Description

‘As lovely as a burst of bright bluebells’ Sunday Express
‘Technicolour’ Daily Mail
‘A moving exploration of the complex relationship between mothers and daughters’ Observer
‘A poignant tale of love and circle of relatives’ Good Housekeeping
‘Enchanting . . . divine’ Prima ‘Beautifully written – astute and funny’ Daily Express
‘This book in reality shines . . . laugh-out-loud funny’ Stylist
‘A tender tale’ Woman & Home
‘Absorbing, tender and heartfelt’ Mike Gayle, creator of The Man I Think I Know
‘Her best novel yet’ Hannah Beckerman, creator of If Only I Could Tell You
‘Exuberant and full of zest’ Nina Pottell

The new novel from Ruth Hogan, the bestselling creator of The Keeper of Lost Things and The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes – an uplifting novel of mothers and daughters, families and secrets and the astonishing power of friendship.

Tilly was once a bright, outgoing little girl who liked playing with ghosts and matches. She loved fizzy drinks, swear words, fish fingers and Catholic churches, but most of all she loved living in Brighton in Queenie Malone’s magnificent Paradise Hotel with its endearing and loving circle of relatives of misfits – workforce and guests alike. But Tilly’s childhood was once shattered when her mother sent her away from the one home she’d ever loved to boarding school with little explanation and no warning.

Many years later, Tilda has grown into an independent woman still damaged by her mother’s unaccountable cruelty. Wary of people, her only friend is her dog, Eli. But if her mother dies, Tilda goes back to Brighton and with the assistance of her beloved Queenie sets about unravelling the mystery of her exile from The Paradise Hotel, only to discover that her mother was once not the woman she thought she knew at all …

Mothers and daughters … their story will also be complicated … but it may possibly also turn out to have a happy ending.