{"title":"Hope? Laughter? In this economy?","description":"Stories to make you smile.","products":[{"product_id":"the-eton-affair","title":"The Eton Affair","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA bittersweet story of a life-changing love.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeventeen-year-old schoolboy Kim is an idle drifter at one of Britain's most extraordinary institutions, Eton College - crammed with over a thousand boys and not a girl in sight. His head is full of the Falklands War and a possible army career, until the day he hears his new piano teacher, the beautiful but pained India, playing Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Kim's life is destined never to be the same again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn intensely passionate affair develops and he wallows in the wild and unaccustomed thrill of first love. Twenty-five years on, Kim recalls that heady summer and how their fledgling relationship was so brutally snuffed out - finished off by his enemies, by the constraints of Eton, and by his own withering jealousy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Charming, moving, uplifting. Why can't all love stories be like this?'\u003c\/strong\u003e The Wall Street Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Legend Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42285961838789,"sku":"9781789550429","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/3696\/2501\/products\/Eton_Highres.jpg?v=1605538378"},{"product_id":"palace-rogue","title":"Palace Rogue","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBased on the true story of a tabloid journalist in Buckingham Palace.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'This charming tale of secrets and love is a must for royal fans'\u003c\/strong\u003e Hello Magazine\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'A plump and cheerful romp through royal corridors and bedrooms'\u003c\/strong\u003e Tunku Varadarajan, The Wall Street Journal\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKim is not your average member of Her Majesty’s palace staff – but then he shouldn’t be on the staff at all. He’s in fact a Sun staff reporter who’s wormed his way into Buckingham Palace to pick up every bit of dirt and gossip that he can lay his hands on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlong the way, Kim is faced with many surprising aspects of Palace life that even he didn’t see coming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBased on the true story of the tabloid hack who became a Queen’s footman, Palace Rogue is a humorous, uplifting and utterly outrageous story of love and secrets – all of it set in the heart of one of the world’s most famous houses.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Legend Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42285901447365,"sku":"9781915643810","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/3696\/2501\/products\/9781915643810.jpg?v=1681984112"},{"product_id":"cuckoo-in-the-nest","title":"Cuckoo in the Nest","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Daily Mail Book of the Year\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'A warm and wonderful story'\u003c\/strong\u003e Adele Parks\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s the heatwave summer of 1976 and 14-year-old would be poet Jackie Chadwick is newly fostered by the Walls. She desperately needs stability, but their insecure, jealous teenage daughter isn't happy about the cuckoo in the nest and sets about ousting her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen her attempts to do so lead to near-tragedy – and the Walls’ veneer of middle-class respectability begins to crumble – everyone in the household is forced to reassess what really matters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFunny and poignant, \u003cem\u003eCuckoo in the Nest\u003c\/em\u003e is inspired by Fran Hill’s own experience of being fostered. A glorious coming of age story set in the summer of 1976.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Fresh, authentic and darkly funny. I absolutely loved it'\u003c\/strong\u003e Ruth Hogan, bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Keeper of Lost Things\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Vivid, funny, nostalgic and utterly charming'\u003c\/strong\u003e Veronica Henry\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Legend Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42235432075461,"sku":"9781915643919","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/3696\/2501\/files\/9781915643919.jpg?v=1682595787"},{"product_id":"the-brink","title":"The Brink","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSelected for the Woman’s Own Book Club\u003c\/strong\u003e May 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne of Prima Magazine’s Best New Books\u003c\/strong\u003e May 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Warm, wry, sad and brilliantly sharp'\u003c\/strong\u003e Daily Mail\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Clever, fresh and original'\u003c\/strong\u003e Nina Pottell, Books Editor at Prima Magazine\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDan and Anya Moorcroft have decided to get a divorce. Together, they’ve done it all. Two kids, three owned houses, four rented flats, fifty-something holidays, and one affair apiece. Now, after fifteen years together (nine of them married) they’re on the brink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut as they go through couples’ mediation, revisiting and rediscovering their shared history in sessions surrounded by lawyers and paperwork, are they about to find something that’s worth saving? Or are they going to reaffirm their decision to end things for good?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach section of the book is a focus area for the divorce mediation process: sex, home, money, family, us. Through this, the novel explores how marriage is built on bonds between people and the experiences they share. It goes back in time to reveal Dan and Anya’s past. And then returns to the present day as they work out their future.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Witty, wise and honest'\u003c\/strong\u003e Katie Marsh\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Moving and charming'\u003c\/strong\u003e Kate Sawyer\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Legend Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42285950730437,"sku":"9781915643872","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/3696\/2501\/files\/9781915643872.jpg?v=1683195721"},{"product_id":"eton-rogue","title":"Eton Rogue","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘A delicious tale in which class, politics, and a toxic press all jostle for our horrified attention’\u003c\/strong\u003e Tunku Varadarajan, \u003cem\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEton Rogue\u003c\/em\u003e is a hilarious and shocking story of scandal and rebellion – all set in the heart of the world’s most famous school, Eton College.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMeet our Eton Rogue: Seventeen-year-old Cary, now embarking on his extraordinary final year at Eton. Prince William has joined the school and the British tabloids are ravenous for headlines. Cary is the mole who’s making thousands selling stories to the Sun newspaper - and while he’s at it, he’s secretly dating a housemaster’s daughter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBased on true events, the rule of \u003cem\u003eEton Rogue\u003c\/em\u003e is simple: The more outrageous the tale, the greater the chances that it actually occurred.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Legend Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43517876306117,"sku":"9781915643315","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/3696\/2501\/files\/9781915643315.jpg?v=1715697864"},{"product_id":"the-star-child","title":"The Star Child","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLonglisted for the Etisalat Prize for Literature\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLonglisted for The Sunday Times SA Fiction Prize\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'With the patterns of a praise singer, and the lyricism of a born poet, debut novelist Unathi Magubeni catches you in the rhythm of his story and doesn't let you go until it is spent'\u003c\/strong\u003e Jacqui L'Ange\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNwelezelanga is born with albinism. Convinced by the midwife that an albino child is a curse, her mother places her in a river to drown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, fate has other plans and the baby is rescued and raised by a traditional healer. She grows into an old soul with mystic abilities and her story unfolds as she lives a rural life, connected to the earth and ancient rituals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Star Child\u003c\/em\u003e is magical and poetic with an assured voice and eloquent prose, Magubeni invites us into the life of this extraordinary being, Nwelezelanga, the child who should not have been.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Legend Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43852436734149,"sku":"9781915643148","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/3696\/2501\/files\/9781915643148.jpg?v=1721213704"},{"product_id":"movie-rogue","title":"Movie Rogue","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'I haven't read a funnier book all year'\u003c\/strong\u003e The Wall Street Journal\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe world’s hottest movie couple, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, are enduring a year-long film shoot with the world’s most pernickety film director, Stanley Kubrick. Unfortunately the super-secret film set of Eyes Wide Shut has been invaded by Kubrick’s worst nightmare: Kim the tabloid reporter, complete with his trusty spy-pen camera.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBased on a true story, \u003cem\u003eMovie Rogue\u003c\/em\u003e details how in 1996 a Sun reporter became an extra on one of the most searingly graphic scenes in movie history. Along the way – it’s said – he also befriended both Tom Cruise and Kubrick. But this reporter is so much more than a mere scum-sucking tabloid hack. He is also a matchmaker, and with a wave of Kim’s pixie dust, even the most far-fetched couples can fall in love.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Legend Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":55629154386295,"sku":"9781917163439","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/3696\/2501\/files\/9781917163439.jpg?v=1755618083"}],"url":"https:\/\/thebooksocial.co.uk\/collections\/something-sweet.oembed","provider":"The Book Social","version":"1.0","type":"link"}