'This atmospheric read is simply beautiful.' Woman & Home
How can home be found, when you are lost?
When two very different women find themselves sharing a home, they must confront their pasts in order to work out who they each are, and how they will survive.
Disillusioned with her high-flying London career, Jo has returned to the remote rural community of her childhood. Taking over her parents' beloved butcher shop, she works hard to save the family legacy, hoping to
also save herself.
Tessa has returned too, fleeing a chance of happiness to come to terms with a life filled with secrets and shame. Now her livelihood as a farrier is under threat from a mysterious and debilitating condition.
How to Belong is a delicate, honest portrayal of unexpected friendship, the power of memory and what it truly
means to come home.
'This gentle, thoughtful novel will warm your heart and nourish your soul' Red Magazine
'(A) thoughtful, original novel . . . Detailed, descriptive, transporting prose.' Adele Parks, Platinum Magazine
'A big-hearted novel about how we learn to belong despite ourselves.' Shelley Harris
'It really touched me, I can't stop talking about it. Your words spoke to somewhere deep inside me.' Warwick Books
Publisher: Zaffre
ISBN: 9781785764844
Number of pages: 368
Weight: 269 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 21 mm
In this insightful, thoughtful novel about a farrier and a butcher, Franklin explores the meaning of home and the importance of belonging. It's replete with gorgeous descriptions of forest life - Carys Bray
A tender story about finding your place in the world, about ordinary lives, belonging and being brave. The kind of book that gives you hope and courage. I loved it. - Kit de Waal
Sarah writes intimately about the forest and the lives it sustains, exploring the human condition with forensic tenderness; we feel every step of Tessa and Jo's journeys. It's a big-hearted novel about how we learn to belong despite ourselves, and I relished every word - Shelley Harris, author of Jubilee
This set up - the farrier and the butcher - is so unusual, and so engaging. I was VERY curious to see how this relationship between Jo and Tessa would unfold, and Sarah Franklin's skilful weaving of their backstories into the captivating present keeps up a constant, subtle tug of intrigue, as well as thematic poignancy. It's thoughtful, and fresh, and such a vibrant setting. The place feels completely alive - I can walk through it and practically smell those horses, that forest, the butcher's shop, the woodsmoke. And the wider community is also wonderfully colourful and alive. It's just a pleasure to read! - Lucy Atkins
How to Belong is set in the Forest of Dean and is steeped in the spirit of the place. Such a warm and touching novel - Lissa Evans
This atmospheric read is simply beautiful. - Women and Home Magazine
A meditative read about second chances, friendship and belonging that feels perfect for these uncertain times...This gentle, thoughtful novel (...) will warm your heart and nourish your soul. - Red Magazine
(A) thoughtful, original novel... Detailed, descriptive, transporting prose. - Adele Parks, Platinum Magazine
Such a warm novel with a clear sense of place. - Chepstow Books
When Jo rents Tessa's spare bedroom, a tentative friendship develops; but Jo's need to be helpful just might be a poisoned chalice. - Saga Magazine
It really touched me, I can't stop talking about it. Your words spoke to somewhere deep inside me - Warwick Books
Life-affirming and compelling . . . Sarah Franklin is a breath of fresh air - Clare Mackintosh, on Shelter
Its characters pulse with life and energy - Daily Mail, on Shelter
This beautifully crafted tale of survival and solace reveals that you can find a home in the most unusual places - Sunday Express, on Shelter
An accomplished debut from Sarah Franklin . . . with humour, warmth and a real sense of place - Daily Record, on Shelter
Beautiful - Adele Parks, on Shelter
Powerful and moving - Essie Fox, on Shelter
A wonderful, affecting debut novel about the redemptive power of nature - Red, on Shelter
Jo Is fed up of London and her life in law and on a whim moves back to the Forest of Dean to try to save the Butler family butchers shop when her parents retire.
She finds lodgings with the enigmatic Tessa in a tiny...
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This book is quite interesting! It involves 2 stories in one! 2 different characters in the same predicament however both wanting to belong. One of them lives int he reforest off dean, a beautiful picturesque... More
I read Sarah Franklin's previous book Shelter and loved it so I was delighted to be given the opportunity to read How to Belong and I wasn't disappointed. Set again in the Forest of Dean the story is about... More
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