Hope and Happiness in Bluebell Wood

By: Ali McNamara

Narrated by: Lisa Coleman

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

Welcome to Bluebell Wood where the sun shines, the locals are kind and there's something more than a little bit magical about the place.

Ava loves city life, but when something happens to make her feel unsafe, she retreats to the calm and quiet of Bluebell Wood. The once high-flying Ava now locks herself away in her fairy-tale cottage, only leaving to explore the trails of the nearby woods or to potter in the garden with her dog, Merlin.

When Ava begins to feed the wild birds that flock to her bird table, they start leaving her trinkets of appreciation in return. The gifts seem innocent at first, but they soon take on a deeper meaning. 

It isn't until Ava meets Callum, the handsome parish priest, that she can't help but wonder if the birds might have been trying to get her out of the house all along. But will their curious behaviour help to heal Ava, and transform her and Callum into the lovebirds they clearly long to be?

©2021 Ali McNamara (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK

Critic Reviews

"An enchanting escape. Pure magic!" (Heidi Swain)

"A perfect, sparkling, summer read." (Cathy Bramley) 

"Fun and endearing." (Katie Fforde) 

Delightful

I love stories in which nature plays so much a part. In this story the woods and birds are among the main characters. Also a cozy love story with somewhat of a mystery to solve. My favorite book by this author. I was sorry when it ended and I wish the author would write a sequel.

Dumb

Trite, stupid story. I don't agree with the classification of this as clean & wholesome. They sleep together and declare they love each other but they barely know each other. I didn't care for the vicar or the female lead, they both seem pretty shallow. The insta relationship between the 2 main characters was not believable. I was so tired of the female lead and her allusions to "the incident", that I didn't really care once I found out what the incident was. The only likeable character is the dog.

Lovely

I absolutely loved this story it was such a feel good book x
Thank you

Birds!

loved this book beautifully read , uplifting and pure escapism , didn't want it to end!

So glad I chose this .

Beautiful story , well thought out by the author, and the narrator is perfect. I love the magic running through it, as in quite a few of Ali Mcnamaras books. I appreciated the path the storyline took, it was different. I love her books , This was no exception. They make you use your imagination. You must listen to the Extras at the end.

Easy listening, great story

A love story with many twist and turns. An easy story to follow and easy to dip in and out of. My first listen to an Ali McNamara book, I will be downloading anther.

Brilliant

Loved it, it had romance, intrigue, mystery, and was beautifully written and Narrated. Highly recommended 😀😀

Dull, very dull..

Narrator didn't help this snore fest.
I listened to the end hoping it would get better.. Sadly it didn't.
Characters were dull, story was dull narrator was dull. Sorry, cannot recommend.

A lovely....

storyline with some great characters and antics within the book. The narrator was very good at using different voices for the characters.

Hope and Happiness in Bluedell Wood

Reel lovely story keeps you guessing all the time , You can picture it all.

Loved it a feel good book

Was how she felt about ministers and about the birds she saw on her bird table

Slow start but stick with it.

I’ve read and really enjoyed a lot of Ali McNamara’s books but I found this one difficult to get into. I think the focus on the one character Ava, who has clearly had a traumatic experience but this is only hinted at for several chapters, felt a little one dimensional and I almost gave up. But gradually it opened up to a really interesting story and it was worth persevering with. Overall it was well thought through and came together well after the slow start.