Blessed Are the Cheesemakers (utgåvan 2004)

This is a beautiful book about fate. The Irish background gives intense atmosphere and the story is much deeper than it appears to be. ( )

This is the story of two haunted souls who feel trapped in their respective lives.
Abbey is living a lie with her husband and Kit is grieving for the loss of his wife.
Abbey is alone in the world except by her eccentric grandfather, an Irish cheesemaker, and Kit has just lost his job because he drinks far too much.
They meet in the most unexpected place, a "weird" cheese farm led by two elderly men, one of them Abbey's grandfather, which is more like a charity home for troubled people, especially young pregnant girls who sing to the cows while they milk them in exchange for a bed, food and good-hearted company.
The story reminded me of "Chocolat" or " Fried Green Tomatoes", where food takes a magical role in the story. In this case, the cheese is not coming out right because there's an ingredient lacking, and that's love. Kit and Abbey have to find out for themselves if they are willing to take the risk of loving again.

So, the plot was original, genuine and fairy-tale-like.
Why the two stars then?
I found the first quarter of the book endearing, Abbey and Kit's meeting romantic and touching but the final development was too unbelievably far-fetched. The "romance" lacks depth, the final chapters close the story abruptly and without charm. I turned the last page with a feeling of regret, thinking that this could have been a much better story if only the writer had stuck to the first chapters and finished the novel in a more plausible way. ( )

Quirky and interesting ( )

I happened upon this book in my local library's book sale this weekend, having never heard of the book or the author. I didn't expect to be so touched by the story that I would find myself laughing out loud, frustrated by a character named Kit, and finally clutching my chest as I sobbed at the end. Truly a wonderful representation of the healing that happens at the end of the day when you have been let down, when you have let yourself down, and when you hit the bottom and find the strangers in your life picking you up and dusting you off and calling you their family. That it's also a story about cheese making is a bonus to a foodie like me! My only wish is that the story could have gone on! I want to know what happens to the next generation of the blessed cheesemakers!

Pretty standard Brit Chic Lit. Loved the part of the book that dealt with the cheese factory and all the supporting characters; not so much the parts that dealt with our two main characters and their "romance". ( )