A Life Without You by Katie Marsh

It's Zoe's wedding day. She's about to marry Jamie, the love of her life, when a phone call brings new that her mum Gina has been arrested. Zoe must make an impossible decision: should she leave her own wedding to help?

Zoe hasn't seen Gina for years, blaming her for the secret that she's been running from ever since she was sixteen. Now, Gina is back in her life, but she's very different to the mum Zoe remembers. Gina is losing her memory.

As she struggles to cope with Gina's illness, can Zoe face up to the terrible events of years ago and find her way back to the people she loves?

A Life Without You is a stirring and poignant novel about the power of the past - and the possibilities of the future. 

A Life Without You by Katie Marsh is published on 14 July 2016 in paperback by Hodder and is the author's second novel. I read and reviewed her first book, My Everything, here on Random Things in December last year.


Last year I was absolutely thrilled by Katie Marsh's first novel, My Everything. It is a story that has stayed with me ever since and I've been so looking forward to reading her new novel, but just a little nervous too .... what if I didn't love it as much?

Author Miranda Dickenson said that My Everything was 'devastatingly good'. It is, and so is A Life Without You; it's a story that will evoke every emotion that lurks within your heart and pull each string firmly. Devastating is the perfect word, yet it is also beautiful and passionate and exquisitely written.

Two stories blended into one told with ease. There's the unfolding drama of Zoe and her 'almost wedding' with Jamie, the love of her life, her rock and soulmate. There's also the story of Zoe's life, told through letters written by her mother Gina, starting on her first birthday, right through to the present day.

The story opens as Zoe is preparing to marry Jamie, when she receives the phone call that will change the course of her life, readers can't help but wonder why she decides to abandon the fabulous Jamie and rush off to help her mother who she hasn't seen for years. There are clues that Zoe wasn't completely sure that marrying Jamie was the right thing to do though, and the phone call becomes a way out for her. It also opens up the box of memories stored within her heart that are painful and distressing and hard to handle.

A Life Without You is a warm and witty, yet at times it is harrowing and ferociously sad. Gina's steady descent into the grip of early-onset Alzheimer's is portrayed with thoughtful sensitivity, yet does not shy away from the painful realities that Gina, Zoe and their extended friends and family have to face.

Katie Marsh has expertly captured the effects that dementia has on Gina, and the terrifying and devastating ripple effect that cause so much pain and heartbreak to her loved ones. The flashes of recognition from Gina that gradually diminish; the hopelessness felt by Zoe; the feelings of anger and of sadness.

The complexities of the mother and daughter relationship are examined and the damage that can be caused, long-term by events of the past and how they are handled are at the forefront of the story, Once the reader discovers the hurts and assumed betrayals from the past, they can go back to the first chapter and understand why Zoe took the decision that she did.

I am beginning to run out of words of praise for A Life Without You, and I want everyone to go out and buy a copy, and read it. It is absolutely wonderful.

My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.

Katie lives in south-west London with her family. Before being published she worked in healthcare, and her novels are inspired by the bravery of the people she met in hospitals and clinics across the country.
Her first novel, My Everything, was picked by The Evening Standard as one of the hottest summer debuts of 2015, and her second, A Life Without You is out on 15 July 2015.
She loves strong coffee, the feel of a blank page and stealing her husband's toast.
When not writing she spends her time in local parks trying and failing to keep up with her daughter's scooter.

For more information about Katie, visit her website www.katie-marsh.com
Find her Author page on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter @marshisms

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Buy Buy Baby by Helen MacKinven #BlogTour

What price tag would you put on a baby?

Set in and around Glasgow, Buy Buy Baby is a moving and funny story of life, loss and longing.

Packed full of bitchy banter, if follows the bittersweet quest of two very different women united by the same desire - they desperately want a baby.

Carol talks to her dog, has an expensive eBay habit and relies on wine to forget she's no longer a mum following the death of her young son.

Cheeky besom Julia is career-driven and appears to have it all. But after disastrous attempts ate internet dating, she feels there is a baby-shaped hole in her life.

In steps Dan, a total charmer with a solution to their problems.

But only if they are willing to pay the price, on every level ...... 

Buy Buy Baby by Helen MacKinven was published by Cranachan Publishing on 7 July 2016 and is the author's second novel. Her first, The Talk of the Toun was published in October last year.


Buy Buy Baby is a sharp and witty story that deals with some emotional issues. I haven't read Helen MacKinven's first novel, but I follow her on social media and I like her!  I'm really happy to host her Blog Tour for Buy Buy Baby today.

The two central characters, Julia and Carol share a dream. They both want to become a mother, and that's all that they really have in common.

Carol was a mother, she isn't any more.
Her young son died and she spends her days talking to his dog Jinky, talking to women in a similar situation in online forums and spending too much money on eBay ... whilst drinking wine.


Julia is single-minded, with a great job, but not a lot of money. She's had a string of dates with guys she's met through internet dating sites. She recounts the gory details of her encounters to her friends, appearing to laugh along with them, but it's clear that inside, she is being to feel desperate.

Carol's story is told largely in the form of her journal, and this works really well, enabling the reader to learn more about her, and her background. Helen MacKinven gets right to the heart of Carol's sorrow as her words tumble on to the pages, to be read by nobody, and so so personal.

Along comes Dan, the guy who appears to be the answer to their prayers, but don't be fooled.

Buy Buy Baby is a modern, up-to-date novel, written with wit and perception. The author deals elegantly with issues that are discomforting at times, but she does it with incredible understanding and compassion. It is quite a gift to incorporate humour alongside darkness without appearing to undermine the importance of the themes of the story.

This is a well plotted story with characters who are vibrant and brilliantly drawn and I love the humour and the essence of Glasgow that is central.  However, I do struggle with dialect and although not all of the dialogue is written this way, some of it it. This is purely a personal thing, something that is my failing as a reader, and certainly not a criticism of this clever author, lets face it, dialect hasn't done any harm to the career of Irvine Welsh and lots of readers love it. I do think that it's worth mentioning though, but don't let it put you off .. please.

Stylish, imaginative and witty, Buy Buy Baby comes with a recommendation from me.

My thanks to the author and publisher who sent my copy for review and invited me to take part in the blog tour.

Helen MacKinven writes contemporary Scottish fiction and graduated with merit from Stirling University with an MLitt in Creative Writing in 2012.
Her short stories have appeared in a number of anthologies and literary journals such as Gutter magazine.
Helen's debut novel Talk of the Toun was published by Thunderpoint in 2015.

For more information about Helen and her writing, visit www.helenmackinven.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter @HelenMacKinven

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Lying In Wait by Liz Nugent #BlogTour #MyLifeInBooks

A mother's love can be murder.

Lydia Fitzsimons lives in the perfect house with her adoring husband and beloved son. However, there is one thing Lydia desperately yearns for to make her perfect family complete, and nothing can stop this mother from getting what she wants ....

This is a dark, twisty and utterly gripping domestic noir that you won't be able to put down from the author hailed as Ireland's answer to Gillian Flynn. 

Lying In Wait by Liz Nugent is published by Penguin on 14th July 2016 and is the author's second novel. I read and reviewed her debut, Unravelling Oliver on Random Things in March 2014.

I'm honoured to be taking part in the Blog Tour for Lying In Wait, you can read my thoughts about the book and the author has joined me to share with us a list of the books that have inspired her, for her My Life In Books.

Liz Nugent's first book, Unravelling Oliver is a huge favourite of mine. I was hoping and praying that her next book would be another thrilling story, and I'm delighted to say that it certainly is.

This author doesn't ease her readers gently into her stories, just like the first line of her first book, this one opens with a bang too

"My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it."

What an absolute hook! Believe me, it doesn't stop there, Lying In Wait is one of those books that is incredibly difficult to put down, and when you are away from it, you will be itching to get back to it. The characters and the plot consumed me, never far from my thoughts and constantly surprising me.

Told in three voices; Lydia Fitzsimons, her son Laurence and Karen, the sister of murdered Annie Doyle and set in 1980, this is an incredibly effective technique and allows the reader more insight into the characters and the story.

Lying In Wait is not a detective story. The reader knows from that amazing opening line that Annie Doyle is dead, and who killed her. No, this is a chilling, thrilling psychological story that has twists, turns and shocks reverberating throughout.

Not since Barbara from Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal, have I come to detest a female character so much, but oh my goodness, Lydia is wonderful. Liz Nugent has created a monster so vivid, so unbearably unsettling, yet appearing so vulnerable and frail. Lydia is a joy to discover, although her thoughts, words and her actions make the blood run cold at times.

I could talk about Lydia for hours, but the other lead characters are just as mesmerising in their own way. Laurence is an oddity; pampered, spoilt, obese, he's been the only son of parents who adore him. Despite this, he does want to be his own person and as he ages and lurches through adolescence and into adulthood, he questions his heritage, and strikes out on his own.

Karen is feisty and strong. Left distraught by her sister's disappearance, she makes mistakes in life but is basically a good, honest and loyal character who embraces affection, even when it comes from the wrong type of person.

Tightly plotted and excellently paced, Lying In Wait is absolutely gripping. The writing is excellent, the surprises never stop. It is unnerving and irresistible, dark with a devastating twist.

Absolute genius. I loved every single word.

My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review and for inviting me to take part in the Blog Tour.

My Life In Books ~ Liz Nugent

The Shoe Shop Bears by Margaret J Baker  This was the first book I bought with my own money while on a family holiday in Kerry when I was about six years old. I no longer wanted books with pictures because I felt there wasn't enough story in them. There were just a few illustrations in this book but it was a really beautiful magical story about some teddy bears that lived in a shoe shop and the girl that befriended them.

Malory Towers by Enid Blyton  I devoured these books in school. They didn't have the complete set in the library but they did in the school's sanitarium so I used to feign illness so that I could lie in bed and read more of these books.

Dreams of Leaving by Rupert Thomson  I read this while recuperating from an accident in 1988. I have never read anything like it in my life before or since. Highly original and beautifully written, the story of Moses who was born into a police state and smuggled out by his parents has stayed with me ever since. I'm a sucker for stories about orphans.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt  A dear friend came to visit me in San Francisco in 1999 and left behind this book as a gift. It totally absorbed me. A boy desperately trying to fit in with people he felt were socially superior to him. And of course, they are all ghastly - and - they get away with murder, though it almost destroys them all. That sowed the seeds for me. I think the whydunnit tag was created for that book.

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb  I came across this when touring as a stage manager across America with Riverdance. The opening chapter grabbed me and as the story unfolded, it never let go. This was a book stuffed full of incident on every page and multi-layered characters so damaged by life that it was impossible not to become emotionally involved with them.

Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes  Marian Keyes can find hilarity in the darkest of situations without ever losing the humanity of characters at their most vulnerable. This story of a young woman entering rehab for drug and alcohol addiction is funny, touching and uniquely courageous. I read it at a time in my life when I was quite lonely and it meant a lot.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry  This book is a masterpiece in its epic understanding and exploration of human nature and the depths of suffering (you'd need to read a Marian Keyes book straight afterwards). I'm almost scared to re-read it because I was so devastated by it. I think everyone should read it, but just once.

The Book of Evidence by John Banville  I first read this when it was published in 1991 and thought it excellent. I wasn't surprised when it won the Booker prize. In 2001, I was working as a stage manager on a stage adaptation of the book and with very close repeated reading, the story became more and more real to me. A middle-class sociopath is an intriguing central character. I determined then, that if I was ever going to write a book, it would be about someone as flawed as Freddie Montgomery.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry  This is a relatively recent novel but I loved the way it played with the dual narrative of the elderly female patient and her doctor and the social commentary behind it which shows up the extraordinary power of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Love and betrayal are at the core of every great novel and this is a perfect example. 

Asking For It by Louise O'Neill  A thoroughly modern novel just published in 2015, this explores what it's like to be a teenager today in the age of social media and the prevailing patriarchy. It is a tough read for a YA book, but it is also a feminist manifesto for a new generation and should be required reading, particularly for teenage boys.

Thanks Anne for that pleasant trip down memory land to the books that have and are continuing to influence me and bring meaning to my life.

Liz Nugent ~ July 2016 

Liz Nugent has worked in Irish film, theatre and television for most of her adult life.

Her first novel, the No.1 bestselling Unravelling Oliver, won the Crime Fiction award in the 2014 Irish Book Awards.

She lives in Dublin with her husband.

Find out more about Liz Nugent, visit her website www.liznugent.ie

Follow her on Twitter @lizzienugent

One Summer In Venice by Nicky Pellegrino

'This isn't a mid-life crisis OK? For a start I'm not old enough yet to have one of those. I'm calling it a happiness project. I've stolen an entire summer from my life and by the time it's over I plan to leave this place with a list in my hand. The ten things that make me happy, that's all I want to know. How difficult can it be? They may be small things - a perfect cup of coffee, a day without rain - or bigger ones. It's still the beginning so how can I know?'

Addolorata Martinelli knows she should be happy. She has everything she thought she wanted - her own business, a husband, a child. So why does she feel as if something is missing? Then, when her restaurant, Little Italy, is slated by a reviewer, she realises that she's lost the one thing she thought she could always count on, her love of food.

So Addolorata heads to Venice for a summer alone, aiming to find the ten things that make her happy. Once she's found them, she'll construct a new life around her ten things, but will they include her life in London? 

One Summer in Venice by Nicky Pellegrino was published by Orion in paperback on 21 April 2016.

I have read four of Nicky Pellegrino's previous novels, they've become something of a holiday tradition for me.  I read this one whilst sitting in the sun on Corfu - the perfect location, even if it's not Italy!

This author always seems to fill her stories with wonderful locations and fabulous food, and One Summer in Venice is full of both, the fabulous Venetian setting combined with flavourful and mouth-watering descriptions of exquisite Italian food makes this book a winner for me!

Addolorata (or Dolly, as she's known as), has a seemingly wonderful life, with her handsome husband  Eden and her pretty daughter. She runs her family's restaurant Little Italy which was established by her father, and always successful. But the cracks are there, Dolly is tired. Her relationship with Eden has become strained since he was injured and unable to work, her daughter Katia shouts a lot and the day that esteemed and well-known food critic Guy Rochester visits Little Italy, and the resulting piece in his column really could finish her off. She's unhappy, she wants to be happy, but she's not sure what will make her happy.

Although she resists at first, Dolly accepts her sister's offer of a holiday in Venice. She decides that it's a real chance for her to look at her life, at what makes her happy, and to make changes. Dolly is entranced by Venice, by the food, the sights, the sounds and the people. It is one person in particular who really fascinates her. Her elderly neighbour Coco; flamboyant, dressed in many colours and expressing herself in dance. Coco and Dolly become closer, and Dolly falls into the world of dance, learning to Tango, and food .... the week passes, and Dolly doesn't return home. She decides to stay longer, she's finding out things about herself that surprise her and shock her, and she's also enjoying herself. She's Dolly, just Dolly whilst she's in Venice, with no responsibilities or worries.

Nicky Pellegrino writes with such authenticity, drawing on her own life to recreate the beauty of the Venetian streets, and the intricacies of Italian family life. I felt as though I were walking the streets alongside Dolly, as though I too were tasting the lovingly prepared food, and if though I were dancing the Tango under the stars of the Italian sky.

This is a story of friendship, of love, family and self discovery. Once more Nicky Pellegrino has delivered a delightful and absorbing read. Her fans will adore it.

My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy of One Summer in Venice for review.

Nicky Pellegrino was born in Liverpool but spent childhood summers staying with her family in southern Italy.  A shy, tall, gingery child she never really fitted in with her exuberant Italian cousins and had a tendency to stay quiet and observe things.

When Nicky started writing fiction it was her memories of those summers in Italy that came flooding back and flavoured her stories: the passions, the feuds but most of all the food.

Nicky now lives in Auckland, New Zealand with her husband Carne (and yes, she does find it slightly odd being married to a man whose name means 'meat' in Italian), two dogs and two horses.

She works as a freelance journalist, has a column in the Listener, and her novels are distributed in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and have been translated into 12 languages.

She loves cooking for friends, drinking red wine, walking on New Zealand's amazing beaches, riding her horse through the forest and lying in bed reading other people's novels.

For more information about Nicky, and her other novels, visit www.nickypellegrino.com

Find her Author page on Facebook

Follow her on Twitter @nickypellegrino

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The Judge's Wife by Ann O'Loughlin #BlogTour

Can love last forever?

With her whole life ahead of her, beautiful young Grace's world changes forever when she's married off to a much older judge.  Soon, feeling lonely and neglected, Grace meets and falls in love with an Indian doctor, Vikram. He's charming, thoughtful and kind, everything her husband is not. But this is the 1950s and when she becomes pregnant, the potential scandal must be harshly dealt with to avoid ruin.

A story spanning three decades, this is the moving tale of three women and how one great love changed their lives forever. 

The Judge's Wife by Ann O'Loughlin was published in paperback on 1 July 2016 by Black & White Publishing and is the author's second novel.  Her debut, The Ballroom Cafe was published in 2015.



The Judge's Wife is a story that really does pack a punch, it offers an insight into the terrible injustices carried out against innocent women in Ireland between the 1930s and 1950s. Although this is a fictional story, it is horrifying because we know that it could be true. These things really did happen, and not that long ago.


For me, The Judge's Wife is a story of two halves. The author has chosen to tell this story using three female lead characters; Grace, the judge's wife of the title; Emma the grown-up daughter of the judge and Rosa, the daughter of Vikram - the Indian doctor who stole Grace's heart all those years ago. Grace's story begins in 1954 as she is taken to Our Lady's Asylum in County Wicklow. Emma and Rosa's stories are told thirty years later in 1984.

I found, during the first 100 pages or so of the story, that it was quite difficult to keep up with the change from the 50s to the 80s and from Ireland to India.  I would have preferred longer chapters, so that I could engage a little more with each character. However, the strength of the story and of the emotional impact soon overrides any small criticism I had of the structure and I found myself caught up in the total injustice suffered by Grace and wondering just how any of these characters would ever find peace.

Grace is a wonderfully drawn character. An innocent, thrust into a world that is like nothing she has ever known, with no choices. Despite the wealth of her surroundings and the intellect of those who she associates with, Grace has a strength of character that will remain with her through some incredibly tragic and difficult times. She's like a breath of fresh air in a stuffy dusty room, and the author's descriptions of her fabulous 1950's wardrobe designed by the real-life Irish designer Sybil Connelly is delightful.

Life at Our Lady's Asylum was horrific for Grace and her fellow patients. Care is not a word that can be attributed to the people who held the keys, or the people who managed the Asylum. Ann O'Loughlin has captured the fears and the dreams of the women incarcerated within the walls of the building so well, these characters burst to life, and the reader will love them, and root for them.

The Judge's Wife is a powerful and moving story, very well written with characters that are fascinating and a central theme that is quite tragic.

My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.

Psychiatric care in Ireland - the issue at the heart of The Judge's Wife

Grace Moran, the central character in The Judge's Wife was one of the unclaimed left to languish in an Irish asylum; left there even though she did not have mental difficulties - her only sin to fall in love .....

Author Ann O'Loughlin says it is now time to shine a light on past psychiatric care in Ireland.

'The Irish Government should at the very least commission a full independent report on the mental hospital system. There has in Ireland been an acknowledgement in relation to abuse in industrial schools and the horror of the Magdalene Laundries but for those who were incarcerated and left unclaimed in mental hospitals, there has been nothing.' she said.

By 1966, Ireland was incarcerating a higher proportion of its people in mental hospitals than anywhere else in the world. It follows that very many of these people (21,000 at the height of the system) were not mentally ill but were locked up for what Ann believes were social, political and familial reasons.

It is believed that 11,000 people died every decade in Irish mental hospitals - that's 33,000 people between the 1930s and the 1950s. Many of them died because of neglect and insanitary conditions.

A leading journalist in Ireland for nearly thirty years, Ann O'Loughlin has covered all major news events of the last three decades. Ann spent most of her career with Independent Newspapers, where she was security correspondent at the height of the Troubles, and was a senior journalist on the Irish Independent and Evening Herald.
She is currently a senior journalist with the Irish Examiner newspaper; covering legal issues. Ann has also lived and worked in India.
Originally from the west of Ireland, she now lives on the east coast of Ireland with her husband and two children.

Find out more about Ann and her writing at annoloughlin.blogspot.co.uk 
Follow her on Twitter @annolwriter

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For The Last Time by Janet Kelly

Alan is serving the last few weeks of a life sentence for murder.

Alternate chapters narrate his current life and thoughts, interspersed with a history of Alan's life and what led him to do what he did.

For The Last Time follows Alan through his very difficult childhood, filled with abuse and poverty, and takes him through his first criminal activities, to gangs, and then to the event that led to his life time sentencing. 

For The Last Time by Janet Kelly was published by BB Fiction, an imprint of Bobaloo Books on 28 January 2016.  I read and reviewed the author's previous book, Dear Beneficiary on Random Things in March 2015.




For The Last Time is a gritty and powerful story told in the words of Alan, a convicted murderer who is sitting in his cell, contemplating his future and looking back over his life. Many authors have created characters who have murdered and are evil. Alan is not made from that mould. Here's a man who has spent much of his adult life time regretting his past. He's had time to think and to realise. He's broken.

Janet Kelly does not hide anything from the reader. She describes, in detail, the horrendous start that Alan had in life with his useless mother and the men that she brought home. Alan suffers dreadfully at their hands, his life of violence and neglect is chillingly observed and shockingly realistic.

Nobody thinks that a lifetime of abuse and neglect is an excuse to become a murderer, not even Alan. As he relates his story, and the circumstances that led him to the day that changed his life, and ruined a family for ever, the reader can understand, not condone, but understand how he came to this.


Janet Kelly writes with an incredible insight into the human psyche. Alan is a character who has committed the most terrible of crimes, yet she allows the reader to become attached to him, to see him as a human being.

The writing is sharp and precise, the characters are full of vulnerabilities and perfectly created. For The Last Time is at times, very blunt and quite vicious yet it is also fragile and delicate. Janet Kelly is a clever and compelling author, I enjoyed this story very much.

My thanks to the author who sent my copy for review.



Janet Kelly is a former journalist and author of the highly-acclaimed Dear Beneficiary.
She is the owner of freefeatures.co.uk

Janet's interests other than writing include cooking, golf, reading, travel and playing saxophone with the all female big band, The Fabulous Honeys. She has been a school governor and magistrate and enjoys being the maverick in all authoritarian organisations.

She gave up running marathons after her toenails came off half way through the London race -and has resigned herself to never being the type of person who gets up on a Sunday morning to go for ten mile jog.

Her inspiration for writing comes from an enjoyment of watching and understanding people, underlined by her qualifications as a Neuro Linguistic Programme (NLP) practitioner.

Follwe her on Twitter @JantyK

How To Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry #BlogTour

Nightingale Books, nestled on the high street in the idyllic Cotswold town of Peasebrook, is a dream come true for booklovers. But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop opne. The temptation to sell up is proving enormous - but what about the promise she made to her father? Not to mention the loyalty she owes to her customers.

Sarah Basildon, owner of stately home Peasebrook Manor, has used the bookshop as an escape from all her problems in the past few years. But is there more to her visits than meets the eye? Since messing up his marriage, Jackson asks Emilia for advice on books to read to the son he misses so much. But Jackson has a secret, and is not all he seems ...

And there's Thomasina, painfully shy, who runs a pop-up restaurant from her tiny cottage. She has a huge crush on a men she met and lost in the cookery section, somewhere between Auguste Escoffier and Marco Pierre-White. Can she find the courage to admit her true feelings?

How to Find Love in a Bookshop is the delightful story of Emilia's fight to keep her bookshop alive, the customers whose lives she has touched - and the books they all love.

Welcome to my spot on the BLOG TOUR for How To Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry, published in hardback by Orion Books on 16 June 2016.


I've been a fan of Veronica Henry's books for a long time now, they are like a breath of fresh air in a stifling world, and are always a joy to read.

Any book lover will adore this story. From the gorgeous cover to the story inside, full of warm and lovable characters, this really is a bibliophiles dream read.
The reader is introduced to Julius Nightingale in the prologue, we are there as he discovers the old, dusty, ramshackle shop that he will go on to turn into the much loved Nightingale Books. A shop that becomes the heart of the small town of Peasebrook, and Julius and his small daughter Emilia are welcomed and loved almost from day one.

Years later, and Emilia is alone in the world. Her beloved father has died and all that is left is his wonderful bookshop. The place where she grew up, with just a father to guide her. A place that will always be home, but does she have the courage, and the business sense to rescue Nightingale Books from the hands of greedy property developers, and make it a success?

Packed with wonderfully created characters, in a setting that is a pure delight, this story, whilst a light and easy read is packed with up-to-date issues that will resonate with most readers.

Each character has their own story, their own link to Nightingale Books, but Emilia remains the central figure. Her sense of loyalty to her father shines through, even on the days that the future seems so bleak, and the snippets about her early years bring Julius to life for the reader.

Heartwarming, delightful and a real homage to the book shops that are quickly disappearing from our high streets. There are secrets, hopes and dreams. There are book references, there are characters to love, and to abhor. A fabulous story, I enjoyed every page.

Veronica Henry has worked as a scriptwriter for The Archers, Heartbeat and Holby City amongst many others, before turning to fiction.
She won the 2014 RNA Novel of the Year Award for A Night on the Orient Express.
Veronica lives on the coast in North Devon with her sons.

For more information, visit her website www.veronicahenry.co.uk 
Follow her on Twitter @veronica_henry
Find her Author page on Facebook

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