Lovers and Newcomers - Tapa dura

Acclaim for Lovers and Newcomers:

'Novelist Rosie Thomas is one of the best storytellers around' Express

'A wonderful story that explores relationships, history and change' She

'An evocatively told story of friendship, families and relationships, sharpened by the arrival of the outside world into their idyllic country retreat' Choice

Acclaim for Rosie Thomas:

‘Rosie Thomas writes with beautiful, effortless prose, and shows a rare compassion and a real understanding of the nature of love.’ The Times

'Heart-rending and beautifully written...I read it in one delicious go, tears pouring down my face. You cannot fail to be moved' Emma Lee-Potter, Express

‘A terrific book, beautifully written... questions about identity, belonging, infidelity, dying and forgiveness make this a very moving study of the human heart.’ Australian Women’s Weekly

‘Honest and absorbing, Rosie Thomas mixes the bitter and the hopeful with the knowledge that the human heart is far more complicated than any rule suggests.’ Mail on Sunday

'A lush and sweeping voyage of self-discovery' Eithne Farry, Daily Mail

‘Prepare to be dazzled...an epic tale of sisterhood and betrayal.’ Company

‘A master storyteller.’ Cosmopolitan

‘Thomas’s novels are beautifully written. This one is a treat.’ Marie Claire

From the bestselling author of Iris and Ruby comes a novel of a group of old friends reunited to start a new stage of their lives.

Miranda Meadowe decides a lonely widowhood in her crumbling country house is not for her. Reviving a university dream, she invites five of her oldest friends to come and join her to live, and to stave off the prospect of old age. All have their own reasons for accepting.

To begin with, omens are good. They laugh, dance, drink and behave badly, as they cling to the heritage they thought was theirs for ever: power, health, stability. They are the baby boomers; the world is theirs to change. But as old attractions resurface alongside new tensions, they discover that the clock can’t be put back.

When building work reveals an Iron Age burial site of a tribal queen, the outside world descends on their idyllic retreat, and the isolation of the group is breached. Now the past is revealed; and the future that beckons is very different from the one they imagined.