Brown Owl's Guide To Life [Hardcover]

"Nostalgic and funny." (HEAT, 27 May )

"Funny and touching" (IMAGE, June issue )

"Upbeat" (LANCASHIRE EVENING POST, 3 Jun )

"Funny and touching"

"Upbeat"

'A must read' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

'Cleverly interwoven stories make this an almost instant hook' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Shy, sweet-natured Lucy Collins is used to being pushed around. For the first eighteen years of her life, her widowed mother Judith ruled the roost. Now Lucy's husband, her seven-year-old daughter and even Buster the cat boss her about. But her mother's premature death leaves Lucy an orphan at the age of thirty-five. She's devastated...but she's also free. After a lifetime of being a disappointment to everyone, is it finally time Lucy grew up? As she clears out her mother's rambling house, Lucy discovers a trunk full of memories...her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were all Brown Owls: capable, no-nonsense matriarchs who were the leading lights of the Girl Guide movement. They spent their spare time preparing the next generation for their roles as wives and mothers with a mixture of campfire songs, sew-on badges and reef knots. But could the old values and frontier spirit now hold the key to help Lucy make the changes she needs in her life?

Kate Harrison is in her thirties and before turning to novels, worked in television, as a programme developer. She has also been a director on Panorama, Newsround and Midlands Today. She lives in West London.