The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser (best life changing books .TXT) 📕

will do. Well done, welcome to Being an Adult even when you don’t want to be.’ I look at my boyfriend. ‘Are you going to help me with the plates and stuff?’

Edward gets up. ‘Don’t drink all that whisky,’ he tells his brother. ‘Is there any food left?’

‘Not much. A few crumbs. They’ve pretty much picked the carcass clean,’ I tell him as we head back downstairs. On the landing he puts his hand on my arm.

‘Thea.’

‘What?’

‘You know you’re brilliant, don’t you?’

I laugh at him. ‘What do you mean? In what sense, particularly?’

‘Everything you do is brilliant, and wonderful, and I love you.’

I look at him suspiciously. ‘Are you drunk as well?’

He laughs. ‘No. Or not very. Come here.’ He hugs me. ‘He’s an arse, my brother, but I’m going to try not to tell him that to his face.’

‘Noble.’

‘Isn’t it? I’m sorry he was awful, earlier. I know it’s my fault. Thank you for being so perfect about it.’

‘Perfect? I kicked him.’ I snort. ‘And I was quite harsh, even before that.’

‘I know. It’s good for him.’

I lean back so I can see him better. ‘D’you reckon? Did he tell you I kicked him?’

‘He did. He told me I was lucky and I said’ – he pulls me closer again and kisses me – ‘that I’m well aware of that.’

‘Pah.’

‘Anyway, I’ve gone off the idea of clearing up. Why don’t we go straight to bed?’

‘That’s a terrible–’ but then we’re kissing again, this time for ages. Even though I know I’ll be sorry in the morning, it’s hard not to be persuaded. ‘Okay, not terrible; I meant great idea.’

‘There. I said you were brilliant,’ he says, and we go back upstairs to bed.

Acknowledgements

I love reading acknowledgements and writing them is even more fun.

My parents are better than anyone else’s and always have been, so thanks to Pam and Vic for all their support and encouragement, and their willingness to believe that this might actually happen, without adding any pressure. Thanks to Stewart and Tess, too, for their support and excitement about this project, in what has to have been the most intense and weirdest year ever.

I met lots of writers on the now defunct Authonomy writers’ forum, many of whom have been a great help to me, and some of whom, as members of the Facebook Women’s Fiction Critique Group, read an early draft of The Bookshop (as it was called then) and made useful comments. I’d particularly like to thank Ann Warner, Kate Murdoch, Gail Cleare, Margaret Johnson and Katie O’Rourke, all of whom have been incredibly supportive and all of whom have their own books that you should check out. Angela Elliott gave Fortescue’s its name, and Carla Burgess, Tamsin McDonald, Mick Jones and Leonie Roberts have encouraged me to ‘just get on with it’ on a number of occasions.

I’d also like to thank friends and erstwhile colleagues Liz Haynes, Donna Wood and Clare Ashton, who’ve all read previous work of mine and have been enthusiastic cheerleaders for my writing for the last eight years, and Denise Laing, who encouraged me to submit my first novel to an agent, more years ago than I care to remember.

Sarah Albiston, Katie McCallion and Mat Winser have been available to talk about books, writing (and everything else in the world) for more than thirty years and I am eternally thankful to all of them. Mark Manson definitely wouldn’t buy a book like this but he’s an excellent beta reader and his feedback is always appreciated. And thanks to Stephen McConnachie for holding my hand before a Very Important Meeting, and Jimmy Martin for joining me in a celebratory drink afterwards.

I’m extremely grateful to Sara-Jade Virtue at Simon & Schuster, who read my sample chapter and liked it enough to ask to see the rest. She and my editor, Alice Rodgers, have been brilliant, and the rest of the team of designers, editors, marketers, and the people in the rights department have all done loads of stuff I don’t even know about. Thank you.

Last but not least, all my love and thanks to Ollie for shopping, cooking and driving me about, and without whom it would all be pointless.

About the Author

Jackie Fraser is a freelance editor and writer. She’s worked for AA Publishing, Watkins, the Good Food Guide and various self-published writers of fiction, travel and food guides, recipe books and self-help books since 2012. Prior to that, she worked as an editor of food and accommodation guides for the AA, including the B&B Guide, Restaurant Guide and Pub Guide for nearly twenty years, eventually running the Lifestyle Guides department.

She’s interested in all kind of things, particularly history (and prehistory), art, food, popular culture and music. She reads a lot (no, really) in multiple genres, and is fascinated by the Bronze Age. She likes vintage clothes, antique fairs and photography. She used to be a bit of a goth. She likes cats.

www.SimonandSchuster.co.uk/Authors/Jackie-Fraser

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First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2020

Copyright © Jackie Fraser, 2020. All rights reserved.

The right of Jackie Fraser to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

eBook ISBN: 978-1-4711-9626-3

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a