OTHER PEOPLE MANAGE
by Ellen Hawley (£12.99, Swift Press, HB)
In the late 1970s, Marge and Peg’s paths cross for the first time in a coffee house, one of the few places around where women can dance together in peace. Marge is a bus driver, Peg is training as a therapist – their connection is instant. What neither of them could expect are the challenges they face together over the next 20 years. A jealous ex threatens to tear the couple apart, while Peg’s sister abandons her children and leaves the family to step in. It’s an intimate, heartrending tale about family, love and coping with grief.