A Week To Remember by Esther Champion is the third story about Aussie/Irish families. I think this is my favourite book so far. I have enjoyed all of Esther's books and look forward to more authentic Irish stories. Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC.

A Week to Remember by Esther Campion is a busy read with more than a few things happening within the narrative. A good story from the author.
Review copy received from the Publisher via Netgalley

"A Week to Remember" by Esther Campion somehow reminds me of a soap opera on tv.

Covering only one week, but drawing in characters from across the globe, all staying in a recently renovated Irish country-house. For some the dreaded week seems like it will last for-ever - for some new beginnings and for some old endings. 

I must admit, I took a wee while to get my head into the many characters at the start of the book......but as I read on, the characters developed and I came to understand each ones background and reason for being there.
I wish I could spend a week in West Cork - spa treatments, cooking lessons, poetry nights at the local pub, beach walks and seaweed vodka (maybe not) - sounds just the ticket. And many lessons in this book on how to love those closest to you. 

Thanks to NetGalley, Esterh Campion and Hachette Australia for this escapist read. Just what I needed for a winter read.

A Week To Remember by Aussie author Esther Champion is a beautifully written story. An old stone farmhouse outside Cork in Ireland has been turned into a guest house and is awaiting its first guests. Mick and Aisling Fitzgerald depart Tasmania to celebrate their wedding anniversary at Lizze O's guest house.

With their first week entirely booked hosts Emily and Gerry were eager to meet and get to know their first lot of guests. All the guests had come from all different places all of whom would hopefully have a relaxing and enjoyable stay, but for some it was a place where they could hopefully escape their problems, but sometimes reaching out to a stranger and talking your problems through is all you need to see things differently. For some this truly would be a week to remember.

This was a lovely book to read one I didn’t want to end. Great characters and a beautiful setting all the things that make a wonderful story. Highly recommended.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

A week can be too short or too long. A week in the middle of European winter can be too cold but in the middle of Australian summer it can be too hot.

A Week To Remember is a journey through one week. Seven days give or take different people from various stages of their lives find themselves in one place - a beautiful renovated guest-house in Irish countryside. Strangers in the middle of winter will end up being almost family when the week runs out.

On the other side of the world, in Tasmanian summer, a group of people find themselves becoming friends and even more through helping their families and themselves along the way.

A Week To Remember is the book to rest your heart, soul and your brain. It is life-affirming, love-justifying story about forgiveness, love, life truths and the eternal truth that there are always more than one side to every story.

I absolutely enjoyed this story. I loved the characters and adored the setting. Oh how I love to find myself in the beautiful, comfortable guest-house where all my wishes and whims would be catered for... Yeah, I would have loved to be one of the group of people in the story...

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to read this book. I wish it hadn't!! What a lovely, gentle story of love in different stages of life. The only wish I have is that we had found out how Mia's story unfolded.

A fantastic tale of people from different places and differing backgrounds who come together for a week in a guesthouse in West Cork. Mick and Aisling are celebrating their anniversary but both dealing with guilt, Declan is taking time out from work to assess where things went wrong, Mia is realising her life is not her own and Katie has returned home to look after her mother and battle with the trauma of her past. All of them are looked after by Ellen and Gerry for their stay. A beautiful story with a lot going on but easy to keep track of. Really felt I got to know each of the characters. Second novel of Esther’s I have read and already looking forward to her next one.

With all the Maeve Binchy feels, Esther invites you to spend a week at an Irish B&B where a random group of guests arrive to partake in everything from relaxing to cooking classes, hikes and poetry pub nights. With glimpses of the rugged Irish coastline, these people will rediscover or emerge from the weights everyday life has placed on them.

‘How strange it felt to be in a West Cork kitchen, chatting with women she hardly knew but felt connected to by some sort of divine sisterhood. There was no one judging her here.’

Setting and the various plots make this an enjoyable read as the guests congregate and share the proverbial crossroads they find themselves at. Inbetween beach walks and baking, these incidental interactions will bring about revelations, whether wished for or not, that Esther invites you to be part of. There is also the mother-in-law minding the children back in Tasmania who also confronts her own ‘meaning of life’ epiphany.

This is a lovely escapist read with its Irish flavour and down to earth characters. Speaking of which, there are quite a few to wrap your head around at the beginning. However, once you work out who is who, their tales of tragic past events, unfaithfulness in marriage or caring for aged parents will see the reader engaged and hopeful for the requisite happy ending.

A Week to Remember with its Irish charm and engaging locales and liaisons, will fill the readers longing for escapism into another life and problems satisfyingly solved for one and all.

‘... if he’d learnt anything from his week at Lizzie O’s, it was that everyone had their troubles. And wasn’t that why they needed each other?’





This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

What a delightful story! A credit to Australian author Esther Campion.
A mixed group of people are staying for a week at a newly renovated guest house run by Gerry and Emily, in a small Irish coastal town of West Cork. The guests come from different parts of the world - from Ireland is Declan Byrne a dentist in Cork who booked at the last minute and is struggling with his life, from Tasmania, Australia, are Mick and Aisling Fitzgerald (though Mick’s family originally came from Ireland) , and from New York in America is Katie Daly who has returned to her home town to look after her mother so her sister Bernadette can take a break. Also staying are Mia Montgomery who is originally from Melbourne, Australia and has been travelling with her husband who is currently working in Ireland, and finally Prue and Edwina who are on their honeymoon. Over the week the guests as well as the reader get to know each of the people there. Each person has their own issues that gradually emerge with different degrees of drama.
We also travel to Tasmania where Lillian Fitzgerald, Mick’s mother is staying with Mick and Aisling’s children, Natalie and Evan. She also faces some life realities and learning to live alone after being recently widowed.
A very warm story that touches the heart but also raises many issues such as domestic violence, depression and family relationships.
Highly recommended read.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher Hachette Australia for a copy to read and review.

EXCERPT: 'We could have gone to Bali!' Aisling was on one of her moaning rolls as the two friends strode along Freers Beach under a milky blue sky that promised another hot day in Tasmania. 'Why did I let Mick's family decide how we'd spend our anniversary?'

Heather was already well versed in the circumstances that had led to the latest drama in the Fitzgerald's lives, but Aisling went over it again just to blow off steam.

'The indignity of it! Spending a week in the bogs of Ireland when we could be in some idyllic resort, drinking cocktails at one of those swim up bars.' But as Aisling knew only too well, the gift from her in-laws, or outlaws as she liked to call them, was as much a present for Mick's forthcoming fortieth as it was for their anniversary. If it had been left to her, there'd have been a big party. But no, Lilian Fitzgerald had other ideas. She'd give her son a holiday in West Cork and she'd have a few weeks with the grandchildren all to herself in Tasmania.

Aisling had all manner of fantastic ideas for surprise parties, but although loath to admit it, Mick would have hated that. So in the end, Lily Fitz got her way.

ABOUT 'A WEEK TO REMEMBER': Whether it was the lure of the rugged coastline or the comforting image of the house, he wasn't sure, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd taken a holiday. . .

With its brightly painted front door, white-sash windows and garden path sweeping down toward the sea, Lizzie O's guesthouse promises a welcome escape from the world. Aisling and Mick Fitzgerald are travelling all the way from Tasmania to celebrate their wedding anniversary, but Aisling is burdened with a secret that could ruin their marriage. Declan Byrne, exhausted from an unhealthy routine of long hours, takeaway and too much red wine, has spontaneously taken the week off to visit the village of his childhood summers. Katie Daly returns to West Cork after an absence of 35 years to care for her ageing mother only to find she must confront her painful past. Finally, Mia Montgomery is taking this holiday without telling her husband.

Each of this group of strangers is at a crossroads. And one week in the middle of winter may change all of their lives.

MY THOUGHTS: A Week to Remember is a lovely, lovely read reminiscent of a Maeve Binchy. It was a delight to read this beautifully written story of a disparate group of people, all at a crossroads in their lives, thrown together in a guest house on the Irish coast. The subplot follows Lilian Fitzgerald as she looks after Mick and Aisling's two children in Tasmania.

Campion writes with humour and feeling, and A Week to Remember enveloped me from the start. She describes both cultures and landscapes eloquently and accurately. I could smell the Aussie BBQ every bit as clearly as I could hear the lilting Irish voices.

There are a lot of issues dealt with in this gentle drama, both current and historic. There's a marriage or two on the brink, burnout, infidelity, caring for an aging infirm parent, and in the past, abuse, rape, and the shunting off to a home for unwed mothers of a pregnant teenager. There are tragic pasts to overcome, and present problems to conquer.

I loved this book from start to finish and I will definitely be reading more from this author who blends the Australian and Irish essences seamlessly.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.1

'Life (is) far too unpredictable to miss an opportunity to eat icecream on a searing hot day with someone you love.'

#AWeekToRemember #NetGalley @hachetteaus @esther_campion_

#contemporaryfiction #australianfiction #irishfiction #domesticdrama #romance #sliceoflife

THE AUTHOR: Esther Campion is from Cork, Ireland and currently lives in north-west Tasmania. She attended North Presentation Convent in Cork and has degrees from University College Cork and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Esther and her Orcadian husband have lived in Ireland, Scotland, Norway and South Australia. They have a grown-up daughter in Adelaide and the two youngest at home in Tassie with an over-indulged chocolate Labrador and two horses, which Esther firmly believes are living proof that dreams really can come true.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Hachette Australia via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of A Week to Remember by Esther Campion for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

‘Want what you have.’

Mick and Aisling Fitzgerald have been gifted a week at Lizzie O’s guest house, outside Cork, in Ireland. Aisling is busy and has a lot on her mind. She agrees reluctantly because it is Mick’s birthday and their fifteenth anniversary. The couple leave their children with Mick’s mother in Tasmania and head to Ireland. At Lizzie O’s, they will meet their hosts Emily and Gerry and their fellow guests: Declan Byrne, a dentist from Cork whose life is not bringing him much joy, Edwina and Prue who are on their honeymoon, Mia Montgomery from Melbourne who wants time and space to think about her future, and Katie Daly who has returned from New York to look after her mother for a while.

The past will engulf some of the guests, while others are struggling with the present. The guest house itself is beautiful and provides the perfect backdrop for Ms Campion’s story. What will a week at Lizzie O’s bring to each of the guests? Will Mia find the answers she is looking for? Will Katy be able to come to terms with the past? Can Declan find peace?

The story begins and ends in Tasmania, in a part of the coast around Hawley Beach that I knew well as child over half a century ago. The stories of Mick and Aisling, and Mick’s mother Lillian, and of Katy particularly held my attention. I enjoyed Ms Campion’s depiction of Ireland, and while I no longer recognise the quiet solitude of the Hawley Beach of my childhood, I loved the setting.

I enjoyed this novel, with its well-developed characters and their various quests for happiness and meaning. I finished the book feeling very satisfied. This is the first of Ms Campion’s novels I have read: I will look out for her others.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Our story takes place at a recently refurbed B & B in Ireland. Automatically, I’m in.

The guests at this lovingly converted guesthouse are random mix of people to say the least and they all come with their own baggage (physical, emotional and mental). They see their escape away as a time to reassess, recharge, reignite, renewal…., well you get the idea. What they don’t expect is all the fractures and fissures and temptations and hauntings of bad behaviour or poorly thought our choices of their past to follow them and to have to finally deal with them and the associated pain in order to move on.

This book is beautifully written. There are a lot of characters and there’s a lot going on with everyone, but each story gives depth to the character and you feel their emotions and thoughts pouring off the page as you read.
I have to admit, I felt like I was back in Ireland with the colloquialisms and attitudes of people who are ‘salt of the earth’. I could also picture the moody landscape, feel the wind blowing and recall the Irish weather, all very fondly of course.

If you enjoy stories of renewal you will enjoy this one. Of course, there are some questionably fantastical happy endings, but you don’t read these stories because they stick to the letter of reality, you read them because you need a warm hug and this book has that feeling in droves.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read this one.

Set in an Irish b&b, a random group of travellers spend a week taking classes in cooking, experiencing the beautiful countryside, and rediscovering their partners, families and friends. The author made me want to be there too.

This is a lovely story, written very much in the style of Maeve Binchy with a lot of very Irish dialogue and 'salt of the earth' type characters. My only reservation was the huge number of characters appearing in the first chapters, but once I had sorted them all out things were fine. There were tales of unfaithfulness, babies taken from young single girls for adoption, rape, marriage breakdowns and more, all gently handled by the author.

There were also lots of happy endings, not all of them very realistic, but who reads this kind of book for its realism? If you are like me you read them for enjoyment and the best kind of ending is a happy one that makes you cry. A Week to Remember does that in spades.

This is the third book I have read by Esther Campion, Leaving Ocean Road and House of Second Chances were both very enjoyable reads. This one loosely connects the characters we meet in those two books but is otherwise a complete standalone.

I enjoyed returning to the small Irish town in West Cork where Ellen and Gerry have finally opened their holiday farmhouse to visitors. It is at this farmhouse where the story takes place. 7 very different characters decide to holiday at the farmhouse in that first week. A couple whose marriage is going through something, a middle-aged dentist who has lost the joy in life, a young woman who is trying to determine what she wants from life, and a long lost resident of the town who has spent half her life running from her past.

As I got to know each of the characters and uncover their backstories and see where they were at, I got very involved in hoping that things would work out the best way for each of them. Each one in their own way is trying to determine where their lives and relationships are heading and where they went wrong along the way. It was a joy to travel with these people and see where the stay in this beautiful rugged place led them in their journeys.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia for a digital copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

When Mick Fitzgerald’s Irish family had gifted him and his wife Aisling a week at Lizzie O’s guesthouse outside Cork in Ireland, the knowledge that she’d have to see his family didn’t sit well with Aisling. Leaving their Tasmanian home as well as their two children, Natalie and Evan with Mick’s mother Lillian Fitzgerald even less so. But their 15th anniversary plus Mick’s birthday meant a lot to Mick, so she relented, hoping their time away would be well spent.

Emily and Gerry were the hosts of Lizzie O’s and their first week would be full of guests. Along with Mick and Aisling, there was a couple on their honeymoon, Edwina and Prue; Declan Byrne, a dentist from Cork who’d booked the week as a spur of the moment decision, Mia Montgomery from Melbourne, who was struggling with a major decision and Katie Daly from New York who’d begrudgingly returned to care for her mother – 35 years after she’d left home. Each person had heaviness weighing on their hearts; each had a decision to make. Would Lizzie O’s guesthouse work its magic on them all? Would this be a week to remember for the mixture of guests who’d chosen Lizzie O’s?

A Week to Remember is another fabulous read by Aussie author Esther Campion. Loosely following on from Leaving Ocean Road and The House of Second Chances, both of which I loved, I enjoyed catching up with old friends, as well as meeting new ones. The story starts and ends in Tasmania with the remaining set in the beautiful countryside of West Cork, Ireland. The two sides of the world beautifully complemented one another, as we read about the different characters’ lives. A truly heartwarming novel, A Week to Remember is one I highly recommend.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Set in Ireland with a whole host of characters from Ireland, Australia, NZ, and America, this book deftly illustrates the tenuous nature of human relationships, second chances, and how people with seemingly nothing in common can come together and connect in a very short amount of time.

I’ve never really been one for B&B’s, as an introvert, forced interactions with strangers is really daunting, and a whole week of it would have me jittery the whole time. But even this story has me wanting to travel to a small town and activity-it-up with randoms from around the globe (post-Covid of course).

Well written, and decently fleshed out characters, this story transported me far far away from home, and left me feeling positively uplifted.
However, there was a lot going on, and quite a few characters to keep a track of. This is always a little bug bear of mine, but I find it harder to be fully engrossed in a story when there’s a lot of character to follow. I liked the story, but I didn’t love it.

Thank you to Esther Campion, Hachette Australia, and NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was about a group of different people staying at a guest house in West Cork, Ireland. It is about the interaction between the guests, the owners of the guest house and residents in the town. Not all the guests are happy to be there and are trying to forget their past and make the best of their situation. I loved the way the guests interacted with each other and how their life stories were revealed and what they did to resolve their problems.
This was about families, relationships and secrets.

4.5★s
A Week To Remember is the third novel by Irish-born Australian author, Esther Campion. The opening week of Lizzie O’s Guesthouse in Crookhaven on the Irish coast attracts a diverse group of guests. Ellen O’Shea, together with her brother and her partner, Gerry, has renovated and converted her grandmother’s farmhouse: beautiful accommodation, wonderful food and, and a range of winter activities are all designed to entice.

Cork dentist, Declan Byrne hears about it via the interior design business sharing his building, which had a hand in the conversion. Recently split from his wife, Declan’s life consists of work, his Lexus, his luxury apartment, Uber Eats, a lot of red wine and Netflix. He knows he needs to get fitter, and is coming to accept his attitude (to women and generally) may need adjusting.

Katie Daly is in Ireland only on an estranged-mother-minding mission and has no intention of socialising with guests or locals: she will do her duty and return to Brooklyn. Her father threw her out at seventeen, and she’s never been back. And any encounters with Conor Fox, her grad ball date from thirty-five years ago, is to be assiduously avoided.

For Irish-born Aisling Fitzgerald and her husband Mick, the week at Crookhaven is a gift from her mother-in-law, bookended by the obligatory family visits. Aisling would have preferred Bali over West Cork for their fifteenth wedding anniversary and Mick’s fortieth. The worst of it is that the awful guilt she’s been carrying for weeks stops her from sharing Mick’s delight.

Lilian Fitzgerald has travelled to the north of Tasmania, to her son’s home to look after his children while he and Aisling are on their Irish trip. She’s delighted to reconnect with her grandchildren, and with their close friend and neighbour, Heather Watson and her family, although Heather’s father Doug is hard work: he may be a widower, but does he have to be such a grump?

Mia Montgomery has trailed after her husband on his research trips around various European sites for eight years. Harry’s only interest is fish diseases, and for Mia, the excitement that initially eclipsed the poor accommodation and lack of social interaction has worn thin: Mia is bored and lonely. A week on the Irish coast will be her selfish indulgence.

In amongst the beach rambles, the baking lessons, the spa pampering sessions, the coastal foraging tour, the pub poetry slam night, the hiking, the seaweed vodka tasting, the incidental interactions with other guests and with the locals, there are accusations and epiphanies, shocks and surprises, confessions and confrontations, revelations, realisations and reconciliations. Not everyone emerges totally unscathed, but the ending is a feel-good one. A very enjoyable read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Hachette Australia.

Lizzie O’s guesthouse in West Cork is ready for its first group of visitor’s, they have four bookings for the week and Ellen O’Shea and her partner Gerry are very excited to welcome the new arrivals. The old farmhouse is simply amazing it has a traditional renovated facade, a beautiful modern cozy interior and stylish guest rooms.

Aisling and Mick Fitzgerald are from Tasmania, they have been gifted a week’s stay at Lizzie O’s by his mum Lilian and she’s looking after the couple’s two children. Like most couples Aisling and Mick are busy working, tired and their marriage has suffered. A week away celebrating their fifteenth wedding anniversary might reunite the spark; unfortunately Aisling’s consumed by guilt and trying to avoid being alone with her husband.
Declan Byrne, is a dentist, he works long hours, he can’t be bothered cooking and likes red wine. In the spur of the moment he decides to take a week off, visit West Cork and get some much needed exercise. A place where he spent his childhood summers with his grandparents, he’s always wanted return and he why has he waited so long?
Katie Daly reluctantly returns to West Cork after 35 years of living in Brooklyn, to look after her elderly mother Phyllis for a week and no way will Katie stay at her mam’s house, too many bad memories and she books into the new guesthouse. Her past still haunts her, also Conor Fox her first love still lives in the area, she can’t avoid him and he runs the local shop.
Mia Montgomery is married to Harry who’s consumed by his work, he’s gone away for a week to study a new breed of fish and how exciting! Mia’s going to use her week alone at the guesthouse to reflect on what she wants out of life, she’s not happy and she’s considering ending her marriage.

A Week To Remember's story explores how people in today's world are wrapped up in their own lives, are no longer sociable, they don't want to be and for the group of guests staying at Lizzie O's this changes during one week in winter. The whole story is wonderful, set in a beautiful West Cork, the perfect venue, delightful hosts and all the characters are brilliant. Declan the dentist was my favorite; Esther Campion was spot on with her representation of his profession, as an ex dental assistant it was like a trip down memory lane and I couldn't stop laughing. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, I read it in a day and five big stars from me.