Bea’s Book Wagon

Julie Haworth

WHO doesn’t love a book about books? Step back into the enchanting village of Blossom Heath in East Sussex where author Julie Haworth has (literally!) harnessed her passion for all things bookish to a delicious and delightful story about a mobile bookshop which finds a home… in an old horsebox!

Written right through with a born bibliophile’s love for spreading the joys of reading, and featuring lovable characters that Haworth’s (pictured below) fans will know from Always By Your Side and New Beginnings at the Cosy Cat Café – the first two books in a soul-soothing, bucolic series – this new romantic odyssey is the perfect uplifting autumn escape.

Set once again in the most idyllic, quintessentially English village imaginable, Bea’s Book Wagon stars a young woman searching for the next chapter in her life and explores heartwarming themes like the strength that comes from community, the joys of family and friendship, the importance of living your dreams, and how love really does make the ‘wheels’ go round.  

After yet another put-down by her boss, Bea Miller impulsively packs in her dead-end temp job where she has always felt like the ‘dogsbody.’ It’s four years since Bea left university and she has moved back to Blossom Heath where her parents run the village store.

Ever since she was tiny, it had ‘always been about books’ for Bea… they are her sanctuary when the ‘real world’ gets too much and her dream is to have her own bookshop. But when a drunken night out with best friend Jess to drown her sorrows ends with her investing her life savings in a ramshackle old horsebox she has seen on eBay, Bea wonders whether she has made a big mistake. But converting and revamping the old horsebox could mean her dream becomes a reality and with the help of friends and her childhood sweetheart Nathan – now a farmer and artisan cheesemaker – her mobile bookshop, Bea’s Book Wagon, takes to the road in the hope that her love of reading can transform the lives of her friends, her community and herself in the process.

Meanwhile, her currently vacant love life gets a lift when knock-you-off-your-feet, tall, dark and handsome property developer Lochlan rescues Bea’s family dog Wordsworth from a swollen river, ends up looking like not unlike Pride and Prejudice’s unforgettable Mr Darcy, and asks her for a date.

But it’s not all plain sailing as Bea faces the tribulations and triumphs of running her own small business and must use her ingenuity to devise new strategies, like a book club and speed dating, to promote both the book wagon and the joys to be found in reading. And if that wasn’t enough, it seems two very different men are vying for her affections...

Romance fans – and book lovers – will be in reading heaven when they climb the steps of Bea’s converted horsebox and share another life-affirming visit to the rolling hills of Blossom Heath where dreams come true, friendships flourish, and true love always manages to have the final word. Life changes and new beginnings lie at the heart of Haworth’s enchanting story which shines a light on the power of books to bring together communities, inspire a lifelong love of reading in children, and open up a big, wide world of wonder, discovery and escape at the turn of a page. And this couldn’t be a book about books without the inclusion of some enchanting literary allusions and parallels, not least the author’s favourite Austen ‘sensibilities.’

With the warm and welcoming residents of Blossom Heath adding extra autumnal colour to Bea’s non-stop book wagon, and an entertaining two-horse race to steal the heart of our adventurous heroine, the eventual winner might not be a cert but a happy ending is always ensured!
(Simon & Schuster, paperback, £9.99)