My grateful thanks to Veronique Norton at Hodder and Stoughton for providing this lovely book for review.

When Jason loses his job, he and his wife Libby move back to Jason’s home town to run the family hotel with Jason’s widowed mother, Margaret. A car accident outside the hotel brings a young woman into their lives and so ‘One Small Act of Kindness’ begins.

Lucy Dillon has written a delightful book that I read in a weekend as I found her characters so warm and convincing that I wanted to see what happened to them. I think keeping the palette of characters relatively small is a real triumph as they are truly three dimensional. Each is gradually revealed and the reader gets to know them thoroughly – even (or perhaps especially) Lord Bob, the basset hound.

The plot is well constructed so that there are twists and turns, false leads and hints engaging the reader throughout. The ending is hugely satisfying.

Lucy Dillon’s other great skill lies in her ability to paint pictures with words. I could envisage every aspect of the hotel from her descriptions.

I had initially worried that ‘One Small Act of Kindness’ might just be a sugary chick lit read and I wonder if men would enjoy it as much as a female audience, but it is definitely so much more. It does make the reader think hard about their own behaviour, and indeed, want to live their lives better. This is the kind of book that makes for a fantastic feel good read. It does truly warm the heart. In fact, if I were ever to become a writer, this is exactly the kind of book I wish I had the talent to produce.

I can’t wait to read another of Lucy Dillon’s works.