A lovely book with a real air of the 1960's. I loved the information about mudlarking too, very atmospheric. Great characters and connections, wonderful friendship and romance.

This was so close to being a treasure of a five-star read. I loved most parts of this story, but sadly it wasn’t my favourite story by this author, but it still has the great bones of a good story. I will say it took me a while to get into it, but now I am desperate to go Mudlarking next time I’m in London. This story did give me that, once I got into it, I did enjoy the story, just felt a little stuck in the mud to start.

Love Katie's books. This one is set mainly in London in the late 1960's.
Excellent development of the characters who I got to know and was rooting for. I particularly liked Violet, a down to earth country girl who ends up living upstairs from Felicity and her mother. Felicity is half French, very chic and her mother is a bit of a snob.
Lots of info on areas of London and London life in the 60's and mudlarking. I too was swept along with the thrill of possibly finding treasure.
A feel good book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Another page turner fr5om Katie Fforde, I always know I am going to enjoy a book by this author and once again this was a brilliant read.
Thoroughly enjoyed it and definitely recommend it

Another brilliant book from Katie Fforde. Had to ration myself otherwise it would have been finished in a flash and I wanted to extend the enjoyment.
Friendship, families, intrigue - this novel has it all. Felicity from France staying with her distant mother to learn secretarial skills meets Oliver a mudlarker and would be jeweller. Not a smooth relationship.! She befriends Violet who is working for a mystery man... The girls share hopes, secrets and plans.
A delicious read...every bit as good as Katie's other novels. Thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommend

I love all of Katie's books i have read so far including this one.
It is set in 1968 when felicity arrives from france were shes lived all her life to stay with her mother in london.
She has come to london to do a office secretary course.

She meets oliver who enjoys mudlarking in the river thames and soon is hooked on his passtime to even when they nearly drown when the tide comes in when they wer'nt looking.

Typically I am a big fan of Katie Fforde, however this book just didn't captivate me as I expected it to.
However I can see that others will love this, it just wasn't for me unfortunately.
I must add though that the writing style throughout was great.

I am a massive massive fan of Katie Fforde , she is the reason why we have so many ace writers now. I am not sure about these London 60’s book . But this got better and better. I loved the mudlarking. . The two love elements were good. Just read and escape .

1968, Felicity moves to London to live with her mother. She meets mudlarker Oliver. But will her mother approve and can she trust him. Misunderstandings and adventures for Felicity and her upstairs neighbour Violet as the negotiate loves and work.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy to review.

Katie Fforde never fails to please, writing another great read. Felicite moves to London to live with her mother for a year in 1968, meets Oliver, and makes friend with Violet who lives in the flat upstairs. An insight into London life in the 60's, Compulsive reading, brilliant.

Some nice details and interesting attempts at unique character work, but ultimately a project that falls short of the mark. The relationships between the core group just felt strained, and I found it difficult to get drawn into the world of Fforde's historical London. I'm sure that this will work for a lot of people though!

Another beautiful book from the legendary Katie Fforde! Grab a cup of tea, your favourite blanket and prepare to be swept away with this wonderful story!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC

I was pleased to receive this book from Netgalley to review. I have read all Katie’s books as I love her writing but I wasn’t sure about this one as it was set in 1968. I read the synopsis and liked the sound of the characters and story so thought I would give it a go. I liked all the main characters,even Felicities mum mellowed. I enjoyed the easy going friendship between Felicitie and Violet. They stay in the same house but Violet is in a flat at the top of the house.So they bump into Oliver and Felicitie takes a shine to him and he to her. I did find it odd they didn’t meet up more often but maybe that’s what happened back then. Violet who was only 30 was made to feel she was way over the hill and would never meet anyone. I know back then people got married at a younger age(my mum when she was 19 and she had me when she was 21) Violet meets Henry when he comes to her family home for Christmas and who turns out to be her boss. So we have 2 main stories running through the book,Felicitie is half French and comes over to stay with her mother to do a secretarial course,meets Oliver who is a disappointment to his dad,he stays on a barge and scrapes by doing various jobs. Violet comes to London and stays at her godmothers flat and works in Henry’s bookshop,she likes him and thinks he likes her but he disappears off to write a book and she doesn’t hear from him. There are twists and turns in the book but it is worth a read,I found I couldn’t put it down as I wanted to find out what happened to the girls.

Three and a half stars.

Felicity comes to London to stay with her mother (Felicity is Alexandra from A Wedding in Provence's step-daughter) in Cheyne Walk (a very expensive part of London). She intends to be an artist and study in Paris but has agreed to spend a year in London getting to know her mother, improving her English, and attending secretarial school.

The woman who lives in a flat in the attic of Felicity's mother's house has persuaded her niece Violet to come to London and arranged a job for her at a nearby bookshop. Violet's father has suddenly (and unexpectedly) come into a title and money which has led to him being inundated with women hoping he'll 'put a ring on it', one woman has even gone so far as to persuade him to let her move into a wing of the house and Violet very much dreads that she could be her new stepmother.

Despite their age differences, Violet is in her thirties while Felicity is barely twenty, the two of them strike up a friendship, partly because Felicity's mother is one of those wealthy society divorcees with a lot of rules about what Felicity can and cannot do, and partly because they are both country mouses in the big city.

Whilst out walking one day Felicity bumps into a young man, Oliver, and they strike up a friendship, under Violet's watchful eye. Oliver is the black sheep of his family who are all military men. Oliver wants to make jewellery but his father refuses to hear of it and so instead Oliver scrapes a living with a multitude of low-paying jobs in bars and restaurants whilst also doing a bit of mudlarking (looking for treasure along the banks of the Thames when the tide is out).

But the course of true love never did run smooth and there's an added complication wheen Felicity's mother and Oliver's father become involved.

This is classic Katie Fforde and classic me. I moan about her signature motifs and then not only buy/request them every time but also devour them eagerly. There's insta-lurve, aristos, people who can live in London with practically no money, cranky old ladies with a heart of gold, etc. I loved it, sure I wish both Felicity and Violet knew their respective love interests for more than thirty seconds before they fell in love but hey-ho they did things differently in the 1960s ;)

You know I'll be back for the next one - they're like catnip.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

I love a new Katie Fforde book because I know I’m going to have a really good read, there will be characters that I like (not all perfect or confident- just like real life),there will be a bit of mystery and intrigue and, what we all,want - a happy ending, in this case - no spoiler -there’s more than one! Just what I needed, thank you Katie.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

What an absolute treat to be able to settle down to read a story by the lovely Katie. Set in the 1960's and moving between France and London, England the lives of two girls are intertwined and they have wonderful adventures, a gorgeous read

I love Katie Fforde books and was so excited to get an advance copy of this latest one.

This story is set mainly in London in the late 1960s and is about the lives and loves of two girls from different backgrounds who become friends and support each other in their new city lives. It’s a gentle story and has some humorous parts with some strong character depictions.

The story also involves mud larking on the banks of the River Thames, which was quite fascinating to read about and which I believe is becoming quite popular.

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for providing this copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

Felicity has arrived in London knowing no-one but her mother who left when she was very young. She has happily grown up in a crumbling chateau in Provence but wants to improve her English whilst doing a secretarial course, before going to art college in Paris. She makes friends with Violet who lives in the attic flat, Violet has been avoiding the woman who has her sights set on her father since he unexpectedly inherited a title. Felicity and Violet become friends and help each other though their adventures. An interesting glimpse into how things were in the 60's. Another comforting Katie Fforde read, like having a warming cup of hot chocolate.

I love Katie's books and this one did not disappoint. Its really good and had me hooked from the start. The author writes in a way that you can easily relate to the characters. Its a great love story and it is a lovely book to read.

Katie Fforde doing what she does best! Writing a fantastic story to draw you in and forget about the troubles of the world. It was a lovely story with fab likeable characters. I now want to live on a barge and go mud larking! Thank you Katie!