Available in paperback and as an ebook from Amazon
These are the sort of questions puzzling Amy Miller, a writer of romantic fiction, when she discovers she is being doorstepped by the tabloid Press over her secret affair with a famously married lover. As he panics she quickly goes into hiding.
Choosing a remote hotel on the North Devon coast, she meets Tim, a music teacher and composer, who, recuperating after being injured at school, is struggling to finish a piece of music his absent girl friend has inspired. But what a piece! “I’m sure Beethoven had his off-days,” Amy sympathises. “Probably,” says Tim. “But he was deaf. He didn’t have to listen to what he was playing.”
Gradually, as they wander the empty resort and beaches, the two become friends, easily able to see the other’s problems, but with no idea how to solve their own.
Meanwhile the hotel is preparing for a St Valentine’s ball, and, as we follow Amy and Tim, we unpeel the fears and romantic yearnings of some of the guests and staff. These include Shona, the seemingly confident college placement, and Darrell, the gauche local boy porter; Michael and Eleanor, the middle-aged ex-priest and ex-nun who have left their orders to marry, and who are now on their honeymoon; and Jane, the manager who is desperate, and not only about making a success of her first hotel.
And then on the eve of St Valentine’s Day a tabloid journalist discovers the runaway author—while enjoying a spot of weekend adultery himself…
What the critics said…
“Funny, charming and compassionate, successfully transposing the conventions of Shakespearian comedy to the 21st Century.”—Anthony Gardner, The Mail On Sunday****
“The perfect book to give to someone who’s a bit down… Funny, fun and fundamentally wise, this is a cracker of a book”— Dublin Evening Herald *****
“Absolutely charming, light in tone, but never trite or condescending”— YorkshirePost
“A cross between Fawlty Towers and Love Actually”— Daily Express
“A really nice feel-good read” —Irish Examiner
“A splendid page turner”—Liverpool Daily Post
“A superior rom-com read”—Belfast Telegraph
“Witty, sly, truthful, honest and great fun—it will leave you feeling the world is a slightly better place than you did before you read it”—Stephen Lewis, Evening Press, York.
“A treat of discovering love in its many guises—and at whatever age” — Bolton Evening News
LOVE OUT OF SEASON
“Funny, charming and compassionate, successfully transposing the conventions of Shakespearian comedy to the 21st Century”. Mail on Sunday
Published by
Quercus Books Ltd
21 Bloomsbury Square
London WC1A 2QA