For all those who imagine escaping to a château and living the dream . . . to find that even dreams can have their complications.
Steph, Jo and Meredith have been friends since school. Their lives have all taken very different paths across the years, but when Meredith buys a romantic château in an idyllic village in the Dordogne she finds she can’t do it alone – so who better to enlist for help than her two old friends? Together they hope to bring the château back to life and create the most romantic wedding venue in France.
And it seems that the nearby village of Bratenac has much more to offer than sun, wine and delicious French food when a handsome chef and his equally charming son, a vigneron from New Zealand, not to mention the local ladies’ luncheon club and a British bulldog named Nelly all join the party.
Friends and lovers, old and new, come together and fall apart in deepest France, culminating in a very special château wedding. Funny, uplifting and poignant, this is Maeve Haran, bestselling author of The Greek Holiday, at her very best.
Four old university friends, Dora, Penny, Nell and Moira, reunite to re-live that first hippy-dippy trip together to a beautiful, unspoilt, romantic Greek island looking for sun, sand and sea.
But it’s not just about going back to when they were young. Maybe they do have dreams like Shirley Valentine because ultimately they’re all looking for something to help them through some difficult times in their lives – whether it’s with their career, family or relationships.
What they discover in Kyri, is an opportunity to re-invent, be themselves, contribute to a community who wants their help, at the same time as having fun, being happy and even finding love. But, crucially, they discover the most valuable lesson of all – understanding the true importance of female friendship.
Funny, warm, and poignant with her trademark wit and wisdom – this is Maeve Haran at her very, very best.
'Wonderfully entertaining . . . Maeve is on cracking form' - Jilly Cooper
Lifelong friends Claudia, Ella, Laura and Sal celebrated sixty as the new forty, determined not to let age change things. But now they are looking at the future and wondering how to make growing old more fun.
Why not live together and have sunny afternoons on the lawn, helping and supporting each other when any of them need it - and still keep enjoying life? Joined by Claudia's reluctant husband and Sal's energetic new fiancé, they ignore the protests of their children and pool their resources in a lovely manor house in the country. Only Laura holds out, determined she still has some living to do, especially now she has met the dashing Gavin through an online dating app.
But life still has plenty of surprises in store plus a little romance in what the locals dub a New Age Old Age Commune. But are your best friends the last people you should end up living with?
In A Country Garden is a heartwarming, hilarious tale of growing old not-so-gracefully, from the bestselling author of The Time of Their Lives, Maeve Haran.
