Her home, which had been standing empty for many years, has been lovingly restored to all its former glory and more. Presently Sophie has guests staying with her – old friends from Yorkshire who are now living in Australia. She introduces me to Mrs Ackroyd who was once the school cook at Sophie’s boarding school, the controversial St Bathsheba’s, currently being converted to a hotel and conference centre which should bring a lot of welcome visitors to the area. ‘It was Mrs Ackroyd who gave me my love of sewing,’ says Sophie, though Mrs Ackroyd is insistent that the pupil left her teacher far behind where skills are concerned.
In one of the upstairs rooms is a cover over a dress that I am not allowed to see, although I do get a sneak preview of the material: snow-white velvet. Next week, on Christmas Eve, Sophie Mayhew will exist no more. She will walk down the aisle of the local St George’s church where she will marry the incumbent vicar Reverend Elliott Bellringer, known affectionately to his parishioners as ‘Ells Bells’. She will then officially move next door to the vicarage with her new husband, son Luke, cat Plum (It is very important I mention him for Luke, says Sophie) and five-months-old Rose, whom the couple have been fostering and hope to adopt in the not too distant future.
Sophie has made her own wedding dress, one she has had in her head for many years, she tells me. Her own personal princess dress: her ‘Cinderella at the ball’ moment is nigh.
She employs two staff (and has just advertised for two more): one a lady who arrived in the village a year ago having escaped an abusive relationship who has found a new life in the community of Little Loste. And – part-time – Jade, the step-daughter of Tracey Darlow, who is Elliott’s sister, ‘and my best friend’, Sophie is keen to add. Jade is a local A-level student hoping to go to university to do a Fashion and Textile degree who, Sophie says, reminds her of herself under the tutelage of Mrs Ackroyd. ‘Jade has shown an amazing flair for the craft’ she says. Jade, apparently, wore the very first of Sophie’s bespoke prom dresses. ‘That’s a whole article by itself,’ she laughs. I make a note to come back and ask her about it one day.
So no repeat of the three hundred guests-plus wedding that she had when she became Mrs Mayhew? Is it true her family will not be there? ‘Sometimes you have to make your own family,’ Sophie replies. ‘Mine is cobbled together from the best of people. Those who truly care about us will be there to share our big day.’
Sophie Mayhew, Sophie the Trophy is no more, that much is clear. She has blossomed and changed into a woman lit from within by happiness and contentment and, if not too sentimental to say, by love. My prediction is that Sophie Bellringer will be more magnificent than Sophie Mayhew ever was.
I have found the one whom my soul loves.
Song of Solomon Chapter 3: Verse 4
Acknowledgements
As always I have a few people to thank for helping get this book to the shelves because it’s a big team effort. I might have my name on the front, but in the background there are a whole host of talented, clever and proper nice souls holding me aloft to absorb the limelight.
Firstly my copyeditor Sally Partington who has to take top billing with this one. I love working with her because she is the wand that sprinkles the magic. What she doesn’t know about grammar is not worth talking about. And horses and the Song of Solomon. She should be on The Chase as a Chaser.
Thank you to my publishing team at Simon & Schuster: ‘God’, Suzanne, SJ, Laura, Emma, Dawn, Dom, Joe, Rich, Gill, Hayley and the indispensable Alice and last but by no means least – my wonderful and supportive editor Jo Dickinson. My amazing agent Lizzy Kremer at David Higham Associates and all the lovely lot there. My brilliant team at Ed PR: Emma, Sian and Annabelle. All of these FAB people help me keep living the dream whilst I give them nightmares.
Thank you to my mate Tracey Cheetham, who gave me a crash course in politics – any mistakes are mine. Her fee was a breakfast and she is always well worth the price of the sausages. I love you, Cheeters. Not only because you rescued me from political ignorance but because you are you. Also her other half Tim for his invaluable contribution to the old Whitehall detail and whose words of encouragement when I needed them most – ‘Write Bitch’ – are pinned on my wall and never fail to motivate.
Thank you to our lovely vet Keith Bellringer at Churchfield Vets in Barnsley for lending me his superb name which I absolutely had to use for my vicar.
Thank you also to Dianne Core who is my go-to lady for matters ecclesiastical. She is a member of the spiritual care team at St Leonard’s Hospice in York and her wonderful words are channelled by Ells Bells.
Thank you to Stu my website designer who is a marvel and a thoroughly nice bloke, even if he thinks I look like Uncle Bulgaria. Tell him I sent you if you use his services: www.nm4s.com.
Thank you to my greetings card mucker, the very talented Alec Sillifant for allowing me to refer to his book Scary Edwin Page. He was the first of us dreamers to get published and it gave me the kick up the backside to get cracking.
Thanks to my lovely friends: Traz and Kath, my Sun Sisters: Karen, Pam and Helen. McStables, Deb, Cath, Rae, Maggie, Sara, Jen, Paul, Nige, Chris, Andrew. And all my brilliant author mates – in particular Debbie Johnson, Catherine Isaac and Carole Matthews, who are helping me sail my rust bucket of a ship through menopausal waters. Where would we be without friends – especially ones who put up with authors constantly having to change plans because of deadlines.
Thank you to my family who take this crazy job in their stride, mainly to my other half Pete who organises a constant stream of coffee when I’m in head-down mode, walks the dog, does the shopping, makes fires (in the grate, not just randomly), cleans out Alan, acts as a taxi, produces a bottle of red from behind his back like the best sort of Ali Bongo. You’re a keeper, love. I’m so lucky to have you.
Apologies for taking a liberty and inventing St Bathsheba who does not exist. Nor does her horrible school. Just in case you were hunting for their prospectus.
And lastly, dear readers, for keeping me in the job, for sending me your emails, for writing me gushing reviews, for taking the time to support me and turning out to get your books signed . . . the biggest thank you that my little Barnsley heart can muster.
Milly Johnson is a Sunday Times Top Four author, joke-writer, newspaper columnist, after-dinner speaker and poet. She is a Vice President of the Yorkshire Society, an organisation that promotes and celebrates God’s Own County, proud patron of Yorkshire Cat Rescue and the Well, a complementary therapy centre for cancer patients in Barnsley.
She loves nice stationery, cruising on big ships and flying birds of prey. She does not like marzipan. Not even from Godiva.
She was born and bred in Barnsley where she lives with her fiancé Pete, her teenage sons, cats, dog and rabbit in organised chaos. She still lives around the corner from her mam and dad.
The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew is her sixteenth novel.
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Milly Johnson is the queen of feel-good fiction and bestselling author of sixteen novels.
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All of Milly’s books are available in print and eBook, and are available to download in eAudio
Milly Johnson
The Mother of All Christmases
Eve Glace – co-owner of the theme park Winterworld – is having a baby and her due date is a perfectly timed 25th December. She’s decided that she and her husband Jacques should renew their wedding vows with all the pomp that was missing the first time. But growing problems at Winterworld keep distracting them . . .
Annie Pandoro and her husband Joe own a small Christmas cracker factory, and are well set up and happy together despite life never blessin
g them with a much-wanted child. But when Annie finds that the changes happening to her body aren’t typical of the menopause but pregnancy, her joy is uncontainable.
Palma Collins has agreed to act as a surrogate, hoping the money will get her out of the gutter in which she finds herself. But when the couple she is helping split up, is she going to be left carrying a baby she never intended to keep?
Annie, Palma and Eve all meet at the ‘Christmas Pudding Club’, a new directive started by a forward-thinking young doctor to help mums-to-be mingle and share their pregnancy journeys. Will this group help each other to find love, contentment and peace as Christmas approaches?
AVAILABLE NOW IN PAPERBACK, EBOOK AND AUDIO
Milly Johnson
The Perfectly Imperfect Woman
‘With mystery, romance and humour, every page of this enjoyable tale is glorious’ heat
Marnie Salt has made so many mistakes in her life that she fears she will never get on the right track. But when she ‘meets’ an old lady on a baking chatroom and begins confiding in her, little does she know how her life will change.
Arranging to see each other for lunch, Marnie discovers that Lilian is every bit as mad and delightful as she’d hoped – and that she owns a whole village in the Yorkshire Dales. When Marnie needs a refuge after a crisis, she ups sticks and heads for Wychwell – a temporary measure, so she thinks.
But soon Marnie finds that Wychwell has claimed her as its own and she is duty bound not to leave. Even if what she has to do makes her as unpopular as a force 12 gale in a confetti factory! But everyone has imperfections, as Marnie comes to realise, and that is not such a bad thing – after all, your flaws are perfect for the heart that is meant to love you.
The Perfectly Imperfect Woman is a heart-warming and hilarious novel of family, secrets, love and redemption . . . and broken hearts mended and made all the stronger for it.
AVAILABLE NOW IN PAPERBACK, EBOOK AND AUDIO
Milly Johnson
The Queen of Wishful Thinking
‘A glorious, heartfelt novel’ Rowan Coleman
When Lewis Harley has a health scare in his early forties, he takes it as a wake-up call. He and his wife Charlotte leave behind life in the fast lane and Lewis opens the antique shop he has dreamed of. Bonnie Brookland was brought up in the antiques trade and now works for the man who bought out her father’s business, but she isn’t happy there. So when she walks into Lew’s shop, she knows this is the place for her.
As Bonnie and Lew start to work together, they soon realise that there is more to their relationship than either thought. But Bonnie is trapped in an unhappy marriage, and Lew and Charlotte have more problems than they care to admit. Each has secrets in their past which are about to be uncovered . . .
Can they find the happiness they both deserve?
AVAILABLE NOW IN PAPERBACK AND EBOOK
Milly Johnson
Sunshine Over Wildflower Cottage
New beginnings, old secrets, and a place to call home – escape to Wildflower Cottage for love, laughter and friendship . . .
Viv arrives at Wildflower Cottage, a tumbledown animal sanctuary, for the summer. Her job is to help with the admin, but the truth is she is here for something much closer to her heart.
Geraldine runs the Wildflower Cottage sanctuary. She escaped from her past to find happiness here, but now her place of refuge is about to come under threat. Can she keep her history at bay and her future safe?
Back home, Viv’s mother Stel thinks she might have found a man who will treat her right for once. Ian is kind, considerate, and clearly head over heels for her.
That’s what she has wanted all along, isn’t it?
AVAILABLE NOW IN PAPERBACK AND EBOOK
Milly Johnson
Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Café
‘When it comes to creating characters that are believable, loveable and engaging, Milly strides comfortably to the head of the pack’ heat
When Connie discovers that Jimmy Diamond, her husband of more than twenty years, is planning to leave her for his office junior, her world is turned upside down. Determined to salvage her pride, she resolves to get her own back. Along with Della, Jimmy’s right-hand woman at his cleaning firm, Diamond Shine, and the cleaners who meet at the Sunflower Café, she’ll make him wish he had never underestimated her.
Then Connie meets the charming Brandon Locke, a master chocolatier, whose kindness starts to melt her soul. Can the ladies of the Sunflower Café help Connie scrub away the hurt? And can Brandon make her trust again?
AVAILABLE NOW IN PAPERBACK AND EBOOK
Also by Milly Johnson
The Yorkshire Pudding Club
The Birds & the Bees
A Spring Affair
A Summer Fling
Here Come the Girls
An Autumn Crush
White Wedding
A Winter Flame
It’s Raining Men
The Teashop on the Corner
Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Café
Sunshine Over Wildflower Cottage
The Queen of Wishful Thinking
The Perfectly Imperfect Woman
The Mother of All Christmases
eBook only:
The Wedding Dress
Here Come the Boys
Ladies Who Launch
The Barn on Half Moon Hill
Now available as an audio collection called Petit Four
First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2019
A CBS COMPANY
Copyright © Millytheink Limited, 2019
The right of Milly Johnson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4711-7844-3
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4711-7846-7
Audio ISBN: 978-1-4711-7848-1
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.
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