Hubble Bubble

Christina Jones

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

'Hubble bubble, toil and trouble, Casserole burn and intrigues double.'

Mitzi Blessing is on the scrapheap at 55: forced into a very early retirement, a lifetime of organising the church flower rota and making cricket teas seems to loom gloomily ahead of her. With her two daughters seemingly happily settled, Mitzi is determined not to dwindle quietly into serene old age and sets about organising and revitalising Hazy Hassocks, the small rural community she has lived in all her life. However, with the discovery of her grandmother's cookery book in the attic, life for Mitzi and her friends and family starts to get very interesting.

Full of old-fashioned recipes with enchanting names like Wishes Come True Pie, Mischief Night Cake, and Powers of Persuasion Pudding - Granny's dishes provide a nourishing meal, but they also seem to have some very surprising side effects indeed.

Review by Chrissi (270909) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 8/10
Hubble bubble toil and trouble is not really an apt phrase to describe this book, it really is neither toil nor trouble to read such a delightful story. Once again, Christina Jones has crafted an affectionate tale of life in a small village, where everyone’s lives are intertwined. When Mitzi retired from working in the bank, she found herself rather adrift from her rigorously organised workaday life, like so many people too young to consider themselves as having nothing left yet to offer.

Mitzi and her family, with her eccentric but lovable neighbours ( I particularly liked Lobelia and Lavender, the two old ladies with their bicycle helmets) make for a lovely story, an antidote to any cynical thoughts that you may previously have been entertaining. There are no dark deeds or deep jealousies and it will make you smile. It really is just joyous, light and bubbly like an aero. Well, chocolate makes you feel that way too, doesn’t it? The literary equivalent of a chocolate mousse I suppose - can’t say better than that!
Chrissi (27th September 2009)