I do find (just sometimes!) that one of the frustrations of being a book blogger and reviewer is the impossibility of reading every book you really, really want to. I first discovered Stephanie Butland’s exquisite writing many moons ago – back in April 2014, with Surrounded By Water (you’ll find my review here), which was later published in paperback and for kindle as Letters to my Husband to immense critical acclaim. I struggled to fit in the reading of her later books – The Other Half Of My Heart and Lost For Words – but I’m not going to miss out on her forthcoming one. The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae will be published by Zaffre on 19th April (available for preorder), and I’m really delighted to help with the cover reveal today.
As well as the perfect cover, this book looks simply wonderful:
Ailsa Rae is learning how to live.
She’s only a few months past the heart transplant that – just in time – saved her life. Life should be a joyful adventure. But…
Her relationship with her mother is at breaking point.
She knows she needs to find her father.
She’s missed so much that her friends have left her behind.
She’s felt so helpless for so long that she’s let polls on her blog make her decisions for her. And now she barely knows where to start on her own.
And then there’s Lennox. Her best friend and one time lover. He was sick too. He didn’t make it. And now she’s supposed to face all of this without him.
But her new heart is a bold heart.
She just needs to learn to listen to it . . .
Publication date noted, reading space reserved, blog space booked – there’s no way I’m going to miss out on this one!
About the author
Stephanie Butland is a novelist who fell in love with performance poetry when researching her novel Lost For Words. Her first two books were about her dance with cancer. She then turned to fiction. Her novels are Letters To My Husband, The Other Half Of My Heart, and Lost For Words. Stephanie lives in Northumberland. She writes in a studio at the bottom of her garden, and when she’s not writing, she trains people to think more creatively.