What (am I currently reading)? 

I am currently reading the literary/reading-group fiction Lyrics for the Loved Ones by Anne Goodwin.  This is being published on 15 May 2023 by Annecdotal Press.   It is the third book in this wonderful series.

Book Blurb   

After half a century confined in a psychiatric hospital, Matty has moved to a care home on the Cumbrian coast. Next year, she’ll be a hundred, and she intends to celebrate in style. Yet, before she can make the arrangements, her ‘maid’ goes missing.  

Irene, a care assistant, aims to surprise Matty with a birthday visit from the child she gave up for adoption as a young woman. But, when lockdown shuts the care-home doors, all plans are put on hold. 

But Matty won’t be beaten. At least not until the Black Lives Matter protests burst her bubble and buried secrets come to light. 

Will she survive to a hundred? Will she see her ‘maid’ again? Will she meet her long-lost child? 

Rooted in injustice, balanced with humour, this is a bittersweet story of reckoning with hidden histories in cloistered times. 

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/LovedOnes

About the Author

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction. 

Anne writes about the darkness that haunts her and is wary of artificial light. She makes stuff up to tell the truth about adversity, creating characters to care about and stories to make you think. She explores identity, mental health and social justice with compassion, humour and hope. 

An award-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize. Lyrics for the Loved Ones is her fourth novel. 

Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.  

Website https://annegoodwin.co.uk/  

Twitter: @Annecdotist     #LyricsfortheLovedOnes

Why (have I chosen to read it)?

I’m reading Lyrics for the Lost Ones because I read, and loved, the previous two books about Matty, and am keen to see how she is getting on.  

The first book in the series that I read was Matilda Windsor is Coming Home , then I read the prequel Stolen Summers , and now I am enjoying Lyrics for the Loved Ones.  

While (I am reading it) 

The weather is finally improving, so I took a walk up a local gorge this week,  and enjoyed a mountain restaurant lunch accompanied by some goats (the walk was also great!).  

All the best,  Emma