This was an emotional book. It was written so beautifully. It has great characters within it. The pacing was slow at the beginning. The setting is written so descriptively. The war storyline was hard hitting

*Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for my copy of the book, in exchange for an honest review*

Since reading both The Photographer of The Lost, and When I Come Home Again, Caroline Scott has become one of my favourite authors, so as soon as I heard about The Visitors, I knew I had to read it! Once again, the author has truly delivered an absolutely brilliant story.

Following the death of her husband Alec, Esme Nicholls moved out of their marital home, and began living with, and working for, Mrs Pickering. The story begins with Esme travelling to Cornwall, to stay with Mrs Pickering’s brother Gilbert and his friends for the summer. While Esme is there, she is hoping to feel a little closer to her late husband, who grew up in the local area, and maybe fill in the blanks, and find out some of his story from his time at war. From the very beginning, my heart immediately went out to Esme, who was struggling to cope with the loss of the love of her life. A reality for far too many women during and after the war.

The characters in this story are all equally as fascinating as each other, but in their own very unique ways. There are some huge personalities, that you wouldn’t necessarily think would work as friends. However, their stories also weave together in even more interesting ways. I was desperate to hear all of their stories, and I was particularly intrigued by Gilbert and the men of his regiment. Their living set up was very unusual, and they seemed to have an unbreakable bond, forged during the horrors of war. I imagine that the people you serve with become closer than family, and you will have a connection with those people forever, which is very clearly shown in this story.

Esme soon begins to build a connection with the men in the house, but especially with Rory. I loved watching their relationship blossom, in a very gentle and natural way. They seemed to really understand each other, and have a mutual trust towards one another. A clear indication of this is that Rory allows Esme to read his private recollections of his time at war, something that he didn’t allow anyone else to do. Throughout the story, we get the occasional chapter from his book, and these are often quite difficult to read. They show the reality of war, and the minds of the soldiers on the front line in a way that makes you understand even more clearly how horrific their experiences were. On more than one occasion these chapters brought me to tears.

While in Cornwall, Esme’s life and everything she thought she knew is flipped completely upside down, and we follow her story as she tries to figure out and come to terms with the shocking revelation. She was struggling enough, but after this, I honestly don’t know how she managed to push on. This new realisation creates so much more hurt and confusion, as well as making things extremely difficult for her, and watching the consequences unfold was a real wild ride. Coming together in an ending that perfectly wrapped up every detail of this story, and leaving no question unanswered.

I can not praise the way Caroline Scott writes highly enough. She has an incredible way of writing stories that really grab at your heartstrings, and makes you feel every little emotion as though it is from your own personal experience, and this book is no exception to that. I would read absolutely anything that she writes, and now, I just have to patiently wait for her to release her next book, which I can guarantee will be just as fantastic.

I give The Visitors a 5 star rating!

The Visitors is a beautifully written novel set in the aftermath of the Great War. Esme is a war widow who began working for Fenella Pickering as a gardener during the war, and eventually as a housekeeper. She travels to Cornwall ahead of Fenella to prepare Fenella’s brother’s house for his sister’s visit. She finds that Gilbert lives in a shared house with several of his comrades and during her time there, Esme develops friendships that allow her to move on from her grief.
This is a slow moving, descriptive novel that is well researched and completely heartbreaking in parts. It’s is empathetic to the emotions and life changing situations created after the war and will stay with you long after the final page.

This story is nothing like I thought it was going to be …

I’ve read The Photographer of the Lost and so knew Caroline Scott’s passion for bringing to light untold perspectives and stories from the Great War. What I wasn’t expecting was how easy it was to empathise with Esme and become tangled up in all the emotions.

After losing Alec, Esme is trying to find where she belongs. She’s gone from budding journalist to wife, then a gardener during the war, to widow and housekeeper. And housekeeper isn’t the role she’s been educated for …

Touching briefly on how displaced and disparaged the women were after the war, (it’s not just the men who had to adjust to change), Esme is hoping to come to some decisions during her summer stay in Cornwall.

And wow! There are shocks and surprises while she’s in Cornwall staying at Esperance!

There I was, enjoying the introspection and the pace of the story and getting to know the characters when BAM. No! How could that be?

Morally and ethically, this opens up so many questions. I had no idea what Esme would do. I understood her conflicting thoughts and emotions and have to say, held a great deal of respect for how she handles it.

I thought then I knew where the story was going (which I kind of did) but there’s still another surprise in store. Was this ever going to go the way I wanted it to? The suspense had me guessing.

I have to say that I FELT how unsettling life was for Esme. When you don’t know what life holds for you anymore and you don’t have any ideas of what you can do next and you’re always second guessing yourself – exhausting and draining. Especially when you’re a person who finds it difficult to cope without a plan (yep, that’s me).

I understood the reluctance of Esperance’s occupants to talk about the war. My dad was the same about WWII. I found it quite emotive getting to know Gilbert and his brothers in arms – what their lives were like before the war and how it changed them. Their experiences during the war are covered in Rory’s first hand account which is poignant and adds another layer to the story.

Esme’s column in the newspaper grounded me in the here and now whilst also giving valuable insights into the myths, legends, flora and fauna of the landscape.

The Visitors is an emotive story on many levels. I think you can tell just how much I loved it 🙂

I absolutely loved this beautiful book, wrote with such tenderness and poignancy. It's been on my kindle with months and my regret is not reading it sooner. I'll definitely buy Caroline's back catalogue.

I loved this. It was utterly atmospheric and depicted that in between the war stage incredibly well. I’ve loved all of Caroline Scott’s books and can’t wait to read more.

I adore historical novels and found The Visitors to be a beautifully and movingly written novel which really brought the period to life. Set in 1920s Cornwall, Esme Nicholls goes to stay in the community of Gilbert and other men who are experiencing trauma after the First World War. She is hoping to connect with the memories of her late husband who grew up in Penzance. I absolutely loved the Cornish setting and Scott brings it life beautifully with her descriptions of the natural world. This is such an immersive read and I really felt that I was there in 1920s Cornwall,. The author writes with such sensitivity and empathy and I was bereft when I finished this gorgeous novel. Highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC.

This stunning novel focuses on the impact that the First World War had on people, from the widows of men who died in foreign fields, to the soldiers who returned to a world that they no longer believed they belonged in, and the families who did not know how to handle them.

The location in Cornwall was idyllic and really helped highlight the healing qualities of being in nature.

When Esme is sent by her employer to spend the summer at the house, which is called Esperance (which means hope), Esme hopes to find the home where her late husband Alec grew up, to find a way to reconnect with his memory. Her employer’s brother Gilbert lives in Esperance with members of his regiment, who are all dealing with different traumas as a result of the war.

When the summer progresses, as Esme finds the location healing for her, her life is suddenly turned upside down by a betrayal that makes her question everything.

This beautiful novel captures the after-effects of war and how some people were able to eventually heal, while others found healing to be elusive.

A beautiful book full of emotion and sentiment. The characters stand out and the setting's details are rich and absorbing. A delightful read.

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.

This is a book to buy for yourself and all your friends, to treasure and to reread. It’s not even the kind of genre I usually read, but I was absolutely entranced by it and was in tears at the end.

I’ve seen books described as immersive, an adjective I have never used, but I think that’s the best word to describe this novel. I was totally absorbed and immersed in the world created by Caroline Scott.

The novel takes place in 1923. Esme, a war widow and lady’s companion, accompanies her strait-laced employer to her brother Gilbert’s bohemian house in Cornwall. Gilbert, broken by his experiences during the First World War, finds salvation in buying a house in Cornwall and providing a refuge and a haven for those men in his company who were traumatised by the conflict. He names the house Espérence. Here, the men can recover from trauma through friendship, kindness, the joy of creativity and the restorative powers of nature. Esme’s life is also transformed in ways she (and the reader!) could never have predicted.

The landscape, the sea and the flora and fauna of Cornwall are beautifully and lyrically bought to life in absolutely stunning descriptions.

The novel deals so movingly with transformation after trauma that I would describe it as a life-enhancing read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon&Schuster for an ARC.

I'm a huge fan of the author and was thrilled to read her latest novel.

Esme Nicholls's life is not how she imagined it to be. Her husband died fighting in the war and she's had to be a working woman, rather than a wife and mother and although she likes her job she dreams of other things. When the chance comes up to visit her employer's brother Gilbert and his rambling house and gardens in Cornwall she reckons she'll have time to find out more about her Alec and his childhood seeing as he was brough up nearby.

What she doesn't expect is that Gilbert has thrown his home open to his brothers in arms and its therefore home to an eccentric cast of artists, all of whom I loved to read about. A friend of the men arrives to spend a few days and it turns Esme's world upside down and inside out...

It's a summer where Esme learns who she is and guided by new friend Rory opens up to new experiences and starts really living. I absolutely loved the story and characters. It's a beautiful read.

For the third time, Caroline Scott has produced a book of the most exceptional beauty – and one so stunning that I have no idea how I can possibly find the words to capture it in a review.

It’s 1923, and seven years since Esme Nicholls lost her husband Alec in the Great War. Their time together was brief, but it was an extraordinary love affair – her great sadness at his loss and her status of widowhood is central to her being – and also forced changes in her circumstances, first working as gardener and then as live-in housekeeper and companion, also writing a newspaper column as their nature correspondent. She finds herself spending the summer in Cornwall, staying with her employer’s brother and the group of damaged ex-soldiers who have made Espérance their home – and, as her husband was originally from Penzance, it also offers her the opportunity to feel closer to the landscape that shaped him, and to find out more about his childhood.

The characterisation in this book is quite exceptional. Esme herself is enveloped in her sadness – everything about her echoes her loss, the dark colours she wears, her attachment to convention, the solace she finds only in the beauty of nature – but there are glimpses of the independent and vibrant young woman she used to be. Through the course of the book and the unexpected twists and turns of the story, she shows extraordinary strength and resilience and slowly rediscovers that vibrancy and sense of fun – it was a sheer joy to see her blossom once more. But the individuals of Espérance are equally fascinating – their camaraderie forged through the most difficult of times, their separate fragilities hidden beneath their eccentricities, their air of bonhomie and their bohemian lives.

The story is told from Esme’s perspective, but interspersed with the nature articles she continue to write – and also passages from an unpublished book, an account of his wartime experiences, written by Rory, one of the band of brothers with whom she develops an attachment that I found both moving and enchanting. Through the pages of that book, Esme hopes to find some understanding, some insight into the experiences that her husband lived through – and she most certainly does, along with developing a deeper knowledge of the horror and immense sadness that drew the individuals together and some of the moments that left an indelible mark on Rory himself.

The writing is ineffably beautiful – particularly in the way it draws on the natural world, the weather and the way it changes both the scenery and the mood, the way it provides solace, the small details of birds and flowers, those splashes of beauty and colour that the author always captures so well. And on an emotional level, I can hardly tell you how very deeply this book made me feel – it’s an entirely compelling story, powerful in its impact, poignant and desperately moving. I loved every single moment – and, once more, I just have to say that the author has produced one of the very best books I’ve had the pleasure of reading this year.

Caroline Scott has done it again!! Created a storyline and characters that captivate and affect you emotionally as you connect with their plight and watch the drama unfold as they try to make sense of the world, and do their best to move on.

Set in 1923 Cornwall, this is the story of Esme who is looking to try and come to terms with the grief she feels after losing her husband in the Great War. She comes to the area as that is where he grew up, and she wants to see if that will help her. She stays amongst a group of artists/soldiers who are all dealing with their own pain and suffering, but the community brings them some peace and comfort.

What stuck me most about this book was the link with nature. There are so many mentions that it just brings the surroundings to life and that healing feeling that only nature can bring to a soul.

One of the soldiers she meets is Rory, and he deals with his past by writing about it and that not only helps him, but helps Esme too as she reads his experiences of the war to help her connect with her husband.

The connection with nature is there again as you read about his experiences in the war - at times it feels like they're on a birdwatching break, but it cleverly shows that by them noticing the nature around them, helps them to cope with the brutality of war that they are facing on a daily basis. It makes them feel more human - they're just young men who have been sent off to be part of something so horrific and totally alien to the normal side of human behaviour. Watching the local wildlife helps them detach.

Esme is then rocked by a mystery visitor arriving in the area and you get the sense that maybe the past will never leave her, despite her desire to try and move on with her life.

This was a beautifully written story set over a few different timelines that blend seamlessly. The connection between characters was wonderfully touching and I adored it!!

Absolutely loved this beautifully written story of love, loss, grief, trauma, identity and friendship. Esme is a young war widow struggling seven years after the death of her husband. Now a lady’s companion, she visits her employer’s brother’s home in Cornwall in preparation for a summer there. It’s a bohemian respite to a group of men bonded by their experiences in the war. The book’s descriptions of their surrounding are exquisitely drawn and each character is superbly observed. Not just one but two completely unexpected twists shake Esme to the core and lead her to question everything.

I fell in love with the cover and then I fell in love with the plot. Each Caroline Scott's book is a treat as the author is a talented storyteller and her story about women and men after WWI are always emotionally charged, poignant and riveting.
I loved this one since the first pages: the characters, the descriptions and the emotions were so real that you could feel them.
It's a great story and, being a keen gardener, I loved Esme and the gardening parts.
A well written and moving story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Esme Nicholls is still grieving the loss of her husband whose death in WW1 has left her not only with a lasting legacy of sadness, but also a desperate need to put the lost pieces of her husband back together. On the advice of her employer, Esme spends a summer at Espérance, a house in Cornwall, ostensibly to discover more about the area her husband grew up in, but, whilst there, she gets to know the group of ex-soldiers, who make Espérance their home.

The Visitors is a poignant and compelling story about surviving great loss, not just the loss of a life partner but also the loss of self which has been brought about by experiencing, and surviving, great psychological trauma. Set some years after the end of the war there is still a noticeable burden of sorrow carried by those who survived what they had seen, and experienced, in Northern France. This eclectic band of brothers, all survivors of the Great War, hide their troubles behind an air of bravado and glorious eccentricities and even as they shield their sadness under cloaks of respectability, their hidden horrors are all too evident.

Thoughtfully written, and meticulously researched, detailed aspects of the war come through in poignant snippets of a memoir written by Rory, a gentle soul, whose trauma runs deep and whose burgeoning friendship with Esme is sensitively expressed. Esme herself is quietly introspective, her sense of loss is palpable and yet, when needed, she shows such utter strength of character that it quite broke my heart to see her diminished by a set of circumstances she could never have imagined.

Beautifully reminiscent of a fractured time in history, the gentle eloquence of the novel shines through with every well written word as, once again, this talented story teller gives us a powerful and poignant story which shines the spotlight on human frailty, the horror of war, and its devastating aftermath.

The Visitors by Caroline Scott

I’ve been a huge fan of Caroline Scott’s last two novels and share an interest in the historical period following WW1. This novel touches upon some of the most important issues of the period, while telling a story that touches the heart strings and holds some surprises for the reader. It shows just how chaotic relationships can become during and post wartime, as well as how much people change when faced with terrible and traumatic experiences. We follow one young war widow called Esme whose whole life changed after she received news that her husband Alec had been killed. No longer able to afford to live in their marital home and needing to find work, Esme finds herself in the employment of a Mrs Pickering as companion and helper, while also writing nature columns for her local newspaper. As the summer of 1923 approaches Esme is packing her employer’s clothes for a trip down to Cornwall. Mrs Pickering’s brother Gilbert, has established an artist’s residence in his large country house, and the artists have all served together in the war. As Esme meets Gilbert, Rory and the others she hopes to get an insight into what Alec might have experienced and maybe feel closer to him. What she finds there is certainly transformative, but in a very different way.

Esme is a very likeable character. She’s intelligent, resourceful and has really struggled to pick herself up again from nothing. She’s had no support system to help in her grief or her financial difficulties, in fact this is something she and Alec had in common, they were each other’s family. The author tells us this story in three separate narratives and each gives us a new perspective on the characters. Alongside the main narrative in which we follow Esme to Cornwall, we read the nature column she writes and it’s sublime in its descriptions of this place she’s visiting for the first time. We can see what a talented writer Esme is and how much nature means to her. I kept thinking how lovely these passages will sound on audiobook, almost like poetry. The observations she makes made me feel Cornwall again and in quite an emotional way considering I first visited there almost fifteen years ago when I was newly widowed. I felt like Esme’s Cornwall and mine were the same. I remember consciously walking round thinking that this was the first new memory I was making without my husband and Cornwall’s beauty seemed to make that even more poignant. The third narrative is a book written by Rory, one of Gilbert’s residents and close friend, in which he describes his experience of fighting in France. I was interested in the way he also describes nature as a blighted landscape, ruined by the ravages of warfare. There are vivid descriptions that will stay with me, such as the corruption of the very soil from it constantly being churned up, contaminated by mustard gas and almost viscous in it’s consistency. Rory ponders whether this land would recover and how long it would take nature to return. It shows us the utter destruction caused and creates a link between the land the war was fought on and the men who fought it; how long might it take them to recover from the terrible things they have seen and done?

The author depicts PTSD in all of the men who live together in Cornwall, they are all affected by their experiences but in different ways. There’s a vulnerability to them and a need to be with others who have shared their experiences. How else can they be understood and allowed to heal without the pressures of having to find work and cope with the demands of returning to a family. They are each very lucky have Gilbert and this idyllic setting to slowly recover in. Although each must have another life, one that they belonged to pre-war, potentially leaving behind people who needed or might have asked something of them. It places them in a slightly privileged position over those who had returned to full-time work by necessity, either belonging to a different class or having a family to support. Rory’s book is also beautifully written, but doesn’t hold back from the horrors these men have seen. His descriptions are both vivid and visceral, and through reading his book Esme gains more understanding of these men than a lot of women would have at the time. How many times do we hear of war veterans who have kept all of this bottled-up inside with family member’s noting they didn’t like to talk about it much. At least here the men have a therapeutic outlet, whether by painting or writing, through which to understand or process these memories, but also communicate them to others without having to say them outright.

All of this would have been enough for a great novel, but the author also places a huge surprise part way through that I hadn’t expected. Through this we see the strength and restraint of Esme, the way she thinks things through before acting and never puts her own needs first. She needs a therapeutic outlet too, showing how the initial effect of war on the person who served ripples outwards to effect their loved ones and even future generations. Just as the land needs time to recover from the physical effects of warfare, there is a shockwave created that blasts through society as a whole. We are shown: how rigid Edwardian class structures are broken down; how marriage as an institution and way of constructing society is outdated and broken; how gender roles become more fluid allowing women more freedom and choice. I really did enjoy seeing how Esme negotiates this new world and makes bold choices for her life moving forwards. This book is another triumph for the author, because it’s a beautiful piece of historical fiction that tries to capture a moment in time where everything’s in flux. These constantly shifting sands of time show us the formation of our 20th Century and the resilience of the human spirit. It gave this reader hope that, just as nature found a way and those battlefields are now meadows and farmland, humans do have the capacity to heal and be reborn.

Appearing as part of the blog tour through Random Things Tours on 14th December

Esme Nichols is to spend the summer in Cornwall. Her late husband Alec, who died fighting in the war, grew up in Penzance, and she's hoping to learn more about the man she loved and ,lost. While there, she will stay with Gilbert in his rambling seaside house, where she lives with former brothers in arms. Esme is fascinated by the community of eccentric artists and former soldiers, as she gets to know the men and their stories, she begins to feel this summer might be exactly what she needs.

What an emotional read this book is. The former brothers in arms that are staying with Gilbert are all suffering from PTSD. The story is set five years after the end of the great war. A beautifully poignant story. I loved this book.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #SimonSchuster and the author #CarolineScott for my ARC of #TheVisitors in exchange for an honest review.

Esme Nicholls is to spend the summer in Cornwall. Her late husband Alec, who died fighting in the war, grew up in Penzance, and she’s hoping to learn more about the man she loved and lost.


While there, she will stay with Gilbert, in his rambling seaside house, where he lives with his former brothers in arms. Esme is fascinated by this community of eccentric artists and former soldiers, and as she gets to know the men and their stories, she begins to feel this summer might be exactly what she needs.


But everything is not as idyllic as it seems – a mysterious new arrival later in the summer will turn Esme’s world upside down, and make her question everything she thought she knew about her life, and the people in it.

A delightful read