Recommendations based on "Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar"

The Lemon Tree Cafe was originally published as a four-part serial. This is the complete story in one package.When Rosie Featherstone finds herself unexpectedly jobless, the offer to help her beloved Italian grandmother out at the Lemon Tree Cafe – a little slice of Italy nestled in the rolling hills of Derbyshire – feels like the perfect way to keep busy.Surrounded by the rich scent of espresso, delicious biscotti and juicy village gossip, Rosie soon finds herself falling for her new way of life. But she is haunted by a terrible secret, one that even the appearance of a handsome new face can't quite help her move on from.Then disaster looms and the cafe’s fortunes are threatened . . . and Rosie discovers that her nonna has been hiding a dark past of her own. With surprises, betrayal and more than one secret brewing, can she find a way to save the Lemon Tree Cafe and help both herself and Nonna achieve the happy endings they deserve?Your favourite authors have loved reading bestseller Cathy Bramley:'Delightful!' Katie Fforde'Full of joy and fun' Milly Johnson'Delightfully warm with plenty of twists and turns' Trisha Ashley

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A USA TODAY BESTSELLER • A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three • “O'Donoghue deepens the familiar coming-of-age premise with riveting moral complications." —People"If you’ve ever been unsure what to do with your degree in English; if you’ve ever wondered when the rug-buying part of your life will start...if you’ve ever loved the wrong person, or the right person at the wrong time…In short, if you’ve ever been young, you will love The Rachel Incident like I did.” —Gabrielle Zevin, New York Times best-selling author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and TomorrowRachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph.

From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout comes a hopeful, healing novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world.With her “extraordinary capacity for radical empathy” (The Boston Globe), remarkable insight into the human condition, and silences that contain multitudes, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?”It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known—“unrecorded lives,” Olive calls them—reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everything is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which we our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, “Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love.”

A breathtaking, joy-filled novel about the people we love, the secrets we keep, and the enduring power of family, from the bestselling author of The Unsinkable Greta James.The four Endicott siblings—Gemma, Connor, Roddy, and Jude—were once inseparable, a bond created by the absence of their dazzling, mercurial mother, who would return for a few weeks each summer to whisk them off on sprawling road trips around the country.Decades later, the unthinkable has happened: the Endicotts haven’t spoken in years . . . until an out-of-the-blue text arrives from Jude, now a famous actress, summoning them to a small town in North Dakota. They’re each at a crossroads: Gemma, who put her own ambitions aside to raise the others, now isn’t sure if she wants to be a mother herself; Connor, a celebrated novelist, is floundering after his recent divorce and suffering from an epic case of writer’s block; and Roddy, at the tail end of a professional soccer career, is dangerously close to losing his future husband for the chance at one last season.Jude is the only Endicott who seems to have it all together—but appearances can be deceiving. As the weekend unfolds, and the siblings wrestle with their shared past and uncertain futures, they’ll discover that Jude has been keeping three secrets . . . each of which could change everything.A captivating journey and an ode to forgiveness that takes readers across all fifty states, Fun for the Whole Family brims with heart and resonates long after the final page.

"A gripping story about finding love, passion and drive after loss. This book is an emotional rollercoaster and I could not put it down." -SSAra Had Everything She Needed. Until She Didn’t.Every time Ara has opened her heart it’s ended in hurt, and now she’s lost the only person she’s ever been able to trust.Blindsided by the death of her father, Ara finds herself utterly alone in the world, with no clear path in front of her. What does she have left to live for?Through one letter a month for the first year after his passing, Ara’s dad gives her tasks which (if completed) will introduce her to the best that life has to offer: joy, friendship, passion and hopefully, love.After a few chance encounters with a handsome stranger along the way, Ara is challenged with letting her walls come down. Will she risk it all for a chance at love? Even if there is something he’s keeping from her?A humorous yet emotional story of love and loss, with a healthy dose of spice, Last Letters to Ara will have you laughing, crying and swooning long after you should be asleep.As Kaymie Wuerfel’s debut novel with its own happily ever after, it can be read as a standalone or as Book One of The Last Series. "I don't know how this author has me feeling all the things within a single page, but she does it. The humor, the heart, the feels. I'm obsessed. My new favorite contemporary author." -RK"This book was singularly one of the most touching and amazing reads of the year. This book made me laugh, cry and love. It will forever be one of a my favorite reads." -BC

When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of 10-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse, until, of course, they discover exactly what they've been looking for.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER"It will break your heart and nourish your soul. . . . Her finest novel yet." —Nigella Lawson From internationally bestselling author Marian Keyes comes the eagerly awaited sequel to Rachel's Holiday. Prepare to laugh and cry by turns with Rachel and the Walsh family.Back in the long ago nineties, Rachel Walsh was a mess.But a spell in rehab transformed everything. Life became very good, very quickly. These days, Rachel has love, family, a great job as an addiction counsellor, she even gardens. Her only bad habit is a fondness for expensive sneakers.But with the sudden reappearance of a man she'd once loved, her life wobbles.She'd thought she was settled. Fixed forever. Is she about to discover that no matter what our age, everything can change?Is it time to think again, Rachel?

When she moves to Amish country to find peace and healing, Madeleine finds a special community—and a special man—who pull her out of her solitude and into a new life. Moving to Pennsylvania wasn’t in Madeleine’s original plans. She should still be in California and should have married her pilot fiancé a year ago—but death has a way of changing everything. Now the former Air Force flight nurse is living alone in Paradise, Pennsylvania, and working as a maid at the Lancaster Grand Hotel. She isn’t exactly a widow . . . but she sure feels like one. Saul Beiler isn’t exactly a widower . . . but his wife is long gone. His eleven-year-old daughter, Emma, doesn’t know that her mother fled the Amish community—and married another man—but she does know that her dat is lonely, and that a pretty young maedel just moved in next door. Madeleine’s numb heart begins to thaw as she spends more time with the innocent and ever optimistic Emma. The stronger her friendship grows with the young girl, the more intrigued Madeleine grows about the humble, strong man raising her on his own. But even as a strange attraction pulls Saul and Madeleine across a stark cultural divide, they—and everybody around them—have to wonder: What could they possibly have in common besides heartache? Will love allow Madeleine to finally find the home she’s been dreaming of all along?

A dark and funny new novel from the multi-award-winning author of Mullumbimby. Wise-cracking Kerry Salter has spent a lifetime avoiding two things - her hometown and prison. But now her Pop is dying and she's an inch away from the lockup, so she heads south on a stolen Harley. Kerry plans to spend twenty-four hours, tops, over the border. She quickly discovers, though, that Bundjalung country has a funny way of grabbing on to people. Old family wounds open as the Salters fight to stop the development of their beloved river. And the unexpected arrival on the scene of a good-looking dugai fella intent on loving her up only adds more trouble - but then trouble is Kerry's middle name. Gritty and darkly hilarious, Too Much Lip offers redemption and forgiveness where none seems possible.

It’s never too late to have fun in this heartwarming and hilarious new novel from the author of The Big Five 0. Perfect for fans of The Old Girls Network ‘So real, wise and funny...an absolute triumph!’ Katie Fforde When her daughter, Ellie, brings home a new boyfriend, Clare can’t put her finger on why she feels troubled by it. Is it because he’s attractive and closer to her in age? Or maybe she’s just jealous because all of her own husband’s passion seems to go into maintaining his wine cellar. Ellie’s colleague, Anna, is feeling restless too. She’s much younger than her husband and definitely isn’t ready for crosswords and comfy slippers. When a new colleague starts to show an interest in her, it ignites a spark of attraction that feels impossible to ignore. They say age isn’t everything – can the women focus on what really matters and live life, and love, to the full? ‘I love Jane’s writing!’ Jill Mansell ‘Feel-good’ Woman and Home Readers are LOVING Old Enough to Know Better: ‘Reminded me of Jill Mansell and Marion Keyes...Put a smile on my face and cheered me up’ Katie ‘The tonic we all desperately need at the moment... loved it!’ Karen ‘Delightful ... The author has created a bevy of unique female characters and relationships’ Sarah ‘It lifts you up whilst you are reading’ Alayne ‘No matter how old you are this book is going to give you all the feels! Will definitely be recommending this to everyone and anyone I talk to’ Kylie ‘Jane Wenham-Jones is now on my must read list’ Judy ‘Thoroughly enjoyed this book as it details the trials and tribulations of women of a certain age! Something I can easily relate to!’ Sally ‘Read cover to cover in one sitting’ Bee ‘Buy it! Read it! Love it!’ Claire