I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide me review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
This is the third book in the trilogy. I haven't read the first 2 but there is enough detail in this novel to ensure understanding of the past events and how they have impacted upon the characters, although there are a lot of characters so it took me a while to get used to the relationships. I thought the events of the war and their impact upon the women remaining at home were clearly described and I enjoyed the narrative style. I thought the number of illegitimate children and amount of adultery that had occurred was a bit unrealistic for the time but this was the only part of the plot that did not ring true for me. I have added this author to those I follow on Amazon and Bookbub after reading this novel

Spindrift House 1914. Cornwall is facing war. The second in the spindrift trilogy. A good family drama. Written beautifully which almost made me feel I was there
Can’t wait for number three.

Letting in the Light by Charlotte Betts is the final book of the Spendrift Trilogy and does not disappoint. It continues the story of Edith, her horrible husband and the Spindrift artists’ community.
The story is beautifully written with sensitivity and addresses some of the horrors of the Great War and how the characters and their relationships are changed by it.
I’m disappointed that I’ve reached the end of the Spendrift story and look forward to reading more by Charlotte Betts.

Wow … this was the perfect ending to an amazing trilogy.

I have been captivated with these stories from the beginning. To now read the once children as adults feels like I have watched them grow personally.

The ending did not disappoint and left my heart feeling fuzzy!

Edith Fairchild's good-for-nothing husband, Benedict, deserted her when their children were babies. Now the children are almost adult, Edith and Pascal, her faithful lover of two decades, are planning to leave their beloved Spindrift artists' community and finally be together.

But an explosive encounter between Benedict and Pascal forces old secrets into the light, causing rifts in the happiness and security of the community. Then an assassin's bullet fired in faraway Sarajevo sets in motion a chain of events that changes everything.

Under the shadow of war, the community struggles to eke out a living. The younger generation enlist or volunteer to support the war effort, facing dangers that seemed unimaginable in the golden summer of 1914.

When it's all over, will the Spindrift community survive an unexpected threat? And will Edith and Pascal ever be able to fulfil their dream?
Fantastic ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Award-winning author Charlotte Betts brings her Spindrift trilogy to a close with Letting In The Light, an emotionally satisfying, wonderfully evocative and beautifully written historical novel readers cannot help but fall in love with.

Edith Fairchild’s life had been turned on its head when she had been deserted by her husband Pascal and left to bring up their children on her own. The odds might have been stacked against her, but Edith had persevered and done her utmost not to let Benedict’s betrayal quell her spirit and ruin her life. Although fate had dealt her a bad hand, Benedict’s desertion had enabled her to meet the true love of her life and she has lived happily with her beloved Pascal in the artists’ community of Spindrift for the last two decades.

Now that the children have grown up, Edith can finally look to the future and to being with Pascal. However, an explosive encounter between Benedict and Pascal could end up putting paid to all of Edith’s hopes and dreams as dangerous secrets come to light that could end up jeopardising their beloved Cornish community. Worse, in 1914, the gathering clouds of war are fast approaching causing seismic shifts all around the world.

As the war casts dark shadows over everybody’s lives, the community at Spindrift finds itself struggling and fighting to survive and thrive. As the younger generation goes off to war in order to do its duty for king and country, Edith wonders whether she will ever be able to fulfill her most cherished dream of being with Pascal or whether their love will end up yet another casualty of this cruel war…

Charlotte Betts’ Letting In The Light is a vivid, captivating and enjoyable historical tale of love, loss, courage and sacrifice written straight from the heart that I was completely mesmerized by. Charlotte Betts is a terrific storyteller with a gift for creating stories that immediately capture her readers’ imagination.

Edith is an inspirational heroine who is brave, valiant and intelligent whom I couldn’t help but care for. Her love story with Pascal is one that tugs at the heartstrings and will have readers reaching for the tissues and hoping against hope that a better future beckons for the two of them.

It is impossible not to fall under Charlotte Betts’ spell and with Letting In The Light, this very gifted writer has once again written a first class historical novel that will stay with me for a very long time.

I was so glad to return to spendthrift and meet my old friends, Edith and Pascal again.

The conclusion of this trilogy doesn’t disappoint. The writing is warm and evocative and you can imagine the beautiful scenery as you read, settling into the family as if you were one of them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will look for more of this authors work. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this trilogy which follows the fortunes of those who live and work at Spindrift House in Cornwall. In this last book in the series we pick up the community in 1914 when the country is on the cusp of war and great events are about to take place, some of which will change the occupants of Spindrift House forever.

In Letting in the Light we meet the familiar characters who make this lovely corner of Cornwall their home and once again Edith is continuing to support the community at Spindrift however, with rumblings of war, her children feel it is their patriotic duty to protect King and country, something which will bring its share of heartbreak for all of them. Throughout the story there is a great sense of the Spindrift women keeping everything afloat, especially when their wartime experiences start to reveal their personal strengths. Edith's resilience is sorely tested but as always she finds great comfort in her relationship with Pascal especially when old secrets, once again, threaten the stability of all those who love Spindrift House.

As this is the last book in the trilogy there is a sense of the righting of wrongs and there may well be a worthy comeuppance for some, however, with the loose threads woven together so beautifully the whole of the Spindrift canvas finally comes together in a wonderfully depicted snapshot of a bygone era.

I was delighted to return again to Edith, Benedict and all the inhabitants of Spindrift, the artists’ community in Cornwall that had been brilliantly created by Charlotte Betts in the first two novels in the trilogy, ‘The Light Within Us’ and ‘The Fading of the Light’. I had very much enjoyed both of those novels, and this, the final instalment in the lives of the characters I’d come to know so well, didn’t disappoint.

The stories that had begun in the first two novels reach their conclusion here, against the background of the Great War. It isn’t necessary, though, for readers to have read the first two books as Betts skilfully gives the reader sufficient information to understand the dilemmas facing each of the characters, and the motivation for the actions of each.

The historical period leading up to WW1, and during the war itself, is brought alive through the development of the inhabitants of Spindrift, and through the way in which they face the changes that confront them over the years. Inevitably in a wartime situation, some of the children, now grown up, leave the community to play their part in the war, be it as ambulance drivers in London or in a hospital, and their stories give vivid insights into the wartime situation.

And the lives of those such as Edith, who stays at Spindrift facing a daily struggle to keep Spindrift going during wartime privations, and forever in the malevolent shadow of Benedict, are also a fascinating focus, and one which takes on a new dimension when Spindrift becomes a convalescent home.

Throughout the novel, as with the other two books, the central conflict between Edith and the ghastly Benedict, and the enduring love between Edith and Pascal, absorb the reader. In ‘Letting in the Light’, they come to a dramatic, and very moving, climax, which brings the trilogy to a highly satisfying conclusion.

I strongly recommend this beautifully written novel.

I’m grateful to NetGalley for a copy of the book, but this has in no way influenced my review.

The Spindriff Saga was a travel through times and the I was glad to meet again the characters and read about their life in another time.
Benedict is the perfect villain, Edith the strong matriarch. The historical background, the war and the impact on everyone life, the changes and the events in everyone life.
I was glad to read this series and I thoroughly enjoyed it as it's well told and the characters are fleshed out.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine