In these stressful times, a nice, gentle book can be called for – and this sounded like just that!
Here’s the blurb:

“Lizzie has just arrived in London, determined to make the best of her new life.
Her mother may be keen that she should have a nice wedding in the country to a Suitable Man chosen by her. And Lizzie may be going to cookery school to help her become a Good Wife.
But she definitely wants to have some fun first.
It is 1963 and London is beginning to swing as Lizzie cuts her hair, buys a new dress with a fashionably short hemline, and moves in with two of her best friends, one of whom lives in a grand but rundown house in Belgravia which has plenty of room for a lodger.
Soon Lizzie’s life is so exciting that she has forgotten all about her mother’s marriage plans for her.
All she can think about is that the young man she is falling in love with appears to be engaged to someone else …“

Lizzie (Elizabeth to her parents – I’m also an Elisabeth – but everyone apart from the doctor calls me Libby, including my parents!) is sent to London to a posh cookery school in her mother’s bid to make her attractive to a ‘suitable man’! However she also wants to enjoy the swinging sixties in the big smoke!

Lizzie soon makes friends – and moves in with them rather than her wayward Aunt Gina! And the shared house in Belgravia sounds great fun.

There is a real mix of classes – which causes some stresses – and reminded me of Downton fast forwarded a few decades!

There is one ‘sex scene’ which is fairly fundamental to the entire book – but it is done with incredibly good taste – and I’d be happy for my honorary Grandmother or teenage daughter to read it (although they’d probably both think it incredibly tame! The honorary Grandmother is registered blind and so sometimes has audiobooks. She listened to ’50 Shades of Grey’ as it helped her go to sleep!!)

The story twists and turns and made me want to keep reading – in a gentle Sunday night drama kind of way. It was inoffensive and well told.

A lovely, easy read – sometimes EXACTLY what is required.

Many thanks to the published and NetGalley for my ARC. It’s out in February 2021 if you want to pre order.