. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
