Ebook: 385 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Harper Collins, 11 Sep 2025
Source: NetGalley
First Sentence: Alex quickened the pace because a tube train was due in two minutes, according to her app.
Review Quote: ‘A moving story of a young woman finding herself with the help of a Welsh farm’ Katie Fforde
My Opinion:
Clare Balding is better known to me as a TV presenter, it was this fact that drew me to read 'Pastures New' which is her first adult fiction novel.
The storyline is about the consequences of a young woman, Alex, receiving an inheritance quite unexpectedly from someone she has never even heard of before now. She has inherited a sheep farm in Wales, that is running at a loss and is in a bad state of repair. To make it worse there is a clause in the will that states she cannot sell the farm within the first five years. How does she cope?
Disappointingly I did not find the story particularly inspiring, however it is a warm hearted one. A perfect novel to curl up with on a wet and miserable Autumn day.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read and review.
Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:
Alex has perfected the art of dodging responsibility during her almost 40 years – until an unexpected letter turns her life upside down.
She’s inherited a crumbling sheep farm in wildest, wettest Wales. This was not her life plan. Not at all.
Now, her closest companion is a stubborn Welsh terrier, she’s speed-reading The Idiot’s Guide to Farming, and her arrival has set the village gossip mill spinning. With the farm near collapse, Alex sets out to uncover the truth behind her mysterious inheritance.
But as secrets surface, Alex finds her heart pulling her in a direction she never saw coming.
Will she pack her bags – or has she landed exactly where she’s meant to be?
Author Profile
Courtesy of Amazon
Biography in her own words from Amazon Profile:
Hello! Clare Balding here. Thank you so much for visiting my Amazon author page. You may know me from my broadcasting, including the Olympics and Wimbledon, but I’m also a writer – I grew up reading everything I could lay my hands on, in between riding horses and playing with dogs, and went into journalism after university. My autobiography, My Animals and Other Family, won Autobiography of the Year, and since then I’ve written non-fiction and a series for children. Encouraged by Jilly Cooper, whom I interviewed, I eventually plucked up the courage to turn my hand to fiction, with my debut novel, Pastures New. Do let me know what you think.
Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:
Instagram Profile Twitter Profile. Facebook Profile. Amazon Author Page