This story plays out over a decade when Jo and Harry meet up each year for a weekend at his beloved family cottage Morrow in the Shropshire hills. It is the place where Harry forgets his troubles and he and Jo can reconnect with their passion. The one rule: real life is not allowed to penetrate their sanctuary. But as the years go on, and the stresses of their lives increase, will their weekends away be enough to keep them together? I have tried reading Fiona Walker a couple of times before and never got into her stories. But this time, this one totally engaged me. I enjoyed the concept of the reader being able to catch up with Jo and Harry’s lives only through their weekend escapes. A longish read, this is the perfect book to take with you on your own weekend away in a similarly remote location.
Fiona Walker's latest novel, The Weekends of You and Me, asks 'can your final fling become your Happy Ever After'? The summary says: "When Jo Coulson finds herself single again in her late thirties, she finally resigns her membership to Last of the Hopeless Romantics, fully intending to tackle midlife and motherhood alone. First, she plans one legendary last fling... In walks Harry Inchbold, and the connection is electric. Passionate, unpredictable and messily divorced, Harry is the perfect antidote to cosy coupledom. Known as The Sinner, drama follows him around with a clapper board. Harry's favourite holiday hideaway in the wilds of South Shropshire puts the mud and fun into the perfect dirty weekend. But at the cottage Harry reveals a very different side, melting Jo's resolve. What better combination to face an uncertain future than two cynics who have learned from their mistakes? Together they make a pact; 'same time next year'; they can promise no more than that. Through life's most stressful decade, Harry and Jo return to the Shropshire hills for one weekend each year to rediscover passion and make peace. As career, family and home crises all threaten to bring them unstuck, the cottage is their glue. Here, different rules apply: the day-to-day world is not allowed to intrude. With Harry and Jo, however, it's only a matter of time before rules get broken. As real life gets increasingly complicated, can they keep renewing their promise?" The Weekends of You and Me is out in March 2016.