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Amanda Prowse

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by Amanda Prowse (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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From the bestselling author of The Girl in the Corner comes a story that asks: what would you risk for a shot at happiness?

1984. Bessie is a confident sixteen-year-old girl with the world at her feet, dreaming of what life will bring and what she’ll bring to this life. Then everything comes crashing down. Her bright and trusting smile is lost, banished by shame—and a secret she’ll carry with her for the rest of her life.

2021. The last thirty-seven years have not been easy for Bess. At fifty-three she is visibly weary, and her marriage to Mario is in tatters. Watching her son in newlywed bliss—the hope, the trust, the joy—Bess knows it is time to face her own demons, and try to save her relationship. But she’ll have to throw off the burden of shame if she is to honour that sixteen-year-old girl whose dreams lie frozen in time.

Can Bess face her past, finally come clean to Mario, and claim the love she has longed to fully experience all these years?

Print length

317 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Lake Union Publishing
Publication date

8 June 2021
File size

4752 KB
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Product description

About the Author

Amanda Prowse is an international bestselling author of twenty-seven novels published in dozens of languages. Her chart-topping titles What Have I Done?, Perfect Daughter, My Husband’s Wife, The Coordinates of Loss, The Girl in the Corner and The Things I Know have sold millions of copies around the world.

Other novels by Amanda Prowse include A Mother’s Story, which won the coveted Sainsbury’s eBook of the Year Award. Perfect Daughter was selected as a World Book Night title in 2016. She has been described by the Daily Mail as ‘the queen of family drama’.

Amanda is the most prolific writer of bestselling contemporary fiction in the UK today. Her titles consistently score the highest online review approval ratings across several genres.

A popular TV and radio personality, Amanda is a regular panellist on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine show, as well as featuring on numerous daytime ITV programmes. She also makes countless guest appearances on national and independent radio stations, including LBC and talkRADIO, where she is well known for her insightful observations and infectious humour.

Amanda’s ambition is to create stories that keep people from turning off the bedside lamp at night, that ensure you walk every step with her great characters, and tales that fill your head so you can’t possibly read another book until the memory fades…

Review

“A touching, believable story, perfect for fans of Sinead Moriarty and Rowan Coleman.” ―Candis

“A brilliant read.” ―Bella

“Sometimes funny, sometimes raw but always emotional, this is an honest story of how one mistake can change a life.” ―The People’s Friend

“A perfect summer’s day read.” ―New! Magazine

“Raw and honest, the author is one who always writes from the heart.” ―The Sun

“A heart-warming and life-affirming story.” ―Woman Magazine --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08KT7W8N6
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lake Union Publishing (8 June 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4752 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 317 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 1,347 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 8 in Literary Fiction (Kindle Store)
- 10 in British & Irish Literature
- 12 in Contemporary Fiction (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
7,143 ratings

About the author

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Amanda Prowse

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Amanda Prowse is an International Bestselling author whose twenty-six novels, non-fiction title and seven novellas have been published in dozens of languages around the world. Published by Lake Union, Amanda is the most prolific writer of bestselling contemporary fiction in the UK today; her titles also consistently score the highest online review approval ratings across several genres. Her books, including the chart topping No.1 titles 'What Have I Done?', 'Perfect Daughter', 'My Husband's Wife', 'The Girl in the Corner' and ‘The Things I Know’ have sold millions of copies across the globe.

A popular TV and radio personality, Amanda is a regular panellist on Channel 5's 'The Jeremy Vine Show' and numerous daytime ITV programmes. She also makes countless guest appearances on BBC national independent Radio stations including LBC and Talk FM, where she is well known for her insightful observations and her infectious humour. Described by the Daily Mail as ‘The queen of family drama’ Amanda’s novel, 'A Mother's Story' won the coveted Sainsbury's eBook of the year Award while 'Perfect Daughter' was selected as a World Book Night title in 2016.

Amanda's ambition is to create stories that keep people from turning the bedside lamp off at night, great characters that ensure you take every step with them and tales that fill your head so you can't possibly read another book until the memory fades...

Praise for Amanda Prowse:

'A powerful and emotional work of fiction' - Piers Morgan

'Deeply moving and emotional, Amanda Prowse handles her explosive subjects with delicate skill' - Daily Mail

'Uplifting and positive, but you will still need a box of tissues' - Hello!

'A gut-wrenching and absolutely brilliant read' - The Irish Sun

'You'll fall in love with this...' - Cosmopolitan

'Deeply moving and eye opening. Powerful and emotional drama that packs a real punch.' - Heat

'Magical' - Now magazine

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Customer reviews

5 star		46%
4 star		34%
3 star		15%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Australia

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Heartfelt

Reviewed in Australia on 23 November 2021

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There is something about the way that Ms. Prowse writes that’s incredibly engaging. I haven’t loved everything she has written, but they have certainly brought out many emotions. One of the things I adore about this author is not everything needs to be wrapped up in a pretty pink bow. Like in real life, sometimes things don’t work out. Sometimes not all the loose ends get tied up. And I think that lends a sense of real-ness to this author’s writing I appreciate.

Needless to say, I liked Bess. She wasn’t perfect, and she made bad decisions, but I liked her and Mario, and I was cheering for them to make things right by the end. I also understood why she chose to do what she did when it came to Michelle. It was just sad that that’s what happened, and I hate when people are left in the dark like that. Still, a book I’m not sorry I read, and look forward to reading more from this author.

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Karen Campbell

Major flaw

Reviewed in Australia on 11 November 2021

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The whole premise of the book is based on the abusive action of one character, who is never held accountable. Lawrence misled and used Bessie, and then threw her away like an old tissue. Yet his actions are never addressed and the two occasions when he could be made accountable for his actions are passed up as a noble gesture. It's as if the author gaslighted the main character.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Loved It to Bits

Reviewed in Australia on 18 November 2021

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This was truly one of the best novels I’ve read, ever. The characters so real I felt I knew them personally. A story-line so credible it hurt. I loved it so much I read till 2am to finish it and then had to be at work at 6am but I couldn’t wait to get to the end.
A story for these days of ours that soo many people can relate to and deal with in their own way.
I highly recommend this novel to readers of family oriented stories.

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mkru

Good read.

Reviewed in Australia on 5 April 2022

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It is well written and although a bit long. Good anecdotes on specific issues. We seem all hiding things from our lives. However a food end to the story

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Amazon Customer

Wish I'd seen the bad reviews first

Reviewed in Australia on 28 April 2022

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What a boring book. I pushed myself to finish this. Terrible main character, hung up on something that happened when she was 16, punished everyone around her. As one other negative review said, nothing changed when she was older, married to a nice man with two adult kids. Blamed everyone else for mistakes she made.

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Kindle Customer

A fun flashback

Reviewed in Australia on 7 January 2022

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If you were a teenager in the 80's you'll love this fun trip down memory lane, with or without the anxiety.
Also the realisticness of relationships with the past and present is enjoyable.

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Caz

Very enjoy able book

Reviewed in Australia on 14 November 2021

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I thougherly enjoyed this story found it hard to out down ... Will read more from Amanda Prowse l like the way she writes her novel s

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Janet Sharp

Couldn’t put it down!

Reviewed in Australia on 27 October 2021

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Such a great story about family, love and secrets. Had me hooked from the first page. I didn’t want it to end.

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Top reviews from other countries

TeresaNik

Another incredible read from this hugely talented author!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2021

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It's 22nd August 1984 and Bessie's sixteenth birthday, she wakes with great hope for the future because it's also results day for school exams, she's hoping she's done well because her dream is to become an air hostess. Later that day her world comes crashing down around her and Bessie is left full of shame and carrying a secret she can never share.

It's 22nd August 2021 and Bess is now fifty three, she is married to Mario and they have two children, Jake and Natalie but their relationship is failing. Jake has recently got married and watching him settling into married life, Bess knows, in order to save her own marriage, she must finally face the demons she's been hiding from for the last thirty seven years and reveal to her husband the secret that changed her world in 1984.

The story begins in 1984, with Bessie and her brother Philip on a train, their destination isn't revealed until much later in the book. We are then led on a journey which alternates between 1984 and 2021, and centres around her birthday in both timelines. It's a tale of huge aspirations, broken dreams, love, loss, secrets, lies, trust and betrayal and once again, at the hands of this hugely talented author, it's been told beautifully, with compassion and integrity. The chapters are seamless, the switching between the two timelines is faultless and the characters are brought to life so exquisitely that if they stepped out of those pages they would be as real as you and me. I was completely invested in this story, as I am with all the books I've read by this author, but more so in this one because it's my era, I was 16 in 1984, full of hope for my future too, now 53 and married with two children, that's where the similarities between Bess and myself end, but I found myself reminiscing about those years as a teenager and wondering, if I could rewind to 1984, would I have done anything different, maybe I'd have chosen a different career path, but that's the only thing I'd change. This story shows that life is what you make it, we all have choices and those choices map out our journey through life and make us the people we are today. As always with this author, I highly recommend this book but you will need tissues, it's an emotional read that had me smiling and crying throughout.

41 people found this helpful

Mrs Linda J Kitson

Another wonderful book from Amanda Prowse

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 June 2021

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One woman, one day in August, 36 years, a huge secret tearing her apart, threatening her very existence. Amanda Prowse’s highly proficient storytelling weaves a gripping account of how teenage angst and actions affect Bessie, on her 16th birthday and for decades afterwards. No spoilers in this review, if you enjoy a good book, characters who come alive from the first page, people who you laugh and cry with as you turn each page, then Waiting to Begin will be the novel you have been waiting for. I could not put it down, at the risk of being very tired at work, I had to finish it before I went to sleep. Amanda has penned almost 30 wonderful books and if you are new to her work, then your reading list just filled up for a long time.

20 people found this helpful

frosty

Tediously detailed and poor planning of plot

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 October 2021

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How irritatingly detailed was this book. Basically the whole book is about 2 days in the main characters life. It went on ad nauseum about the day the main character flunked her exams and her fifty something birthday. The level of detail was so banal it was like the author had been made to write this book by their publisher so had thought sod you I’m going to give you a book and then stretch it out to write about 2 days and I’ll include every bit of minutiae so you get your book.
The lack of planning of the plot meant that what should have constituted a third of the book as Bessie recovered her relationship with Mario was lightly glossed over with they had a few chats and now it’s all wonderful. Next time plan your plot Amanda so you have enough time to actually finish the story. If you hadn’t been writing about the cheese and tomato sandwiches you might have had room to explore how you reconstruct a 30 year marriage after a devestating revelation.
Unfortunately when I start a book I have to finish it so this has been a most irritating, annoying, tenth grating book read experience but at least I’ll never read a book by this author again, the name is stuck in my head.

17 people found this helpful

MimiLovesHerDog

Mixed feelings about this book unfortunately

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 September 2021

Verified Purchase

I could not stop reading this book until I had finished it, within 3 hours. I found it very easy to read and the storyline gripped me for most of it.
I found it to be interesting with tragic, sad and also happy events in it.
I felt the pain that Bessie goes through in the story, as I have been through similar situations and at exactly the same ages.
The author at times writes brilliantly, truly capturing emotions, but then at other times in quite a bland way.
What I did not like was that some of the words that were used by the two main characters, during 1984, were not words that were used back then, especially by those of the same age at that time. I know because I am exactly the same ages as Bessie and Michelle in the story.
Some of the words that they used are words that have only been created in recent years, and therefore were never said back in 1984.
I also felt that the book, starts off very well and continues that way, until the final few chapters, where it seems as though the Author wanted to hurry up and get it finished quickly, and did not put enough of an effort it, as she did in the the rest of the book.
I also didn't like the way, it happened to have a happy all round ending for everyone. It was all too perfect. I felt let down by the ending.
Maybe I am miserable though? ha

14 people found this helpful

holisticjo

I can’t wait to begin the part 2 of this book, please

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 July 2021

Verified Purchase

I loved this beautiful book by Amanda. I could so relate to Bessie’s story. Making good friends at High School (or Secondary Modern School as it was then) going to my best friends house on a Saturday afternoon to rehearse dance moves to ABBAs Dancing Queen, The Bee Gees Stayin’ Alive and many more as we were going with her mum and dad to the social club that evening then fish and chips on the way home. Those were the days.
Such a sad story for Bessie just having left school and having to face such a huge dilemma and for her whole adult life to keep her ‘secret’. Then one day you have to tell your ‘secret’ to your husband so that he can understand where your head is at. Then this rollercoaster continues to tell the rest of your family oh my this had my stomach churning for Bessie. Then the end of the book had me shouting nooooo Amanda keep telling the story so again a ask please we need a part 2 for the story to continue
Thank you for a fabulous book

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