February 2012 Debut of the Month.

This charming and beautifully told debut novel, set in 1920s rural Wales, follows Wilfred Price, a young and emotionally confused undertaker! Strange as the choice of setting and characters may be the book is a wonderfully moving depiction of love and secrecy in a simpler time.

Synopsis

Everyone has to make decisions about love. Wilfred Price, overcome with emotion on a sunny spring day, proposes to a girl he barely knows at a picnic. The girl, Grace, joyfully accepts and rushes to tell her family of Wilfred's intentions. But by this time Wilfred has realised his mistake. He does not love Grace. On the verge of extricating himself, Wilfred's situation suddenly becomes more serious when Grace's father steps in. Up until this point in his life, Wilfred's existence has been blissfully simple, and the young undertaker seems unable to stop the swirling mess that now surrounds him. To add to Wilfred's emotional turmoil, he thinks he may just have met the perfect girl for him. As Wilfred struggles in an increasingly tangled web of expectation and duty, love and lies, Grace reveals a long-held secret that changes everything...

Reviews

"a delightful story of great charm, very quirky and original." Jacqueline Wilson

"I love this novel... who would have thought so quiet, calm and delicate a novel could keep you completely absorbed from first page to last?" Fay Weldon

"Gently glorious." Kate Long

About the Author

Wendy Jones was the first person to do an MA in Life Writing at UEA and is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, where she teaches. She wrote Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl, a biography of Grayson Perry (Chatto & Windus) and hosts Interesting Conversations, a literary programme on Resonancefm. She lives in London. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation