by Amy Miller
At the Barton Bakery, Betty finds a sanctuary with shopkeeper Audrey Barton, but Audrey is fighting battles of her own. Her husband is at war and in grave danger, she is heavily pregnant, and her customers are horrified by the demands imposed by rationing.
Audrey’s stepsister Lily receives a letter from a man she once loved very much, a man she thought was lost to her forever. He offers her a new future with him, but one that will mean sacrificing so many of her hopes and dreams…
As Winston Churchill tells the country to ‘never give in’, the women of the Barton Bakery struggle on to keep their families, homes and loved ones safe in a time of turmoil.
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The Girls’ Guide to Homemaking
Single and definitely not ready to mingle – when Juliet’s heart is broken, she finds comfort in an unexpected place. As she unlocks a world of perfect meringues and cocktails at tea time, Juliet finally puts her life back together – one martini at a time!
On the first night with her boyfriend in their new flat, Juliet discovers that Simon has been sleeping with her best friend. After growing up in a dysfunctional family, and with secrets that haunt her, there's no way she is prepared to take cheating Simon back.
But then, heartbroken and seeking an escape from her troubles, Juliet discovers her grandmother's 1950s homemaking manual and she soon finds herself lost in a world of evening soirées and perfect soufflés. Taking control of her life once and for all, and picking up some new kitchen skills along the way, Juliet is determined to start putting herself first. But where will her new-found love of homemaking lead her? And who will she meet along the way?
Readers who love Sophie Kinsella, Jill Mansell and Lucy Diamond will fall in love with this heart-warming tale of love, laughter and old traditions.
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The Saturday Supper Club
Ready? Set? Cook! When four strangers enter a supper club competition, they have no idea who they’re going to be cooking for. So when they finally meet and two of the guests realise they already know each other, sparks begin to fly…
Eve’s world was torn apart three years ago when the love of her life Ethan walked out on her. But now she has a lovely new boyfriend, Joe, a cosy new flat, and she’s on the verge of opening her dream café. Things finally seem to be falling into place.
When Joe asks Eve to take part in a supper club competition for a local newspaper where he’s trying to get a job, she reluctantly agrees and plans an elaborate dinner for her mystery guests.
But, as she adds the finishing touches to her carefully planned menu, the first of her mystery guests arrives and gives her the shock of her life… On the doorstep stands Ethan – the man she has spent three years trying to forget.
As her past life comes crashing into her perfect new one, she’s sent into a spin. How will she get through all three courses with the man who broke her heart sitting across the table? And how does she feel about Ethan three years on?
As the Saturday Supper Club gets under way, Eve has no idea what to think now Ethan has walked back into her life. Who will win the competition? And who will ultimately win Eve’s heart?
If you like Sophie Kinsella, Jill Mansell and The Flatshare you will love The Saturday Supper Club.
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The Antenatal Group
When Mel’s boyfriend dumps her weeks before she is due to give birth, she’s not just coping with heartbreak – she’s also facing parenthood alone. What does she know about bringing up a baby solo? And who’s going to be there for her if it all goes wrong?
Newly single Mel is terrified when she walks through the door of her first antenatal class. Meeting all the other mums-to-be, she’s convinced she’s the only one who doesn’t know what she’s doing.
But as she gets to know the other parents in the group, she realises she’s not the only one with a not-so-perfect life and a non-existent birth plan.
As the weeks pass, and the group share their fears about babies, breastfeeding and birthing pools, Mel begins to believe that maybe she can make it as a single mother. But just when she thinks she’s got a handle on her life, her ex-boyfriend comes back begging for forgiveness.
Leaning on the support of her new friends, and as the due date looms, Mel has a big decision to make. Will she choose to forgive her ex and or can she find the courage to go it alone?
Fans of Sophie Kinsella, Jill Mansell and Beth O’Leary will love The Antenatal Group.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the amazing team at Bookouture, including Helen Jenner and Kim Nash, as well as my agent Veronique Baxter. I’m hugely thankful to family and friends for sharing their life experiences and whose stories around adoption have helped inspire this book. I also read many moving stories online and found information on websites including bemyparent.org.uk, first4adoption.org.uk, adoptionuk.org, adoption.com, adoptionsearchreunion.org.uk, movementforanadoptionapology.org, helpwithadoption.com and on newspaper websites including The Irish Times and the Guardian.
To better understand the grief a person feels after losing their partner I found cruse.org.uk helpful, and a friend recommended Megan Devine’s podcasts and website refugeingrief.com, which is incredibly insightful and moving. I researched people’s experiences of heart disease online and read many people’s moving stories about recovery. What struck me was how many partners of someone who’d had a heart attack felt so fearful about the future and whether it would happen again. That sense of living in fear and alongside anxiety helped form Heidi’s character.
Websites on the subject I found particularly helpful include bhf.org.uk, lifeaftercardiacarrest.org and sca-aware.org, among others.
Finally, though the book doesn’t delve deeply into gambling addiction, I found case studies and information on gamcare.org.uk and gamblingtherapy.org a useful source of research, as well as a heart-wrenching programme on BBC Radio 4, My husband the gambling addict which happened to come onto the radio when I was parking one day – and I stayed in the car to listen to.
Thanks to my upholsterer friend Vicky Grubb, of theupholsterycabin.co.uk. She has a beautiful studio space in her garden which helped inform my idea, plus I loved reading her book, Beginner’s Guide to Upholstery. Vicky kindly helped with some of my questions. I was also inspired by the work of Simion Hawtin-Smith of relovedupholstery.co.uk, who breathes new life into vintage chairs.
Finally, I very much enjoyed the lovely stories told in the BBC’s Repair Shop and hoped to inject into The Day My Husband Left some of that warmth and hope in the fact that old, tired things can be rescued and brought back to life. Inspiration and ideas always come from so many places and people – I do hope I haven’t forgotten to mention anyone.
Thanks finally to my lovely family, friends, swimming pals and to my husband Jimmy and children, Sonny and Audrey.
We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.
Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.
We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.
Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.
Thank you.
*As reported by the National Literacy Trust
Published by Bookouture in 2021
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
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Copyright © Amy
Miller, 2021
Amy Miller has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-80019-072-6
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.