Is That you Beth Cherry? by Lucy Dillon

Beth’s life, like the unfinished screenplay on her laptop, is stuck between chapters.

[ About Is That You Beth Cherry? ]

Since her breakup with Fraser – which was not part of the script – she’s retreated into a lonely WFH world of sweatpants, disordered hours and comfort eating. The one luminous constant in her life is her love for her rescue dog, Tomsk, and his for her.

When Beth’s house share falls apart, she is thrown a lifeline by the least likely person: Fraser’s mother Martine, who offers Beth and Tomsk a temporary space above her garage in which to start over. Returning to Longhampton, scene of her happiest memories with Fraser and his family, feels like a second chance: might this be a sign that she and Fraser are meant to be?

But when Beth is recruited as a writer for a project called The Story of Your Life, she starts to gain more perspective on her own life. Run by the local retirement community, some of the stories she hears are heartwarming, some are heartbreaking. All of them, Beth notes, reveal a little more than the teller realises. And when she is sent an anonymous story of first love that threatens to destroy more than one family’s identity, Beth has to decide: is it sometimes better to keep a secret than reveal the truth?

[ My Review ]

Is That You Beth Cherry? published November 6th with Hodder & Stoughton and is described as a ‘warm and witty new novel’.

I was delighted to have my review feature in the Irish Examiner newspaper last Saturday (December 13th). I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, one so full of heart and warmth and a perfect seasonal read. You can click on the link below for my full thoughts.

With a cast of characters that come alive on paper, Is That You, Beth Cherry? is a heart-warming, relatable, and gentle story about self-discovery and finding one’s place in the world…

Irish Examiner Review – https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-41756993.html

[ Bio ]

Lucy Dillon grew up by the seaside in Cumbria, and read English at Cambridge University, before working as a fiction editor. She is the best-selling author of eleven novels set in the market town of Longhampton, including Romantic Novelists Association Novels of the Year Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts and A Hundred Pieces of Me. An enthusiastic collector of dog-related junk, Lucy lives in Herefordshire with an English Otterhound, a Welsh Pembroke Corgi and a Scottish Husband.