1963. A chateau in Provence. Fresh from London and a recent cookery course, Alexandra arrives at the chateau where for one month she’ll be looking after three children. Three silent, rather hostile children, she discovers on her arrival. A boy and two girls, badly in need of some love, attention, and an English education.
But Alexandra has always loved a challenge and feels equipped to deal with most things life throws her. But what she is a good deal less sure about is whether she’ll be able to cope with their father – an impossibly good-looking, entirely unsuitable French count with whom she is trying very hard not to fall in love.
Katie Fforde’s A Wedding in Provence … the perfect, perfect read in the month of love. Penguin, available from Exclusive Books
If the earth moves for you this month, it’s from the little jumps of joy around the world as Marian Keyes fans discover she’s just released a new book. And not any book. A Rachel Walsh book. Oh joy!
20 years ago we read Rachel’s Holiday … and way back then in the nineties, she had a fondness for recreational drugs and was a hot mess. Now – in Again, Rachel – she’s good. She has love, a family, a brilliant job as an addiction counsellor. All her bad habits are behind her … now all she’s addicted to is expensive trainers!
But when an old love interest reappears in her life, she hits a wobble. She thought she was fixed. But is all that about to change? It’s only Februrary, but we’re convinced this is going to be out book of the year.
Oh … and for those of you who’re all ‘it’s just chick lit’ , MK reads are so, so much more. In her books she touches – with knowledge and empathy and a marvellously wicked humour – on domestic violence and mental illness, drug abuse and alcoholism, divorce and family (that Walsh family … just adore!).
She, and her books, are warm, witty, brutally honest. And jolly great reads! Penguin Random House, available from Exclusive Books
