Thrown by Sara Cox

CORONET, £14.99 (EBOOK, £6.99) REVIEW BY RACHEL HOWDLE

Wannabe authors are often told to write about what they know. It’s hard to tell how much Radio 2 DJ Sara Cox knows about being the manager of a community centre, but her life lessons and presenting experience from The Great Pottery Throwdown has definitely come up trumps. Weaving the stories of four women who sign up for a pottery class, she has created a welcoming world full of wonder and hope, set against gritty real-life problems that are often kept secret. It’s a pleasure to get to know the characters of Thrown – especially Becky, a single mum who is learning about herself, and Sheila, who yearns to start a new life in Spain.