Tommy Glover's Sketch of Heaven (Robinson 2005)

Synopsis

In 1944 eight-year-old Kitty is placed as an evacuee in a Gloucestershire village with a cold, unhappy couple, Joyce and Jack Shepherd, who find her Cockney chirpiness repugnant. Neither of them approves of Kitty’s friendship with Tommy Glover – an older boy from the boys’ home – and they even seem to nurse a mysterious hatred of him. Kitty’s relentless curiosity slowly transforms the strangely troubled marriage of Joyce and Jack. But when she exposes a terrible secret, the lives of nearly everyone in the village are changed forever. More…

Advanced Priase

"A vivid and involving story that reaches a truly page-turning climax. I liked both the rhythm and small details of village life…This is a lovely novel." Barbara Trapido

“A gentle, poignant, achingly funny tale…Jane Bailey has a rare talent for moving one profoundly without ever overplaying her cards.” Serena Mackesy

“…absorbing, compelling and intensely moving…Studded with hilarious and unexpected turns of phrase.”Lesley Glaister

Promising (Headline Review)

Synopsis

Eve Swanbrook is the new young art teacher at a boys’ boarding school. Kieron Oakey and his friend Willy are competing to lose their virginity by the end of the summer term, but when Kieron’s interest becomes centred on Miss Swanbrook, he seems to be out of the running. With the help of a wayward neighbour and an atheistic priest, Eve attempts to meet the challenge of a very male English institution. But while the school is congratulating itself on going mixed (it has a few girls in the sixth form to ward off financial disaster) both masters and pupils remain bewildered by the opposite sex. Then lust turns to love, and as mysteries unravel in this flagging public school, nothing is quite as it seems, where the familiar seems odd and the odd strangely familiar.

Review

"Sometimes first novels are painfully autobiographical. What a thrill therefore to be captivated by the fictional life dreamt up by Jane Bailey in her debut novel. Eve Swanbrook is a young art teacher who attempts to meet the challenges of working in a male boarding school that has recently gone co-ed – not least the crush one of the students, Kieron Oakey, develops for her. Jane Bailey uses short, sharp observations coupled with an original outlook on life to great effect. The older woman/younger boy romance is comically charted and is a joy to read." Daily Mail

An Angel in Waiting (Headline Review)

Synopsis

When Tina Morrison is unexpectedly widowed during a spot of DIY, her dreams of the future collapse. Her house is a wreck, her stepdaughter is convinced a popstar is living in the garden shed and her mother-in-law is two spanners short of a toolbox. Worst of all, her desperate longing for a child looks certain to be unfulfilled. But there are ways and means… even if it seems that everyone, including Tina’s boss at the Did-It-Myself DIY superstore, insists on standing between her and a baby. There is, after all, a young man in the garden shed whose true identity is about to astonish them all.

Review

"In this quirky tale of loss and DIY, Jane Bailey has knocked up one of the freshest, funniest novels of the year..." Daily Mail

Mad Joy (Robinson 2006)

Synopsis

In the beginning a small girl runs into a wood, and two years later walks out of it and into the nearest house. Gracie, the childless spinster who finds her curled up on her armchair, takes her on as her own, seeing her as a feral gift of fate. Known as Joy in the Cotswold village that adopts her, there is endless speculation about her wild past and comical ways. In this moving and passionate tale, Joy grows into a young woman at the advent of World War II, and when she becomes romantically involved with a fighter pilot the extraordinary mystery of her past slowly unravels.

Advanced Priase

"A vivid and involving story that reaches a truly page-turning climax. I liked both the rhythm and small details of village life…This is a lovely novel." Barbara Trapido