Central to this story are two strong-willed matriarchs. Aunt Alice has ruled Nyringa, her small north-western NSW town with a velvet fist for more than sixty years and she is less than impressed when circus owner Lucienne Chevalier buys a nearby property and sets it up as a place where members of her circus can come in their downtime. Caught up in the middle of Alice’s fight to close the circus down is her fifteen year-old great niece Jenny, who dreams of leaving Nyringa and who falls for sixteen year-old Finn Whelan, an acrobat with the circus. Also central to the story is schoolteacher Meg Walker, who has fled the city for a quieter place to live after a vicious knife attack left her physically and emotionally wrecked. Lucienne’s grandson Simon Coates, who has his own mental and physical issues to deal with, has moved to Nyringa with her and is the last of the key characters in this story.
This book is complex. Relationships between Alice and Lucienne, Meg and Simon, and Jenny and Finn offer plenty of interest. The two old ladies do battle in their own style, Alice determined to drive the circus out and Lucienne just as determined to integrate into the community. Meanwhile Meg and Simon are helping each other to heal and Jenny and Finn are hiding their feelings for each other from their respective families.
I loved the way food, particularly cakes and pastries, was so much a part of the rituals being played out on the pages of this book. I also loved the characters, who seemed so real as the went about their business. There is a lot more to love that I haven’t touched on. Suffice to say this is a captivating book that drew me in on many, many levels.

I really enjoy small town stories and Janet Gover does them so well, in this one we meet two matriarchs, both very different but both strong woman, Alice Dwyer known as Aunt Alice to everyone who lives in Nyringa and Lucienne Chevalier owner of a circus who has travelled the world but now is making her home in Nyringa, both these woman are stubborn but family is everything to them, I do hope you will pick this one up and see the battle of wills and see how all turns out.

Aunt Alice has lived in Nyringa all of her life, she is content and the whole town is related to her in some way and she rules, but underneath that tough exterior sits a girl who lost her heart many years ago when a circus came to town and when a circus family buy a property in her town those old feelings from years past come to the surface.

Madame Chevalier was a fabulous performer in the circus all of her life she travelled Europe as a young girl, and when the family came to Australia from France many years ago Lucienne carried on the tradition with her family, you don’t have to be blood related to be family, but when tragedy strikes Lucienne decides it is time to change her life and with her grandson Simon they move to Nyringa and run the circus from their home base and have a place for the people of the circus to have a break between seasons.

Adding to this story are the other characters we get to know Simon, who has been injured in an accident is still healing physically and mentally and performing is something that he will not be able to do anymore, and Meg the new school teacher in town who is trying to cope after being hurt badly, her and Simon meet while running and soon their friendship grows, then we have young Jenny Harden, Aunt Alice’s great niece, she is strong willed and can be a little rebellious especially when she meets young Finn an acrobat in the circus, Finn wants so much to please his father and look for new acts but things don’t always go the way you want them to.

When a problem arises it is time for the two matriarchs to come together and get things sorted as only they can. This is a fabulous story about family, community and love and how people can and should help each other there was lots of cake and pastries in this story that made me want to visit Nyringa and have tea with Aunt Alice and Lucienne and meet all of the wonderful people who live there. This is a story that I do highly recommend.

My thanks to Harlequin Mira for my copy to read and review

Ever since reading The Wild One I have been a big fan of Janet Gover's novels. She has proven over the years to have quite diverse writing skills, touching on themes that concern small town communities and are also relatable in a broader sense.

Close to Home starts with a short prologue featuring a teenaged Alice and it was good to get an insight into this young, fun Alice before she grew to be the proud and proper 80 year old we see in the following story.

Close to Home centres on two strong women, both matriarchs of their large families. Heartbreak features strongly in both their lives. Whilst Alice's is an old wound that she can't seem to let go of and it still shapes her decisions and attitudes, Lucienne's is fresh and soul destroying however she knows to move forward she must heal. I did feel one was more superficial than the other but to these two women the hurt was equal.

When the circus comes to stay in Nyringa the wariness of newcomers is raised and judging people before getting to know them which can often happen in small towns where change is feared. I loved all the circus details, how circuses had changed over the years and the love and commitment the performers have for what they do. I think this will have many readers on a nostalgic trip back to their childhood.

Gover redefines family with Alice and her large hoard of nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews and Lucienne declaring that every performer in her circus is part of her family. Family is more than your own immediate flesh and blood.

Two sweet and subtle romances weave through this story of acceptance and moving forward. Young love is instant and all consuming, as it often is, and has a Romeo and Juliet-ish feel. The other couples feeling are slower to develop and more wary to open up to each other. I thought both romances were realistic and well executed.

I could go on and on but no one wants a long wordy review so I will suffice to say that Close to Home is a story about family, relationships, community, new friendships, new beginnings, love lost and love found. And a great read!!

Aunt Alice is the matriarch in a small country town who is used to everyone doing what she wants and has a mistrust of circus folk after a betrayal when she was younger. This causes issue when Lucienne and her grandson Simon make a base for their family circus in her home town. Thrown into the mix are Alice’s great niece Jenny and her teacher Meg who has experience her own trauma. I loved this storyline and the writing just flowed beautifully. I enjoyed getting to know each of the characters and their back stories that helped shape their present.

Rural New South Wales, Australia.
A Circus.
Family secrets.
French pastries.
Love lost.
Love found.

Sounds like ingredients for a great Australian rural romance.

Initially when I started reading Close to Home by Janet Gover I thought I was reading a historical fiction but it's the prologue to the here and now of the book. And what a prologue it is. Alice is a young woman smitten with a young man, holding out hope of romance and a future. They are both captivated by a visiting circus which was to be a special date for both of them.

Fast-forward 60 years or so and Alice is the pillar of Nyringa (a fictional town as far as I can tell) in northern New South Wales, Australia. Most of the small community is related directly or through marriage to Alice. There's not much that goes on that Alice doesn't know about, or hasn't given approval for.

Within the context of the small town there are some new residents. A teacher called Meg, who is escaping an incident of violence in her past. She's looking for tranquility and quiet. She's teaching many of the young impressionable students (including Alice's granddaughter Jenny). There's also Simon, a man who has moved to town with his grandmother Lucienne. They are "circus folk" and are wanting to settle in town to build a retreat of sorts where other circus workers can train, or call home during their time between towns or seasons. The stories of all these characters are all entwined in rich detail. Some preferring to live in the past, begrudging the world moving forward. Others needing to put the past behind them, in order to forge a future.

There are a couple of blossoming romances, some miscommunication, secrets, intrafamilial violence, and domestic drama. This made for a wonderful enchanting read. Overall it's a book heavy on sentiment in the right places and very bittersweet. I would have loved a little more intensity in the romance between Meg and Simon as the buildup was lovely!

Such a lovely way to round out my reading for 2020.

This was the first Janet Gover book I have read. I can't wait to read more.