Life Skills

Katie Fforde

Feb 2011 · Random House

About this ebook

Julia's learning some lessons in love. A wonderfully romantic novel from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wedding in Provence

'The queen of uplifting, feel good romance' AJ PEARCE
'Effortlessly lovable, warm and fun' CLOSER
'Katie Fforde is on sparkling form' INDEPENDENT
'Top-drawer romantic escapism' DAILY MAIL
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Sometimes you can't escape the past...

When Julia realises she holds more affection for a Labrador than she does for her actual fiancée, Oscar, Julia decides to change her life. She quits her job, dumps Oscar, and starts a new career as a cook on a couple of narrowboats.

Finally feeling like she's keeping her head above water, Julia is appalled when her past comes back to haunt her.

Oscar is persistent, her mother is a matchmaking nightmare and to top it all off her childhood enemy, the enigmatic, Fergus Grindley, arrives on the scene.

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The whole world loves Katie Fforde's work:

"Modern-day Austen. Great fun" Red
"Top-drawer romantic escapism" Daily Mail
"Warm, brilliant and full of love" Heat
"Delicious - gorgeous humour and the lightest of touches" Sunday Times
"Effortlessly lovable, warm and fun" Closer
"Curl up on the sofa with this book and dream... delightful" The Lady
"Deliciously enjoyable" Woman and Home
"Uplifting and delightful" Hot Brands Cool Places

Ratings and reviews

Julia realises she is playing life so safe that she has practically sleep-walked into marrying a man she doesn't love and actually doesn't really like very much. When she loses out to a promotion she richly deserves to a helpless man, she receives no support from her boyfriend Oscar who agrees with her boss (one of his golfing buddies) that incompetent men should be promoted over capable women. Julia ditches the man and the job and resolves to do something completely different, her eye is caught by an advert in The Lady for cabin crew for a narrowboat and thus starts her new adventure. Pardon the pun, life isn't all plain sailing. Julia's new boss Suzie is a charming Sloane Ranger type (do we call them that anymore?), a bit of an airhead who has always been supported by daddy's money and doesn't have any normal life skills (like cleaning toilets or frying eggs). The other crew member is a surly man who refuses to do anything other than tinker with the engines and then leaves them in the lurch when the first passengers are about to arrive. Luckily Julia and Suzie are rescued by the serendipitous arrival of Julia's childhood arch enemy Fergus, with a book her mother wanted him to deliver. Julia might dislike Fergus, especially since his mother and hers have been matchmaking them since they were eight years old, but he is certainly a handy man to have around the narrowboats and the passengers love him. I read a review which said that 'although all of Fforde’s novels feature the same plot and are achingly middle class, they are usually a nice relaxing read' and I couldn't agree more, especially about the achingly middle class bit. This was first published in 1999 and it reflects some of the attitudes of that time (although TBH I don't think even then people were as strait-laced about unmarried women having children as this book would have you believe) as many other readers have mentioned. But if you can accept that then this is a lovely gentle romance, with a host of eccentric and lovable passengers, a stalwart hero to whose virtues Julia is wilfully blind and the glories of the English countryside.

I love all her books and this one is in my top 3. Worth reading, sweet and romantic.

Life skills

About the author

Katie Fforde lives in the beautiful Cotswold countryside with her family, and is a true country girl at heart. Each of her books explores a different profession or background and her research has helped her bring these to life. She’s been a porter in an auction house, tried her hand at pottery, refurbished furniture, delved behind the scenes of a dating website, and she's even been on a Ray Mears survival course. She loves being a writer; to her there isn’t a more satisfying and pleasing thing to do. She particularly enjoys writing love stories. She believes falling in love is the best thing in the world, and she wants all her characters to experience it, and her readers to share their stories. To find out more about Katie Fforde step into her world at www.katiefforde.com, visit her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @KatieFforde.