Ruth Hogan is becoming one of my favorite authors loved The Keeper Of Lost Things and now love this wonderful book .Each Characters warm charming delightful .Will be recommending to all my friends #netgalley#johnmurraypress.

This novel is quite simply adorable with the most engaging and lovable characters. This is the story of Tilly/Tilda, a seven year old girl and her grown-up self. Tilly is enchanting; she is funny and bright, she is intrigued by and equally puzzled by adults and confused by certain words. She loves fish fingers, swear words and going to the Catholic church with Mrs O’Flaherty. She sees people who aren’t there and has a friend in Eli, a dog only she can see.

Her world suddenly changes when she is taken by her mother to live at Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel in Brighton. It is here that she becomes part of a family of endearing, eccentric characters: Queenie; Lily the cook; Cecily the maid; Reg the lodger and Queenie’s Mum who goes by a variety of film star names. Tilly’s joyous life suddenly comes to an end when her mother sends her away to boarding school for reasons she cannot understand.

We meet the grown-up Tilda shortly after her mother’s death. They have never been very close and it is only as Tilda begin to read her mother’s diaries that she begins to understand who she really was and why she had to send little Tilly away. The older Tilda also has a lovely supporting cast including: Joseph Geronimo Heathcliff O’Shea, a man of mystery; Daniel the owner of a nearby cafe and soon to become her love interest and Penelope, her late mother’s next door neighbour.

This is primarily a novel about love and relationships, particularly that between a mother and daughter. It is told with such wit, warmth and humour. It is both extraordinarily funny and incredibly poignant. Ruth Hogan is a born story teller and her characters leap off the page; I really wanted them to be my friends too. It will my mission to recommend this book to anyone who crosses my path.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from NetGalley and the publisher, Two Roads, in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much.

Having read The Keeper of Lost Things by this author and found it to be a wonderful heartwarming story, it was with some trepidation that I started this book, thinking that nothing could come close to her first book. I had no need to worry this book was equally wonderful, the characters were brilliant and I laughed and cried in equal measure. I will be recommending it to everyone I know.