The Peacock Emporium - Tapa dura

'This is a wonderful read.' You Magazine, South Africa 'It says a lot for the author's storytelling powers that this classy family drama had me utterly engrossed, deeply involved with the characters and caring madly about their fate.' - Australian Woman's Weekly 'Entertaining' - Image Magazine, Dublin 'A rich chocolate box of a novel' - WOMAN AND HOME 'A complex, feel-good read' - EVE 'A captivating read' - OK 'A charming and enchanting read' - Company 'Another feel-good read from the author of Foreign Fruit' - GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'If you liked Chocolat by Joanne Harris, you'll love Foreign Fruit by Jojo Moyes ... blissful, romantic reading' - Company on FOREIGN FRUIT 'Moyes again proves herself a worthy successor to Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher with her second novel.' - Publishers Weekly on FOREIGN FRUIT 'The characters are strong, believable and endearing - and will evoke recognition and sympathy from all ages ... An enjoyable read - and a promising debut novel' -- Sunday Express on SHELTERING RAIN 'Wonderful full-blooded traditional storytelling, but with a fresh slant' -- Sarah Harrison on SHELTERING RAIN 'Even if the sun isn't shining, this book will make you feel like it is ...' - Good Housekeeping on FOREIGN FRUIT 'Believable characters, faithfully described scenery, horses and hounds, mud and mould, this is good, old-fashioned storytelling at its best. Destined to be a bestseller, the book has a beautifully designed cover and, once opened, it is almost impossible to stop reading' -- North Shore Times, Australia on SHELTERING RAIN 'A charming and enchanting read' - Company on The Peacock Emporium

In the Sixties, Athene Forster is the most glamorous girl of her generation. Nicknamed the Last Deb, she is also beautiful, spoilt and out of control. When she agrees to marry dashing young heir Douglas Fairley-Hulme her parents breathe a sigh of relief. But within two years rumours have begun to circulate about Athene's affair with a young salesman. Thirty five years on, Suzanna Peacock is struggling with her glamorous mother's legacy. At odds with her father and his second wife, struggling in a stalled marriage, she returns to the place of her birth to find that the ghost of her mother, in differing ways, still haunts them all. The only place she finds comfort is in her shop, The Peacock Emporium, a coffee shop-cum-curio store, decorated in her own image, which provides a haven for other misfits in the town. There she makes perhaps the first real friends of her life, including Alejandro, a male midwife, escaping his own ghosts in Argentina. But the spectre of Athene and the shop itself combine to set in place a chain of tragic events, forcing Suzanna to confront the feelings she has disguised for so long - and her family, in their varying ways, finally to deal with the events of the past. And Suzanna discovers the key to her history, and her happiness, may have been in front of her all along.