Shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award

'A therapeutic dose of high-strength emotion' GUARDIAN

Augusta Hope has never felt like she fits in.

At six, she's memorising the dictionary. At seven, she's correcting her teachers. At eight, she spins the globe and picks her favourite country on the sound of its name: Burundi.

And now that she's an adult, Augusta has no interest in the goings-on of the small town where she lives with her parents and her beloved twin sister, Julia.

When an unspeakable tragedy upends everything in Augusta's life, she's propelled headfirst into the unknown. She's determined to find where she belongs - but what if her true home, and heart, are half a world away?

'It's going to be all over every book club in Britain before you can say Burundi' THE TIMES

'Full of the reality of hope and despair in everyone's lives' MIRANDA HART

'This gem of a novel entertains and moves in equal measure' DAILY MAIL

'Keep the tissues close' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

'An irresistible message of redemption and belonging' RED magazine

'Heartening and hopeful' JESS KIDD, author of Things in Jars

'Mesmerizingly beautiful' SARAH HAYWOOD, author of The Cactus

'An extraordinary masterpiece' ANSTEY HARRIS, author of The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton

'Gutsy, endearing and entertaining' DEBORAH ORR

'Absolutely brilliant' GAVIN EXTENCE, author of The Universe Versus Alex Wood

The best-selling, heart-warming debut novel shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award

About the Author

Joanna Glen read Spanish at the University of London, with a stint at the Faculty of Arts at Cordoba University in the south of Spain. She went on to teach Spanish and English to all ages, and, latterly, was a school principal in London. Joanna's short fiction has appeared in the Bath Flash Fiction Anthology. She lives with her husband and children on the River Thames in Battersea, returning to Andalusia whenever it gets too grey.

Reviews

'A joy...the humour and pathos in their stories lends real heart and soul' OBSERVER

'A moving tale... sure to make you cry... Parfait [is] a convincingly serious, sweet, clever and funny person who ends up carrying the story... an epic hero ... It's going to be all over every book club in Britain before you can say Burundi' The Times

'I found it both a mesmerisingly beautiful portrait of a young woman discovering what home means to her, and a poignant depiction of how our actions can touch other people's lives in ways we could never have anticipated. Augusta and Parfait are wonderful characters; I was willing them on to find the happiness and peace they both deserved' Sarah Haywood, author of The Cactus

'Joanna Glen weaves a uniquely heartening and hopeful story. A story about pain, the solace of words and our search to belong, to a place, to a person. Welcome to the world of the wonderful Augusta Hope' Jess Kidd, author Himself and Things in Jars

'Without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read - an extraordinary masterpiece' Anstey Harris, author of The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton

'Absolutely brilliant - quirky, original, funny, moving and wonderfully written. Basically, it's everything I love in a novel; Gavin Extence, author of The Universe Versus Alex Woods

'The most gutsy, endearing and entertaining meditation on the meaning of human existence that you're ever likely to read' Deborah Orr

Book Information
ISBN 9780008314194
Author Joanna Glen
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint The Borough Press
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Weight(grams) 270g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 24mm