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Author: North, Freya

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 1 February 2024 by Headline Publishing Group (Mountain Leopard Press) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 448 pages
164 x 242 x 40 | 694g

‘A delightful dose of nostalgia’ HEAT’A beautifully written tale about growing up, letting go and moving on’ SUN’Get ready to fall in love with Eadie Browne, the eponymous and eccentric heroine of this tender-hearted, steeped-in-nostalgia story about chosen family’ REDWhen your present meets your past, what do you take with you – and what do you leave behind?Eadie Browne is an odd child with unusual parents, living in a strange house neighbouring the local cemetery. Bullied at school – but protected by her two best friends, Celeste and Josh, and her many imaginary friends lying six feet under next door – Eadie muddles her way through.

Arriving in Manchester as a student in the late 1980s, Eadie confronts a busy, gritty Victorian metropolis a far cry from the small Garden City she’s left behind. Soon enough she experiences a novel freedom she never imagined and it’s seductive. She can be who she wants to be, do as she pleases, and no one back home needs to know. As Manchester embraces the dizzying, colourful euphoria of Rave counterculture, Eadie is swept along, blithely ignoring danger and reality. Until, one night, her past comes hurtling at her with ramifications which will continue into her adult life.

Now, as the new millennium beckons, Eadie is turning thirty with a marriage in tatters. She must travel back to where she once lived for a funeral she can’t quite comprehend. As she journeys from the North to the South, from the present to the past, Eadie contemplates all that was then – and all that is now – in this moving love letter to youth.

‘A gorgeous, heartfelt, atmospheric novel by a wonderful storyteller’ LUCY ATKINS’A beautifully moving portrait of youth, friendship and love . . . I loved it’ MIKE GAYLE’Beautifully written, funny and wise . . . heart-breaking and heart-warming’ ALEXANDRA POTTERMORE PRAISE FOR FREYA NORTH:’A terrific family drama of secrets . . . and so cleverly plotted’ Graham Norton’A completely compelling story of family secrets, courage and resilience’ Fearne Cotton’Immensely enjoyable . . . infused with empathy and a great sense of place’ Erica James’What a treat. This filled my heart with joy and occasionally my eyes with tears; it is beautiful’ Prima