Books to buy your mum this Mother’s Day!

It’s (finally) March and with the new month comes warmer weather, brighter days and the chance to celebrate our lovely mums. While this year’s celebrations may look a little different, the past 12 months have certainly shown the simple comfort that a joyous, escapist read can bring. So, from heart-warming memoirs to spellbinding short story collections to unforgettable stories of love, we’ve curated a list of brilliant books to suit every mum!

One of the Family by Nicky Campbell 

 

 

The brave and moving memoir by Long Lost Family prese nter and Radio 5 breakfast show host Nicky Campbell reveals how the simple unconditional love of Maxwell, his Labrador, turned his life around and helped him come to terms with his difficult journey as an adopted child.

 

Raw, honest and courageous in One of the Family, Nicky opens up about how being adopted has made him always feel like an outsider; the guilt he has carried towards his Mum and Dad for needing to trace his birth mother, and the crushing disappointment he felt when he finally met her. And for the first time, he writes about his emotional breakdown and how he has learned to live with a late diagnosis of bipolar.

 

Through it all his passion for dogs and animals has been a lifeline. It is Maxwell’s magic, a lesson from a Labrador in simple unconditional friendship, that has allowed him to see all the good in his life: from the security and safety of his childhood home, the love of his wife and four daughters and above all, to better understand the decisions taken by his birth mother to give him up for adoption.

 

A Place Like Home by Rosamunde Pilcher 

 

 

A spellbinding collection of fifteen stories from multi-million copy, internationally bestselling modern classic author Rosamunde Pilcher, with an introduction by Sunday Times bestselling author Lucinda Riley.

 

In The Holiday, a wife surprises her husband of twenty-five years with a trip full of Mediterranean sunshine, red rocks and blue seas in an effort to rekindle the romance they had before children.

 

Skelmerton takes the reader to the bright spring sunshine and sparkling waves of a Northumbrian village where old flames meet again.

 

In A Place Like Home, a lonely young woman goes to recuperate in the Scottish countryside after a brief illness. The fruit orchards and fresh sea air offer much needed respite – but not as much as the handsome, mysterious farmer . . .

 

Each of the fifteen stories is a perfect slice of romance written with warmth and passion, featuring some wonderfully memorable, smart and feisty female characters that will transport the reader to another time and place.

 

 

And Now You’re Back by Jill Mansell 

 

 

From the beloved author of It Started With A Secret comes a fabulous new novel about love, friendship and finding the way to your best life.

 

One magical winter’s night in Venice, Didi fell in love. But it ended – and he left without even saying goodbye.

 

Now, thirteen years on, Shay Mason is back.

 

The old spark is still there, but Didi’s determined to ignore it. As manager of a stunning Cotswolds hotel, she’s happy at last, and soon to be married. Anyway, Shay isn’t staying. He’s made a promise to his father. He’s going to keep it. And then he’ll be gone.

 

But Shay’s return stirs up long-forgotten emotions, and the scandal that led him to leave raises its head once again. It’s time for buried secrets to come to light. And it seems that this was someone’s intention all along . . .

 

 

The Women Who Ran Away by Sheila O’Flanagan 

 

 

HEART-FELT SECRETS, SHOCKING TRUTHS AND ONE UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY . . .

 

Deira isn’t the kind of woman to steal a car. Or drive to France alone with no plan. But then, Deira didn’t expect to be single. Or to suddenly realise that the only way she can get the one thing she wants most is to start breaking every rule she lives by.

 

Grace has been sent on a journey by her late husband, Ken. She doesn’t really want to be on it but she’s following his instructions, as always. She can only hope that the trip will help her to forgive him. And then – finally – she’ll be able to let him go.

 

Brought together by unexpected circumstances, Grace and Deira find that it’s easier to share secrets with a stranger, especially in the shimmering sunny countryside of Spain and France. But they soon find that there’s no escaping the truth, whether you’re running away from it or racing towards it . . .

 

 

The Orange Grove by Rosanna Ley

 

 

An unforgettable story of past love and family secrets, set in sunny Seville

Holly loves making marmalade. Now she has a chance to leave her stressful city job and pursue her dream – of returning to the Dorset landscape of her childhood to open Bitter Orange, a shop celebrating the fruit that first inspired her.

 

Holly’s mother Ella has always loved Seville. So why is she reluctant to go back there with Holly to source products for the shop? What is she frightened of – and does it have anything to do with the old Spanish recipe for Seville orange and almond cake that Ella keeps hidden from her family?

 

In Seville, where she was once forced to make the hardest decision of her life, Ella must finally face up to the past, while Holly meets someone who poses a threat to all her plans. Seville is a city full of sunshine and oranges. But it can also be bittersweet. Will love survive the secrets of the orange grove?

 

Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to Happiness by Bill Bailey

 

 

Is there a knack to being happy? From paddle-boarding down the Thames in a Santa hat, to wild swimming in a glacial river and cooking sausages on a campfire, Bill revels in the exhilaration of the outdoors, as well as the quieter pleasures of letter-writing, or of simple reflection.

 

In this beautiful and uplifting book, Bill Bailey explores all this and more while delving into the nature of happiness, all in his own, remarkable, way.

 

Packed with wisdom and humour, and with delightful illustrations by the comedian himself, Bill Bailey aims for the heart of pure joy and contentment – and how we can all achieve it.