Purple Michaelmas by Patricia Hutson is a heartfelt romance fiction filled with passionate love and unexpected turns.
Vicki, a medium living in London with her husband Bill and children has an inkling that something is wrong. Whilst standing near the rose bush that had once been her mother’s thinking of the past
and the guilty secret she has carried for years, she sees the purple michaelmas flowers and has a premonition that contentment and suffering will occur.
When a football match is arranged with a team from a small village in Germany, those in London were to host the players. When Dieter arrived for the weekend an instant attraction was made between him and Vicki, with a strong bond forming their lives became interlaced their desire for each other undeniable.
With the weekend over and new friendships formed plans were made for Vicki and her family to visit Germany. It was the perfect opportunity for Vicki and Dieter to explore their attraction towards each other, they truly believed love at first sight did exist even though it was complicated. For over 10 years they spent every opportunity they could with each other including trips away until tragedy strikes.
The story of Vicki and Dieter is engaging and fascinating and sheds light on how they survived the challenges thrown at them despite being in separate relationships. Readers will find the characters relatable as the author describes them and their personalities in detail, along with how their love story progresses, it was sweet, yet full of heat and earnest love, and it was so tender and heart-felt that you are practically a quivering ball of sappy jelly!
Purple Michaelmas has so much going for it; romance, intrigue, suspense, friendship, family dynamics and so much more. The characters are well presented, and the plot is fast-moving with touches of both fiction and realism, scenes play out in a fashion that allows each character’s personality to shine.
For her debut novel Patricia Hutson is a skilled author in creating a story that makes for an enjoyable reading. Relationship decisions are important decisions in life and Patricia handles the topic extensively, examining one’s needs and wants honestly.
If you believe in soul mates, finding your one true love, then Purple Michaelmas should be at the top of your reading list.
The poem at the end is very heartening and he front cover is gorgeous and very eye catching. I highly recommend this book.
Thank you, Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read and review.
Author: Patricia Hutson
ISBN: 9781786127525
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club Members are reading Purple Michaelmas by Patricia Hutson. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
My love of books started at a very young age. My mum has always been a reader and encouraged me to read, buying me endless book from classic fairy tales advancing to the world of Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Kathryn Kenny, Carolyn Keene, Francine Pascal. In my adult years the list of authors is endless and every room in my house is filled with books.
One of my favourite novels is Narnia which has always has a special place in my heart. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1978 and when I was given this book to read it let me escape to another world where I felt like I was in the book with all the characters, it wasfun and exciting to escape from reality and eased the ups and downs of the disease at such a young age.
In books nothing is impossible and there is endless potential and hundreds of places to explore or being taken to places that are only made up from the authors’ great minds, the past and future to navigate, characters lives you step into taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride or being scared out of your wits. I can experience things that I can’t in real life because they’re not possible or real. It challenges my perspective and mindset expanding my worldview.
I find joy, comfort and peace with books, many people may not get it, but I know bookworms like me truly understand. Reading makes my heart happy.
I love reading books which have a meaningful spiritual content so this story was appealing to me. I congratulate the author on her courage to bring forth, from a wellspring of personal experiences as a medium, the idea that there can be beauty and hope in the midst of grief and heartache. I found the beautiful ending wrapped the story in a loving embrace. I did, however, find the formatting of the e-book and punctuation glitches a bit distracting. Perhaps the hard copy would read better. Nevertheless this book has a very clear message and is certainly worthwhile reading.
I didn’t enjoy reading Purple Michaelmas by Patricia Hutson at all. The characters were weak and the storyline was too confusing as it kept flipping between the past and the present. I do believe in soulmates, but l really disliked the way the characters went about their lives and thought that they both got what was coming to them in the end. Thank you Beauty and Lace for letting me review this book >:o)
Purple Michaelmas was an intriguing story to read. Initially I thought the characters of Vicki and Bill quite weak and then in comes Dieter. A stronger character and likeable as he treads a path to include Vicki.
Vicki is a medium and senses that her life will change forever, but will it change the lives of those she loves. Her family, friends and Dieter’s family.
When Dieter and Vicki become lovers and over the years they keep this secret.
The story does get confusing at times and can be quite difficult to read and it reverts from present to past as Vicki remembers the past 10 years.
It’s a real romance which captures so much as so many people are involved.
Worth persisting in the story, albeit short breaks are needed to get back on track with your own thoughts.
well done Patricia Hutson for this unique story.
Thank-you Beauty & Lace for giving me the chance to read & review ‘Purple Michaelmas’ an e-book by Patricia Hutson.
Vicki is living a great life with her husband and two little girls, with no complications that is until Dieter from Germany arrives. Vicki follows her desire, protesting true-love and begins living two separate lives over many years, any medium could tell you that this would be wrong.
To be honest I did not enjoy this book – I felt both Vicki and Dieter were very selfish and shallow characters, even though they were not caught by their partners, they continued to live a lie all in the guise of true love; which was really just a form of sexual desire. I would not have called this a true love story.
Thank-you ‘Beauty & Lace Bookclub’ for the opportunity to read ‘Purple Michaelmas’ an e-book by Patricia Hutson.
Purple Michaelmas Review
Purple Michaelmas by Patricia Hutson is the story of Vicki and Dieter. Vicki and Dieter are happily married and live good lives – just not with each other. Vicki is married to Bill and lives with him and their two daughters in England, while Dieter lives with his wife Monique and their two sons in Germany. A chance meeting through a football game sees Vicki and Dieter begin an affair that is the premise of the story. While Vicki and Dieter saw themselves as soul mates and each other’s one true love, I just saw them as selfish, cheating spouses.
I found this book a real struggle to read and couldn’t find anything to like about Vicki or Dieter. I did feel sorry for Bill and Monique as the affair went on often right under their noses. The author is very good at describing her characters and settings allowing the reader to really picture each scene, but a detailed description of every character and every setting had me wondering if I was reading the accompanying notes to a movie script for a set dresser or costume fitter rather than a novel.
As I read a Review Copy, I am hoping that the lack of punctuation, spelling errors and typos that added to the struggle to read this book, are not present in the final copy.
Thank you Beauty and Lace for the chance to read and review this book.
Thank you for giving me the chance to read Purple Michaelmas.
Even though it was a review copy, I found it difficult to read given the poor spelling and grammar, the lack of correct punctuation and the number of repeated phrases. I would hope that a lot more editing happens before publication.
I didn’t like the two main characters Vicki and Dieter. I thought they were selfish and stupid.
Vicki is married to Bill and is a medium, Dieter is also married and has come over from Germany for a football match, Vicki and Bill are hosting Dieter for the weekend, well Dieter and Vicki and instantly attracted to each other they have an affair which lasts over 10 years and they claim that they are soul mates, Sorry but I didn’t like any characters in this book Dieter and Vicki to me are both shallow people, and were like two love sick teenagers, personally I found this book hard to read some chapters were quite confusing in my opinion
This unfortunately, to me, was one of the most difficult books to read. I agree with all the other comments about the grammar and punctuation, which I am sure would have been rectified for the hard copy.
I found the story extremely long, and to be honest, I did skip quite a few pages.
Vicki had a very happy marriage, with wonderful children, but then on a sporting trip, Dieter arrives, and it supposedly ‘love at first sight’.
As a Spiritualist, the Spiritual aspect is what attracted me to this story originally, but it was more about 2 people lying to those who love them, for over 10 years as they embark upon stolen moments and can’t keep their hands off each other. To profess their love to each other in only a matter of hours, seemed ludicrous.
I felt sorry for Vicki’s husband Bill, and Dieters wife, as they both seemed oblivious to the affair their spouses were having.
I am sure this book would appeal to many, but was to me not a love story, but about 2 people who want their happy family life, but also want the thrill and excitement of an affair. Surely the spouses would have suspected something had shifted within their relationships, but they seemed totally oblivious. They also deserved far better than the betrayal going on practically right in front of them
When Vicki has one last encounter with Dieter, that to me was the only thing Spiritual about the story, but also saddened me, as all I could think about was their spouses.
Thank you Beauty & Lace for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
Thank you Patricia and Beauty and Lace for allowing me to read and review Purple Michaelmas.
I enjoyed the love between the central characters but I did struggle with the flip flopping of time in the book. It would take me a while to figure out if we were in the present or the past.
It was a nice story but a bit hard to read.
Life is messy and complicated and rarely, if ever, like a romance novel. This story reflects that messiness and imperfection of life and humans.
Thank you Beauty & Lace and Patricia Hutson for allowing me to read an ARC.