The Beach Hut [Kindle Edition]

This is my first book by Veronica Henry, and it was recommended to me by a friend. I'm pleased to have discovered this author now, as I very much enjoyed this book. I found the setting of the stories was described very well, and I could easily imagine what the beach huts and town looked like. I very much enjoyed how each chapter related to a different persons individual story, but thought the small links and hints between each very good. Each chapter was a satisfactory length for what was involved - it managed to tell the story of each character in a believable depth and therefore I felt drawn in and compeled to read on. No chapter was 'less interesting' than the rest, as each characters tale was appealing and it made me want to read on. I thought the conclusion was well put together, and the final two chapters brought everything together nicely. Overall, this is a perfect 'beach book'. It doesnt take long to read and is easy to pick up from where you left off.

Jane Milton's beach hut, also known as 'The Shack' has been in her family for many generations, but when her husband dies and leaves her with huge debts, she knows she has no choice but to finally sell the hut and make a bit of money to live on. She's worried about the reaction of her 3 sons, but more about leaving the glorious beaches of Everdene for good after one summer party. As summer descends on Everdere once more, the residents of the huts flock to the beach for a few days peace, but some end up with more than ever bargained for. For Roy, the man who has helped look after the beach huts since he was a little lad, he's extremely sad to hear that Jane might be leaving for good. Are a few beach goers going to get more than they bargained for this summer?

The book begins with Roy, the resident of Everdene who has been looking after the Beach Huts for many years and knows not only the huts, but the residents of them too. Roy's clearly got feelings for Jane, and I love how this story develops as the book progresses, it's very touching and is such a sweet story. As we get to know Roy and Jane, and the tale of their childhood friendship, things become clearer and then the book moves on in another direction, following Jane in her current life juggling her finances, family and expectations. I was hooked by the end of the first chapter, and I knew then it'd be a book I wouldn't want to put down.

It then begins to tell the stories of the owners and residents of the beach huts for each chapter. I think the chapter names were the name of the beach huts themselves which I think is a lovely touch, and certainly made it good to try and decipher which sort of people would have a beach hut with that name! I was sure that each story would be stand-alone and only linked by the fact each of the huts were on the same beach but it soon became clear that it was going to be slightly more than that, and that they were all going to be more intrinsically linked than I had initially thought, and I couldn't wait to see how that was going to become the case.

Jane Milton and her family story was the one that kept running through the book due to the other stories of her children and their relationships too, and it was interesting how it kept coming back to them. I also really enjoyed the story of the young engaged couple Dan and Kirsty which was a very sweet read, and I love how Henry included a mother with a child with disabilities, and it showed a different side that we would usually see, from the mother's perspective and it was a quite gritty perspective compared to the rest of the book. However, I liked this inclusion in the story, especially when the other side of this particular story was shown from another resident's point of view.

The book was incredibly readable and I loved every page. Thanks to the individual chapters, it was quite easy to put the book down and pick it up again from where we left off, but to be honest, I didn't want to stop reading because I was so curious to see whose story was going to turn up next! I love how all the stories connected together, even in the smallest way that could have been mentioned in passing, but it made such a difference overall as it felt like everything was tied up by the end. Roy and Jane's story was by far my favourite, but I loved the whole book and cannot recommend it highly enough, in fact it may well be my read of the summer so far. Simply brilliant.

When i picked up The Beach Hut i was expecting a book full of short stories, each story being about one of the beach huts, however, as i continued to read each story through the book i found the individual 'stories' all intertwined with each other.
The setting for The Beach Hut sounds gorgeous, a real British seaside, with a row of colourful beach huts owned by individuals who would spend their holidays living beside the seaside. I was unaware that people would 'live' there for a week, i thought they were glorified changing rooms where the owners would stay in hotels or bed and breakfasts at night.
The characters in the book were from many different lifestyles and each had their own story to tell; alcohol addiction, illicit affairs were just two of the reasons the beach huts were so popular. I felt I was a part of the Everdene community, learning about each family, their way of life and the problems they had and may be hiding.
i love veronica Henry's books and have read a number of her back catalogue and enjoyed this one just as much, however, i found the style of this book to be different from her previous books.
The book is a lovely holiday read and i could see myself sitting on a beach or in the sunshine reading it.

i am now looking forward to veronica Henry's new book being released in October 2o10.