Gabriel’s Bay is a fictional amalgam of several small New Zealand towns. In the first chapter of the book we are introduced to the residents by the local restaurant owner’s dog. Catherine Robertson’s witty prose keeps the story flowing between various perspectives, including Kerry, a British IT specialist who applies for a job as a live-in housekeeper, Mac, the ageing doctor’s sharp-as-a-whip receptionist, and Sidney, a struggling single mother of two active boys.

The other characters are Madison, an eight-year-old girl with neglectful parents, Bernard Weston, a man still in love with his high school sweetheart (who’s also Kerry’s new employer) and Sam, a teenager exploring his last summer without adult responsibilities. It is through these last three characters that the more substantial plot directions emerge.

Kerry comes to the small community to turn over a new leaf. He has an idea for a new attraction to revitalise the tourism trade and make Gabriel’s Bay flourish again. In the meantime, he falls in love and has to decide if he is ready for another relationship after his last ended at the altar. The repartee between Kerry and Sidney is delightful, sometimes causing me to laugh out loud. The insight into their individual minds as they examine their feelings towards each other was very realistic.

My only criticism is that the author sometimes skipped over what may be considered important parts of the plot, choosing to have them explained in retrospect by her characters.

On the surface, this delightfully funny novel appears light and fluffy but don’t be deceived, it contains an underbelly of realistic community drama that thankfully doesn’t descend into the caricature of a small community it could so easily have done.

Reviewed by Esther Perry