What a difference a year could make…
Jamie Matson had once enjoyed a wonderful life working alongside her best friend, organising adventures for single-parent families, and her son Bo’s artistic flair a source of pride rather than concern.
She hadn’t been prepared to lose her business, her home, and her friend. Not all in one dreadful year. And now she finds herself reeling – rebuilding her world, with Bo at its heart – swallowing her pride and asking for help.
Jamie certainly hadn’t expected to find such hope and camaraderie in the queue at her local Food Bank – thrown together with an unlikely and colourful group of people – all of them struggling to get by, yet still determined to reclaim their lost careers and agency over their lives. Even if just choosing their own groceries again is a goal they can all share.
As their friendships flourish, they quickly find it’s easier to be objective about each other than about themselves, and decide that – when you’re all out of options – it’s okay to bend the rules a little and create your own.
A story of friendship, possibilities, and hope, that maybe tomorrow will be brighter than today…
Penny Parkes survived a Convent education largely thanks to a ready supply of inappropriate novels and her passion for writing and languages.
She studied International Management in Bath and Germany, before gaining experience with the BBC. She then set up an independent Film Location Agency and spent many happy years organising shoots for film, television and advertising – thereby ensuring that she was never short of travel opportunities, freelance writing projects or entertaining anecdotes.
Penny now lives in the Cotswolds with her husband, two children and a geriatric spaniel. She will often be found plotting epic train journeys through the Alps, baking gluten-free goodies or attempting to prove that you can, in fact, teach an old dog new tricks.
Twitter: @CotswoldPenny
My thoughts: this is a happy/sad book set in our current, post pandemic, economic slump, underemployed times. Jamie lost her home, her best friend and her business. She’s trying to put her life, and that of son Bo, back together. Working in a posh deli for a boss who needs a slap, for minimum wage, dealing with a mouldy flat and a creepy landlord who keeps letting himself in, rushing to A&E with Bo, who has chronic asthma. None of this is good for either of them. And she’s really lonely.
But,in the queue for the food bank, she meets Bonnie and Kath and Amy. Three other women facing their own predicaments. Together the four new friends will pull each other up, help out and support one another.
A lucky break comes when, just as everything seems to be completely fallen apart, Jamie is offered a live in job with Ruth and Henry. This charming couple are starting to struggle, and with their son in the States, need a hand. Could this be the first step towards a better life for Jamie and Bo?
I was completely charmed by this book, despite recognising bits of my own current disaster of a life in Jamie and her friends, I thrilled to the moments when things went well for people. When Amy showed off her art, when Bo was happy in the garden, when Jamie was able to take a breath. I loved the whole gang, and I’d love a sequel, showing them in a few years time, when hopefully things are better for all of us.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own
ramblingmads 