Bethan Roberts A Short Road to Longbrook Hardcover Book

A tangled tale of maternal inheritance... A must PATRICK GALE, author of Notes from an ExhibitionA tender story of mothers, daughters and breaking family patternsWhen Winnie is happy, Lillian is happy, too. Its the mid1960s and Lillian Wells is a clever teenager with a daring pixie cut, tangerine minidress and new boyfriend, Jim, who works at the brewery. Even better, he lives across the road, so shes never far from her beehived, highheeled single mother Winnie, who is prone to attacks of the nerves. But Lillian harbours secret dreams of going to art school in London. When she gets in, how will she tell her mother and Jim that shes leaving Abingdon and them?Forty years later, Lillians own daughter Rachel is heading off to university, but Lillian is not sure either of them are ready. She sees herself and Winnie in Rachel, who is ambitious and intelligent, but also prone to nervous habits. As Lillian tries to bite her tongue about Rachels symptoms, she is reminded of what everyone in Abingdon used to say Its a short road to Longbrook... the local institution for the mentally ill. Lillian knows this is all too true, but in a family where secrets run through generations like the rushing waters of the local river, can she bring herself to break the cycle and tell Rachel the truth about her past?Roberts is an exceptionally tender and empathetic writer GRAZIAProfoundly moving and utterly comepelling JAKE ARNOTT, author of The Long Firm | Bethan Roberts A Short Road to Longbrook Hardcover Book