This is a book to lose yourself in. The lives of Bella, Amara and Gina are linked by much more than their association with the South London café of the title, as is revealed in this hugely engaging and readable novel. The contrasting stories of the three generations of women are told with warmth, wit and understanding. The characters leap from the page, each extraordinary in their outwardly ordinary ways. Best of all, the joys and pains of relationships – romantic and familial – are beautifully and realistically depicted in this ultimately uplifting book. A treat to read.
A stranger can change your life in a moment of kindness
1952: Bella is a young French Jew in post-war London, having lost everything in WWII. When she meets Adebayo, a doctor from Nigeria, Archibald's Cafe is the only place they feel like they belong.
1977: With London tense with anger, Amara decides to take action.
2010: Gina is a daydreaming artist whose efforts crumble into disaster. Her hopes for a career are over as she finds herself making lattes at the cafe where her grandparents went on their first date.
Across the lives of three generations of women, London…
Having read Richard Smith’s earlier book, Homeward Bound, I was hoping for another amusing and engaging read. I wasn’t disappointed. Smith writes with charm and humour, creating a colourful cast of characters, including my favourite sort: well meaning but hapless. And never were two people more lacking in hap than Harry Pratt and Jill Standing, whose on-off romance forms the central spine of the story. I enjoyed too the interwoven themes of environmental activism, breaking into the music industry, an obsession with Debbie Harry and juke boxes. Written with affection and wit.
A heart-warming story of a reluctant and unlikely friendship between a pair of misfits,
whose futures become linked to the survival of an urban 'greenspace'.
Two young people are struggling to find themselves and a role in life. For one, the world is changing too quickly. For the other, change can't come soon enough. Linking them are overgrown railway sidings - home to wildlife but about to be destroyed.
Jill Standing is mocked because of her name, ignored because of the way she looks and thought wacky because of her views on the environment.…
The laughs start with the title – Spoiler alert! The book is set in Cape Town in the shadow of Table Mountain – and keep on coming. It’s the third madcap adventure with Dawson (for whom the word ‘hapless’ might have been invented) and Lucy (ditto, but for the word ‘resourceful’) and is written in the same tongue-in-cheek, witty style of Steve Sheppard’s earlier books. There’s a rich cast of characters and a gripping, fast-paced plot that kept me entertained and reading on. All in all, a glorious roller coaster of a book.
Dawson and Lucy hit Cape Town... and Cape Town hits back
When their new employer dies in a suspicious road accident and his brother, a South African government lawyer disappears in Cape Town, Dawson and Lucy are recalled to MI6. For once their mission is straightforward: liaise with Rebecca Erasmus of South African State Security and find the missing lawyer. Then Rebecca is kidnapped. Surely this has nothing to do with the forthcoming presidential election and the vengeful Chinese assassin in town...
Why are Dawson and Lucy held up at gunpoint on Table Mountain?
‘It’s a bit tricky to find … Just down the lane from the old ochre pit.’
With these words, Trish, badly bruised by life, is catapulted into the world of celebrity author, Amanda Turner.
Her marriage on the rocks, no job, and at odds with her teenage daughters, Trish vows to reinvent herself. ‘Like Madonna,’ she tells her teens. ‘Only as a writer.’
Naively, she pins her hopes on arrogant Amanda to nurture her, and weekly classes begin at Amanda’s gloomy house in the woods. Trish takes an instant dislike to Amanda’s strapping young handyman, Pavel. Her suspicions grow, as an air of foreboding – as well as a nasty smell – hang over the house.
When Amanda vanishes, it’s left to Trish to mount a rescue. Is she woman enough for the job? Will she ever write that bestseller?
Funny and touching, A Novel Solution is an engaging and uplifting story of a woman’s struggle to sort her life out.
