We are thrilled to welcome Isabelle Broom to Pickering Book Tree to celebrate the publication of her latest novel The French Guesthouse, on the day of its release!

Isabelle’s story is a joy to read with an unforgettable cast of characters, all of whom contrive to bring their fears and strengths together after years of uncertainty and distrust to create a new, positive future.

Acclaimed author Kate Gray will be in conversation with Isabelle to discuss the book and her writing, and Isabelle will read an extract from the story to complement the discussion. There will also be time for audience questions and a chance to have copies of both author’s books signed.

Isabelle and Kate will bring a hint of warmer, sun-drenched climes to brighten an autumnal Yorkshire evening. If you love heartwarming, intelligently written romance stories then this event is for you.

This event is free to attend, but booking is essential. The shop door will be open from 7pm, and complementary drinks will be available before the event starts. We hope to see you there!

About the Book

Sometimes the only way to move forward and rebuild your life is to turn and face the dreaded past you have long tried to hide from. When Fliss loses everything – her beloved hotel ravaged by fire and fiancé exposed as a cheat – she receives further devastating news: her estranged mother has died. A problematic relationship indeed, they had not spoken in over a decade, Fliss preferring to stay away for the sake of her own sanity.

Summoned to a dilapidated guesthouse in France for the reading of the will, Fliss is stunned to discover she has been left all her mother’s possessions. The inheritance, however, comes at a price – both literal and emotional. Sharing the house is Etienne, her mother’s grief-stricken, wine-soaked partner, and his enigmatic nephew, Benoit.

As Fliss begins restoring the guesthouse, she unearths long-buried secrets about her mother, their past and the true cost of her long absence. But in order to move forward, cure her guilt and claim the love and happiness she’s never thought she deserves, Fliss must first tussle with the hardest question of all: is she capable of forgiveness?

About the Authors

Isabelle Broom was born in Cambridge nine days before the 1980s began and studied Media Arts and Journalism at university in London before a 15-year stint at Heat magazine, where she became the Book Reviews Editor. She’s now a freelance reviewer and editor alongside working as an author. The French Guesthouse is her twelfth novel.

Kate Gray is the author of eight novels published internationally. The Honeymoon was her debut psychological thriller, which was followed by The Summer Party. She also writes uplifting fiction using the pseudonym Katy Colins. Before becoming a full-time author, Kate worked in public relations and was a freelance journalist.