View source for As the Cards Fall by Christina Green

{{infobox1
|title=As the Cards Fall
|author=Christina Green
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=An enjoyable light read set in Devon at the end of the nineteenth century.
|rating=3
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=224
|publisher=Robert Hale
|date=June 2013
|isbn=978-0719809354
|cover=0719809355
|aznuk=0719809355
|aznus=0719809355
}}
At the end of the nineteenth century Bella Reed was working as a companion to a lady in Exeter and she had a gentleman friend, Jack Courtney.  Jack was a solicitor and their friendship seemed to grow steadily - the the extent that Bella suspected he might be about to propose.  The letter from her cousin rather upset the applecart, not least because she had no idea that she ''had'' a cousin.  Since the deaths of her parents she'd thought of herself as an orphan without any relatives - but Lizzie asked that she visit the family home on Dartmoor as her Uncle William was ill and wanted to see her.  A weekend trip didn't seem unreasonable and Jack escorted her to the station and said that he would meet her on Monday when she returned.

When she reached Abworthy she found an old farmhouse, rather in need of some care and attention.  The weather was dreadful and her Uncle William was ill.  All that she could think of was that she wanted to return to Exeter as quickly as possible, but Uncle William was adamant that she would inherit the farm when he died - and somehow Dartmoor got its hooks into her.  Then there was Robert Verney, a neighbouring farmer who had recently returned from Australia.  He seemed dangerous - a local wise woman warned that this was so - but Bella sensed a connection between them.  Verney sensed that this might be a way to get his hands on Abworthy - the farm which he always felt was rightly his.

It's a feel-good story.  You'll love the way that Dartmoor shines through the story - sometimes quite literally and there's a real sense of quite how volatile the landscape can be.  Bella comes across well, although she was so indecisive in the beginning that I could have smacked her.  Fortunately Dartmoor matures her.  The men are rather two-dimensional and there were occasions when I couldn't quite believe their motivations but if you're happy to suspend disbelief you'll find an enjoyable light read.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

It's set a century later but for another story of a woman who only plans to go the farm in Devon for a short visit, have a look at [[Country Loving by Cathy Woodman]].

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