by Penny Parkes
Similarly, the wonderful whirlwind that is my writing life is enhanced in every way by my author mates – who are always there for the ups and the downs, whether in person or online. My Cotswold posse are an incredible source of joy and I wouldn’t be anywhere else: Katie Fforde, AJ Pearce, Caroline Sanderson, Nikki Owen and Kate Riordan – you are all wonderful and fabulous and I love you; not to mention the sisterhood among my fellow Schusters is hard to beat: Milly Johnson, Bernie Strachan, Dany Atkins, Patricia Scanlan, Sarah Vaughan, Catherine Isaac, Kate Furnivall, Paige Toon, Heidi Swain and Holly Hepburn – you make ‘work’ parties an absolute joy and I’m so grateful to have you at the end of an email.
My ever-tolerant friends and family are now getting used to me disappearing into my fictional world, but their support is nonetheless vital in my attempts to keep a little balance. I owe you all new Post-its, replenished gin supplies, and heaps of love and hugs. Always.
And no Tiggerish round-up of thank yous would ever be complete without thanking the booksellers and bloggers, reviewers, readers and buyers who took a leap of faith with my first book and have been waving the Larkford pom-poms ever since – you’re all amazing and so very much appreciated . . . I quite literally couldn’t do this without you.
Px
About the Author
Penny Parkes survived a Convent education largely thanks to a ready supply of inappropriate novels and her passion for writing and languages.
She studied International Management in Bath and Germany, before gaining experience with the BBC. She then set up an independent Film Location Agency and spent many happy years organising shoots for film, television and advertising – thereby ensuring that she was never short of travel opportunities, freelance writing projects or entertaining anecdotes.
Penny now lives in the Cotswolds with her husband, two children and an excitable puppy with a fondness for Post-its. She will often be found plotting epic train journeys through the Alps, baking gluten-free goodies or attempting to reach an elusive state of organisation.
Her novel Out of Practice, the first book in the Larkford series, won the RNA Romantic Comedy of the Year Award in 2017. This is her fourth novel.
Follow Penny on Twitter and Instagram: @CotswoldPenny
ALSO BY PENNY PARKES
Out of Practice
Practice Makes Perfect
Best Practice
eBook only:
Swept Away (eBook short story)
First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2019
A CBS COMPANY
Copyright © Wibble Creative Ltd, 2019
The right of Penny Parkes to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
1st Floor
222 Gray’s Inn Road
London WC1X 8HB
Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney
Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi
www.simonandschuster.co.uk
www.simonandschuster.com.au
www.simonandschuster.co.in
Design by S&S Art Dept.
Cover illustration © Lucy Truman
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4711-6403-3
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4711-6404-0
Audio ISBN: 978-1-4711-7733-0
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from The Power of Intention by Dr Wayne W. Dyer.
Published by Hay House, 2004. Reprinted by permission of Hay House.
Typeset in the UK by M Rules
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Contents
Epigraph
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Acknowledgements
About the Author
