Finding Values

3.5★s
Finding Values is the third novel by Edinburgh author, Lyn Miller. In her ten years with Braithwaite, Crosshall and Greene, registered valuer, Claire Ford has never set foot outside London for her work. But now, circumstances see her travelling to a far-flung Scottish Isle to value the estate of the recently-deceased Murdoch Maclean. That entails flights, car hire, ferry crossings, a meeting with the solicitor in Oban, and daily boat trips from Mull to Eilean Creagach, the small island on which Murdo’s castle, Caisteal Glas is located.

Claire’s family and friends are a little concerned: Claire is very much a city girl, loving to socialise, theatres, restaurants, wine bars and galleries being her preferred mileaus; surely she will be bored up there on her own? But Claire vows to keep busy with her work. Of course, once she sees the castle and understands the situation, she realises her naivete: the isolation, the poor phone cover and the patchy internet connectivity present challenges, but she finds the locals are friendly and helpful.

She soon realises the task will take a lot longer than she imagined, but the locals insist she cannot work seven days and include her in social activities and outings. The boatman turns out to be a talented fiddler and encourages her to again take up her flute. And is there something brewing between her and the handsome Estate Manager? By the time she has completed the task, she has made many friends and quite fallen in love with these Scottish islands.

After a nine-week absence, despite having missed her London flat and her busy social life, her return feels like an anti-climax. She doesn’t relish the busy-ness quite as she had previously, and she misses those wide-open blue Scottish skies and island vistas.

Ten years on, and how radically her life has changed. She’s living on Fearann Soirbheachail, married to the man whose romantic inclinations she thought had fizzled out; she manages a branch of her parents’ Tunbridge Wells antique shop in Tobermory; and she plays her flute along with the boatman at social gatherings. There have been challenges, but life is good.

Miller gives the reader a sedately paced tale of the events that precipitate a major life transformation in a woman not looking for change, and the aftermath. She manages to include long-distance relationships, the anxieties associated with raising children of a broken marriage, fat-shaming on social media, anorexia, ageing parents, and a hunt for a rumoured feline predator. An enjoyable read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Matador.

Overall, I think this book is a good read and pleasant company. The setting is an idyllic escape and a tonic for those of us living busy lives in suburbia and city centers. Claire Ford takes an assignment to inventory a castle estate on a remote island of Mull in Scotland after its owner passes. The book describes setting details like light flowing through the castle rooms and the feel of old iron doorknobs so that the reader feels as if they can experience the castle estate for themselves. Claire's work at the castle conjures up the peaceful references of ferries, sheep jams, and roads that require pulling over to let oncoming traffic pass. Claire makes acquaintances in the area and those friends and relationships eventually pull her back to live there, where she settles in Fearann Soirbheachail.

While the story makes for pleasant company, it sometimes felt a little detached from the joy or concern of some of the situations. As Claire's life unfolds in Fearann Soirbheachail, she has married and become a stepmother In fact, the courtship and marriage is summed up as a passing event without much reflection, as though it were a journal entry. I thought that Laura's condition would instead create a mounting tension, but it too came to pass and settle into a documented account of days. Finding Values kind of reminded me of "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn." Both books chronicle the daily passing of family life in a nostalgic setting amidst unsettling social issues.