My edition: paperback, published on 13th February 2014 by Head of Zeus, 368 pages.Description: Pru Plum is the celebrated owner of a famous Mayfair bakery. She wears Chanel and her hair is expensively cut. Few would believe that this elegant woman turned sixty-six last year.
But Pru is not the confident, successful businesswoman she appears. She has done shameful things to get to where she is today.
And she will do anything to protect the secrets of her past - especially when, for the first time in her life, she has finally fallen in love...
Rating:
The charming pastel colours and prominent bakery image on the front of the book's cover initially made me think this was going to be a story along the lines of Jenny Colgan's most recent ones; sweet, cosy and filled with delectable food. And while it certainly included those elements, A Little Love was also more raw and touched upon some subjects I hadn't expected to find in a book that looked as cute as this one does.
Pru Plum is a sophisticated lady and together with her cousin she manages a swanky bakery in Mayfair which has a long list of rich and famous clientele. The two women, now in their sixties, have had to work hard to get to where they are, but nobody realises quite what they had to overcome along the way and how much the two girls from the poor side of town had to sacrifice to make their dream a reality and set up their own business.
Putting years and years of long hours and hard work into the bakery, Pru never really had the opportunity to find the one thing many find so important in life: love - or perhaps, subconsciously, she closed herself off from the prospect of finding 'the one'. Even though she's now well in her sixties and she is proud of her accomplishments in life, she also can't help but feel like she missed out by not finding that special person to share it with.
The characters within this novel almost came off the pages while I was reading about them; they were exceptionally real. Flawed and sometimes unlikeable they were ultimately good people who did what they thought was for the best when faced with difficult choices in life. Infidelity, prostitution and single motherhood are just a few of the hardships that are touched upon within this surprisingly harrowing book.
With a little love and a lot of intrigue this was both a romantic and gripping novel. It starts off as a sweet story filled with sugary treats, but quickly evolves into a more substantial read with unexpected twists and long buried secrets bubbling to the surface. Despite everything the characters endure within the pages though, this is ultimately a story about love and how everyone deserves to find someone to love and to be loved unconditionally in return.
You can purchase a copy of the novel from Waterstones, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com or your own preferred retailer.
Would you like to know more about the author? You can connect with her online at:
Official website: amandaprowse.org
Facebook: facebook.com/amandaprowsenogreaterlove
Twitter: @MrsAmandaProwse
Many thanks to the publisher for an advance copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.
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