Close Knit by Jenny Colgan review - 'Peppered with humour and warmth'
Close Knit is a light read but none the worse for that, writes Kirsty McLuckie
In her last book, Summer Skies, Jenny Colgan introduced readers to the remote Scottish Island of Carso and the story of Morag the pilot, persuaded to leave a long-haul London life and return home for good by the lure of flying tiny planes in the Scottish landscape, the comfort of a small community and the love of a brooding ornithologist called Gregor.
In Close Knit, we return to the island and some of the characters, but this time the narrative follows a lifelong resident who is anything but glamorous and go-getting. Gertie is approaching 30 and lives with her mother and grandmother in a tiny cottage, she works at the local ScotNorth shop and her social life revolves around her mother’s knitting group.
Colgan has carved a very successful niche, writing charming love stories set in idyllic places. Carso is weather-battered and remote but stunningly beautiful. The community is insular and everyone knows each other’s business, none more so than the members of the knitting circle, who compete, gossip and support each other in equal measure.
Gertie is a dreamer, and has watched too many romantic comedies, so she longs to be rescued from her mundane life by a prince or a millionaire. Her dating life has been marred by a crush she had at school, which in her mind led to ridicule which still burns in her memory. But when an incident with a drunk customer in the shop leads her to be head-hunted for a role at the island’s airline, she meets the handsome Norwegian aviation magnate, Calum Frost, who owns the company and sets her cap at him.
So far, so cliched for a romantic novel, but Colgan has long been able to subvert the genre, so fans of her work will be able to deduce that she may not necessarily end up with the man she wants. The fun is in spotting what the characters have yet to discover.
Close Knit is a love letter to the Scottish Highlands, female friendships and the peculiarities of island life. But Colgan doesn’t shy away from the problems and more than once she rails at the housing situation for young folk, priced out of ownership by second home buyers.
A description of a ceilidh is spot on, with locals taking the dancing seriously, visitors bemused and children running riot till the early hours. There is also a secondary love story among older characters, which is gently rendered and very satisfying. And the action comes to an exciting denouement, when a primary school class has to be rescued from the top of a cliff in a snowstorm.
Colgan peppers the story with humour and warmth, and her gossipy writing style mirrors the chat over the knitting needles. Close Knit is a light read, but none the worse for it.
Close Knit, by Jenny Colgan, Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.