by Jenny Colgan
Still distracted by the heavy weather, she turned round to face him in the moonlight. Rosie liked to see the moon, and the countryside was so dark they rarely closed the curtains, a novelty she was so keen on it made Stephen laugh, as if it were a house feature. Stephen looked back at her. Rosie had curly black hair that she was always trying to wrestle into straight submission, but he loved it when it curled, as it did now, wild and cloudy around her face. Her eyes were direct and green, her face freckled. Her skin glowed pale, her curvy body lit by the moonlight. He couldn’t resist running his hand round her waist to her generous hips. He could never understand for a minute why Rosie worried about her weight, when her body was so voluptuous and lovely.
‘Mm,’ he said.
‘What’s up with you?’ asked Rosie.
‘I’m fine,’ said Stephen. ‘And don’t look at me. That wasn’t an “I’m fine” I’m fine. That was an “actually I am TOTALLY fine” I’m fine.’
‘That one’s even worse.’
‘Ssh.’
Rosie glanced towards the window.
‘It’s weird out there.’
‘That’s what you said the night you heard the owl.’
‘Come on, owls are really scary.’
‘As opposed to drive-by shootings in London?’
‘Shut it.’ Rosie did her proper cockney voice that rarely failed to make him laugh, but she could see in the light, as her fingers traced his strong brow, his thick dark hair flopping on his forehead, his long eyelashes, that he wasn’t even smiling.
‘It’s just kids.’
‘I know.’
Stephen had been waiting for a job to come free at the local school for a while. He had only ever taught overseas, so had been considered underqualified and sent off to do his time in various schools, including one in central Derby that had taught him a bit, but nonetheless he was still nervous about tomorrow.
‘So what are you worried about?’
‘Because I’m not just their new teacher, am I? They all know who I am.’
Stephen was from the local family of landed gentry. Even though he’d rejected everything they stood for, and broken away from his parents – he had now made up with his mother, after his father had died of a heart attack – his every doing was subject to constant speculation in the village. Rosie also got her fair share of snotty gossip for going out with him, as several local worthies had had him in mind for their own daughters, but she kept this from him as much as possible.
‘Well that’s good,’ she argued. ‘All the young mums fancy you and all the kids think you’re Bruce Wayne.’
‘Or they all still think I’m a sulky pretentious teen,’ said Stephen sorrowfully.
‘Well that’s okay too,’ said Rosie. ‘You’ll get on well with the kids.’
She could tell he was still wearing the brooding expression.
‘We should definitely have had this conversation before we had sex,’ she said. ‘Then the relaxing bit could have come later.’
The moonlight caught a glint in his eye.
‘Well, maybe…’
She grinned at him.
‘You know, for a wounded war dog. the Right Hon. Lipton, you still have some moves…’
Just as he moved towards her, however, she leapt up out of bed.
‘Snow!’ she shouted. ‘Look at the snow!’
Stephen turned his head and groaned.
‘Oh no,’ he said.
‘Look at it!’ said Rosie, heedless of the cold. ‘Just look at it!’
The previous winter in Lipton, after an early flurry, it had simply rained all winter; they had had hardly any snow at all. Now here it was, great big fat flakes falling softly all down the road, quickly covering it with a blanket of white.
‘It’s settling!’ shouted Rosie.
‘Of course it’s lying,’ said Stephen. ‘This is the Peak District, not Dubai.’
Nonetheless, with a sigh of resignation, he got up and pulled the eiderdown off the bed and padded across the cold wooden floor to Rosie, wrapping them both up in it. The snow flurried and danced in the air, the stars peeking out between the flakes, the mountains great dark looming silhouettes in the distance.
‘I’ve never seen snow like this,’ said Rosie. ‘Well, not that’s lasted.’
‘It’s bad,’ said Stephen soberly. ‘It’s very early. Lambing was late this year; they’ll need looking out for. And no one can get around. It’s treacherous for the old folks; they don’t clear the roads up here, you know. People get trapped for weeks. We’re barely stocked up, and we’re in town.’
Rosie blinked. She’d never thought of snow as a serious matter before. In Hackney it was five minutes of prettiness that bunged up all the trains then degenerated quickly into mucky, splashy roads, dog poo smeared into sleet and big grey slushy puddles. This silent remaking of the world filled her with awe.
‘If it blocks the pass road… well, that’s when we all have to resort to cannibalism,’ said Stephen, baring his teeth in the moonlight.
‘Well I love it,’ she whispered. ‘Jake’s going to drop us off some wood, he said.’
‘Ahem,’ said Stephen, coughing.
‘What?’
‘Well,’ said Stephen, ‘he’ll probably be nicking it from somewhere that belongs to my family in the first place.’
‘It’s just ridiculous that a family owns a whole wood,’ said Rosie.
‘Ridiculous or not, I can get Laird to deliver it for nothing,’ said Stephen. ‘Seeing as it’s, you know. Ours.’
‘Yeah yeah yeah. Because your great-grandad times a jillion shagged a princess by accident,’ said Rosie, whose knowledge of Stephen’s ancestry was hazy. ‘Whatever.’
‘Whatever,’ said Stephen, kissing her soft scented shoulder, ‘means a warm, cosy house. Unlike this icebox. Come come, my love. Back to bed.’
WELCOME TO ROSIE HOPKINS’ SWEETSHOP OF DREAMS
Jenny Colgan
Were you a sherbet lemon or chocolate lime fan? Penny chews or hard-boiled sweeties (you do get more for your money that way)? The jangle of your pocket money… the rustle of the pink and green striped paper bag…
Rosie Hopkins thinks leaving her busy London life, and her boyfriend Gerard, to sort out her elderly Aunt Lilian’s sweetshop in a small country village is going to be dull. Boy, is she wrong.
Lilian Hopkins has spent her life running Lipton’s sweetshop, through wartime and family feuds. As she struggles with the idea that it might finally be the time to settle up, she also wrestles with the secret history hidden behind the jars of beautifully coloured sweets.
‘This funny, sweet story is Jenny Colgan at her absolute best’
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CHRISTMAS AT ROSIE HOPKINS’ SWEETSHOP
Jenny Colgan
Curl up with Rosie, her friends and her family as they prepare for a very special Christmas…
Rosie Hopkins is looking forward to Christmas in the little Derbyshire village of Lipton, buried under a thick blanket of snow. Her sweetshop is festooned with striped candy canes, large tempting piles of Turkish Delight, crinkling selection boxes and happy, sticky children. She’s going to be spending it with her boyfriend, Stephen, and her family, who are flying in from Australia. She can’t wait.
But when a tragedy strikes at the heart of their little community, all of Rosie’s plans for the future seem to be blown apart. Can she build a life in Lipton? And is what’s best for the sweetshop also what’s best for Rosie?
‘An evocative, sweet treat’
Jojo Moyes
MEET ME AT THE CUPCAKE CAFÉ
Jenny Colgan
Come and meet Issy Randall, proud owner of The Cupcake Café.
Issy Randall can bake. No, more than that – Issy can create stunning, mouth-wateringly divine cakes. After a childhood spent in her beloved Grampa Joe’s bakery, she has undoubtedly inherited his talent.
When she’s made redundant from her safe but dull City job, Issy decides to seize the moment. A
rmed with recipes from Grampa, and with her best friends and local bank manager fighting her corner, The Cupcake Café opens its doors. But Issy has absolutely no idea what she’s let herself in for. It will take all her courage – and confectionery – to avert disaster…
‘Sheer indulgence from start to finish’
Sophie Kinsella
CHRISTMAS AT THE CUPCAKE CAFÉ
Jenny Colgan
Join Issy, Austin, Pearl and Caroline as they prepare for a very special Christmas…
Issy Randall, proud owner of the Cupcake Café, is in love and couldn’t be happier. Her new business is thriving and she is surrounded by close friends, even if her cupcake colleagues Pearl and Caroline don’t seem quite as upbeat about the upcoming season of snow and merriment. But when her boyfriend Austin is scouted for a possible move to New York, Issy is forced to face up to the prospect of a long-distance romance. And when the Christmas rush at the café – with its increased demand for her delectable creations – begins to take its toll, Issy has to decide what she holds most dear.
This December, Issy will have to rely on all her reserves of courage, good nature and cinnamon to make sure everyone has a merry Christmas, one way or another…
‘Light and fun read for the sweet-toothed, with a clutch of recipes as the icing on top’Choice
THE LOVELIEST CHOCOLATE SHOP IN PARIS
Jenny Colgan
As dawn breaks over the Pont Neuf, and the cobbled alleyways of Paris come to life, Anna Trent is already awake and at work; mixing and stirring the finest, smoothest, richest chocolate; made entirely by hand, it is sold to the grandes dames of Paris.
It’s a huge shift from the chocolate factory she worked in at home in the north of England. But when an accident changed everything, Anna was thrown back in touch with her French teacher, Claire, who offered her the chance of a lifetime – to work in Paris with her former sweetheart, Thierry, a master chocolatier.
With old wounds about to be uncovered and healed, Anna is set to discover more about real chocolate – and herself – than she ever dreamed.
‘Gorgeous, glorious, uplifting’
Marian Keyes
WEST END GIRLS
Jenny Colgan
The streets of London are paved with gold… allegedly.
They may be twin sisters, but Lizzie and Penny Berry are complete opposites – Penny is blonde, thin and outrageous; Lizzie quiet, thoughtful and definitely not thin. The one trait they do share is a desire to DO something with their lives and, as far as they’re concerned, the place to get noticed is London.
Out of the blue they discover they have a grandmother living in Chelsea – and when she has to go into hospital, they find themselves flat-sitting on the King’s Road. But, as they discover, it’s not as easy to become It Girls as they’d imagined, and West End Boys aren’t at all like Hugh Grant…
‘A brilliant novel from the mistress of chick-lit’
Eve
OPERATION SUNSHINE
Jenny Colgan
Evie needs a good holiday. Not just because she’s been working all hours in her job, but also because every holiday she has ever been on has involved sunburn, arguments and projectile vomiting – sometimes all three at once. Why can’t she have a normal holiday, like other people seem to have – some sun, sand, sea and (hopefully) sex?
So when her employers invite her to attend a conference with them in the South of France, she can’t believe her luck. It’s certainly going to be the holiday of a lifetime – but not quite in the way Evie imagines!
‘Colgan at her warm, down-to-earth best’
Cosmopolitan
DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND
Jenny Colgan
Sophie Chesterton has been living the high life of glamorous parties, men and new clothes, never thinking about tomorrow. But after one shocking evening, she comes back down to earth with the cruellest of bumps. Facing up to life in the real world for the first time, Sophie quickly realises that when you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way is up.
Join her as she starts life all over again: from cleaning toilets for a living to the joys of bring-your-own-booze parties; from squeezing out that last piece of lip gloss from the tube to bargaining with bus drivers.
For anyone who’s ever been scared of losing it all, this book is here to show you money can’t buy you love, and best friends are so much more fun than diamonds…
‘Jenny Colgan always writes an unputdownable, page-turning bestseller – she’s the queen of modern chick-lit’
Louise Bagshawe
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE DUMPED
Jenny Colgan
Now, you obviously, would never, ever look up your exes on Facebook. Nooo. And even if you did, you most certainly wouldn’t run off trying to track them down, risking your job, family and happiness in the process. Posy Fairweather, on the other hand…
Posy is delighted when Matt proposes – on top of a mountain, in a gale, in full-on romantic mode. But a few days later disaster strikes: he backs out of the engagement. Crushed and humiliated, Posy starts thinking. Why has her love life always ended in total disaster? Determined to discover how she got to this point, Posy resolves to get online and track down her exes. Can she learn from past mistakes? And what if she has let Mr Right slip through her fingers on the way?
‘A Jenny Colgan novel is as essential for a week in the sun as Alka Seltzer, aftersun and far too many pairs of sandals’
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