The Girl's Guide to Homemaking - Tapa blanda

`What makes you happy? What do you want from life?' I ran through a list of things that I supposed would make me sound cool. And then I told the truth. `A home,' I said. `A home with some people in it I love.' On a mission to have the perfect home, with tweeting bluebirds and a white picket fence, Juliet hits a major stumbling block - reality. On the first night with her boyfriend in their new flat, Juliet discovers that Simon has been sleeping with her best friend. After growing up in a dysfunctional family with secrets that haunt her, there's no way she is prepared to build her nest on a broken branch. Heartbroken and seeking an escape from her troubles, Juliet retreats into the comforting world of her grandmother's 1950s homemaking manuals, discovering tips like 'put a ribbon in your hair to brighten your husband's day' and though Juliet knows that won't get her anywhere, she discovers that craft and homemaking are back in style. Taking control of her life, Juliet is determined to get her home with a heart. But who will win hers?

Amy Bratley works as a freelance journalist and lives in Dorset with her husband and two children.