Front Page Fridays Week-65

18 Sept

Front Page Fridays Week-65

Welcome to Front Page Fridays Week-65. On Fridays I showcase the first page of a new book.

My Front Page Fridays Week-65 guest is Amanda James and her forthcoming novel, The Friendship Circle, which is out on 23rd September.

Here’s the opening:

Eve hoists a crate containing bits of her life onto an armchair, and shoves a bulging bin liner to the floor with a thud. At last, there’s a clear space on her old sofa, and with relief she collapses onto it. It’s lumpy and sagging in places – a bit like her – but it’s comfy and smells like home. Eve kicks her trainers off, puts her feet up and closes her eyes, but an unsettling thought demands she open them again, and she focuses on the whitewashed stone wall opposite. Home isn’t home anymore, is it? This place is home now. This cottage that’s packed to the rafters with her belongings, filled with all the bits and bobs, old and new, that we surround ourselves with. The essential creature comforts that make a house a home. Unfortunately, nothing is where it belongs right now and she hasn’t the first idea of where to start.

She closes her eyes again and with an effort, dismisses these thoughts. She reminds herself that once she’s got it all sorted and everything where it should be, it will feel less alien. Less like she and the contents of her old house have been sucked up into a twister and spat out in the wrong place. Less like she’s not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

Eve sits up and looks around the small living space, which seems even smaller now it’s packed to the gunnels with all these half-full boxes, and forces herself to think on the positive side. She’s done it. She’s moved in! This ancient little cottage a few roads away from the Atlantic Ocean is hers. Totally hers. Not half of someone else’s – a half that might decide to suddenly up and leave after thirty years of marriage. She sighs and shuts her eyes again; maybe when she opens them, things will look better. But then again, they might not. Dear god, why do her positives always have little barbs of negativity jabbing into their sides? Some might say that after two years she ought to feel less angry. But whoever writes the rules for these ‘ought to feels’ should take into account the half who left, destroyed the whole. The whole, the home, the heart, the soul. It’s true that she’s stronger now and getting ready to face the future, but she has to acknowledge that in part, anger enabled her to do it. It’s put a fire in her belly. Eve will not be beaten and she’s determined to make sure everyone knows it.

Especially him.

‍About The Friendship Circle:

Warm, witty and deeply moving, The Friendship Circle is a story about second chances, unlikely friendships, and the magic that finds us when we're finally ready to believe in it.

Eve moved to the coast to be alone.

After the loss of her beloved bakery and the life she'd spent thirty years building, a small cottage by the sea feels like the fresh start she desperately needs.

But from the moment her neighbour Ruth appears on the doorstep with a casserole and an inexhaustible supply of warmth and wisdom, Eve begins to suspect that the village – and the secret hidden at the bottom of her garden – has very different plans for her…

Purchase link - https://mybook.to/sauYui

About Amanda

Amanda James has written since she was a child and even asked her parents for a typewriter for Christmas. She never imagined her words would ever be published. In 2010 the dream of becoming a writer came true when she had her first short story published.

Originally from Sheffield, Amanda now lives in Cornwall and is inspired every day by the wild and beautiful coastline. She can usually be found playing on the beach with her family, or walking the cliff paths planning her next book.

Social Media Links

Facebook: MandyJamesAuthorPage

Bluesky: @amandajames.bsky.social

More of Amanda’s Books

The Secret Library - https://mybook.to/NCV13Gz

The Midnight Bookshop - https://mybook.to/v32hRF

The Garden of Memories - https://mybook.to/UTuAzC

The Cornish Connection – first book of four - https://mybook.to/TheCornishConnection

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I hope you enjoyed reading Front Page Fridays Week-65. Please come back next time when I’ll be featuring a different author and the first page of their book.

And please take a look at books already featured on Front Page Fridays:

‍ ‍‍ ‍‍‍‍ ‍1. Blood Ribbons by Lin Le Versha

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‍ ‍‍ ‍‍‍‍ ‍2. Fatal Blow by Brian Price

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‍ ‍‍ ‍‍‍‍ ‍3. Can I Trust You? by Rob Gittins

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‍ ‍‍ ‍‍‍‍ ‍4. The Last Bird of Paradise by AJ Aberford

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‍ ‍‍ ‍‍‍‍ ‍5. Never Forgive You by Hilly Barmby

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‍ ‍‍ ‍‍‍‍ ‍6. The Mists of Pencarrack Moor by Terri Nixon