Ruth Jones’ third novel is another warm, heartfelt story, filled with strong and joyful female characters that captures the challenges and joys of relationships and family. I really enjoy reading Ruth Jones novels, they make such a refreshing change from the gritty thrillers I also enjoy. One of these is a couple that has been enjoying their union while another is not having such a great time given that an old affair was rekindled and is not threatening to destroy everything they built. It's a great read, refreshingly free of stereotypes, as we follow events in the lives of the four women in the run-up to Grace's ninetieth birthday.

It is a story that tenderly portrays a broken family, outlining the complexities that define history, with an ending that is both heart-breaking, yet uplifting at the same time. For Grace time is running out to solve the family rifts that have been going on for the last thirty years. After getting her drama degree and with a lot of experience working in TV and acting, Ruth Jones finally got a job working in radio comedy and TV at BBC Wales. That's Grace, nearly ninety; her wayward daughter Alys; Alys's daughter Elin, a headteacher; and Beca, the younger generation, just 16.Meanwhile Grace’s great-grand-daughter Beca is oblivious to all these worries, too busy navigating the highs and lows of teenage life and keeping secrets of her own. She has three brothers and sisters and remembers that she loved participating in yearly theatre and musical productions in school.

The characters in this one generally are likeable accept Alys making me warm to the writing of her even more.A book not afraid to glamourise the wonder of mother and daughter relationships, but to strip it back and let everyone see what it can be like. She just wants a quiet celebration: her daily swim in the sea and a cup of tea with granddaughter Elin and great-granddaughter Beca. There’s little things that happen in the book that I’ve drawn from – there’s a particular story I’d taken from Justin Davies who played my son in Stella. Her novels are full of wonderful characters and the stories so well written, much in the same vein as Graham Norton.

This combination made for a BAFTA award-winning comedy that would soon become one of the biggest shows in the United Kingdom right behind Little Britain. In 2004, she got roles in “Nighty Night,” the black comedy series in addition to acting in “Little Britain,” the smash TV show. Is she strong enough to reach out to her wayward daughter, now seventy years old, and heal the rift? Love, mess, secrets; this story of four generations of women is filled with Ruth Jones’s warmth and wisdom.Rich in warm, engaging characters and a judicious mix of humour and pathos for which Jones is renowned, it’s a compassionate, wise and life-affirming book. Ruth Jones is best known for her outstanding and award-winning television writing, most notably BBC One's Gavin and Stacey, which she co-wrote with James Corden and in which she played the incorrigible Nessa Jenkins. The reader gains knowledge of this family's background, including the harm and suffering that have been inflicted upon them. Her debut novel Never Greener was chosen as WHSmith Fiction Book of the Year 2018, was nominated for Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards, was a Zoe Ball Book Club pick, and was a Sunday Times bestseller for fifteen weeks, three weeks at number one.