Charlotte Heathcote rounds up some riveting reads to stir the emotions
From love and romance to jealousy and sacrifice, these novels are guaranteed to tug the heartstrings
The Best Things ****
by Mel Giedroyc (Headline Review, £12.99)
In The Great British Bake Off star’s debut novel, Stella and Frank Parker have it all. Frank’s hedge fund company makes millions, their home is filled with expensive fripperies, they have three children and staff to see to their every need. Life is fabulous. Then the financial market crashes and everything is lost – the business, the home, the money.
Frank disintegrates into a slovenly, tired old wreck, the children are horrified to lose their phone contracts, and Sally realises it’s down to her to step up and get her family through the crisis. And those who know her realise they never really knew the real Sally at all. This big-hearted page-turner is clever, extremely funny (especially the author’s descriptions of greed and snobbery) and poignant.
Anne Cater
Everything Is Beautiful *****
by Eleanor Ray (Piatkus, £12.99) Amy has been the office manager of the same firm for over 20 years. She’s reliable, efficient, and keeps herself to herself. At home, Amy collects keepsakes, objects that bring back memories of the days before her world fell apart. But Amy’s “treasures”, from an ashtray to a recipe book, are beginning to take over her home, and the past is taking over her present. New neighbours move in next door. Richard and his two small boys begin to worm their way into her life. Then Amy finds a letter that forces her to confront the events of the past. It’s weather-damaged from years hidden outside in a plant pot but Amy gleans enough for the letter to turn everything she thought she knew on its head.
There’s an intriguing mystery at the heart of this emotional but uplifting debut novel.
Anne Cater
Last Night **** by Mhairi Mcfarlane
(Harpercollins, £7.99) Eve, Justin, Susie and Ed have been best friends since sixth form. Now in their thirties, they’re still as thick as thieves. They meet for the weekly pub quiz, message all the time and know each other’s secrets. Apart from one, that is. The others have no idea that Eve has been in love with Ed for nearly two decades.
But one fateful night, the friends’ lives change in an instant. As Eve struggles to cope with the aftermath, she discovers that she doesn’t know her pals as well as she thought. Worse still, it turns out they’ve been keeping their own secrets for years.
Generous-hearted Eve is the kind of friend everyone would like to have. One moment, you’re chuckling at her disastrous date with a narcissistic barman and, the next, you’re outraged when Ed’s annoying girlfriend proposes to him, crushing Eve’s hopes.
Mhairi Mcfarlane’s whip-smart romantic comedy is a compelling tale with real emotional depth, moving seamlessly from witty one-liners to serious issues.
The Family Reunion ***** by Patricia Scanlan (Simon & Schuster, £7.99) Not only is the Reverend Mother Brigid Dunne about to turn
80, she’s also retiring, so a huge celebration is planned at Four Winds, the Order of Nuns’ retreat.
Among the people on the guest list are Brigid’s sister Imelda and niece Keelin, and Keelin’s daughter Marie-claire. Brigid was 18 when she entered the local convent, leaving Imelda to shoulder the responsibilities of caring for elderly family members. And a lifetime of jealousy and bitterness comes to a head at the party where Imelda, provoked by a generous gift to her sister, exposes shocking family secrets to the partygoers.
The story then moves back and forth between the present and the past. We learn how Imelda’s husband and children became another source of sorrow. And while Keelin is happily married to Armand, the secrets of their past will deeply affect their daughter Marie-claire.
Exposing the hidden truths will change all four women’s lives. Will they take the chance to right the wrongs of long ago?
With characters you’ll take straight to your heart, this glorious read tells a passionate and sometimes heartbreaking tale.
Anne Cater
While Paris Slept ***** by Ruth Druart
(Headline, £14.99) They say no good deed goes unpunished and that certainly holds true for Jean-luc Beauchamp, arrested in California in 1953 on suspicion of child abduction. The terrible consequences of an act of self sacrifice in Paris in 1944 have derailed his life.
While living in France under Nazi occupation, railway worker Jean-luc began to notice abandoned belongings on the platform – a child’s doll, a handbag, a single shoe. He suspects that Jewish people are being transported to the east on cattle trucks that depart from his depot.
Attempting sabotage by damaging the train track, Jean-luc is badly injured, but, in hospital, he falls for his nurse, Charlotte. After his return to work, chaos erupts when the cattle trucks loaded with Jewish deportees are delayed. A baby is thrust into Jean-luc’s arms by a desperate mother, telling him the child is called Samuel and begging him to take care of him.
Jean-luc and Charlotte decide to flee Paris, undertaking an arduous journey to make a fresh start in the US. However, after the war, Samuel’s family will move heaven and Earth to trace him. Where does the child belong? This is a deeply moving and well-written story of love and sacrifice. Unmissable.
Lucy Helliker
Other Women **** by Cathy Kelly
(Orion, £16.99)
In this sharp, insightful and ultimately hopeful tale, Cathy Kelly explores the messy reality of three women living lives in limbo as a consequence of men, and only getting back on track with the support of women.
Thirty-something Sidonie has been hiding from the world ever since she was the victim of a terrible crime 15 years earlier. With support from her sister, she’s trying to build a social life when she meets the lovely Finn. But will she ever trust him enough to tell him the truth about her past?
Mother-of-two Marin discovers her husband’s infidelity after he has a heart attack while with another woman, who brings him to hospital. Can Marin find the courage to leave him?
Bea has also pressed the pause button on her life since her husband died 10 years ago, just as she was about to give birth. With the encouragement of fellow single mothers, she dips her toe in the dating pool. Then she reconnects with an ex with disastrous consequences.
As their lives intersect in unexpected ways, can Sid, Marin and Bea overcome their dilemmas and find the happiness they deserve?
Lucy Helliker