If you’re a regular reader of Linda’s Book Bag you’ll know just how much I love Isabelle Broom’s writing (and she’s pretty special as a person too). Now, I have already reviewed here the book Isabelle has brought along today and I have interviewed her more fully here. However, as today is paperback publication day for Isabelle’s latest book I couldn’t resist asking her to stay in with me and luckily she agreed!

I’ve also reviewed Isabelle’s book One Winter Morning here, My Map of You here, A Year and a Day here and The Place We Met here. I still haven’t read my cherished personally signed copy of One Thousand Stars and You.

Staying in with Isabelle Broom

Welcome back to Linda’s Book Bag Isabelle.Thank you so much for agreeing to stay in with me.

We all know really, but tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

Tonight, I have come armed with my brand-new novel Hello, Again, which is just so pretty that I have barely put it down. I’m hoping it has the same effect on readers when they spot it out in the shops, too. I’m proud of this book, and writing about an artist has inspired me to become more creative. As well as writing, I’m now busy making mosaics and upcycling sad old pieces of furniture – maybe we can turn our hand to something while we chat?

Given what you recently did to this bookcase I think that sounds like a perfect idea!

So, what can we expect from an evening in with Hello, Again?

Well, in addition to all the art – of which there is a glorious mix – you will also be whisked off abroad to not one but four overseas locations, including Lisbon, Hamburg, Barcelona and Guernsey. Given that our travel wings have been temporarily clipped by lockdown, it’s even more important to escape through the pages of a book, and this one will hopefully whet your appetite as to where to visit once it’s safe to do so again. I’m trying to look on the positive side of all this and appreciate the fact that the planet is getting a rest from all us travellers. The world will still be there waiting when all this is over, and hopefully we will cherish it even more than before having been forced to miss it.

Oh yes indeed. And Hello, Again certainly transports the reader. It’s one of the elements I commented on in my review.

What else have you brought along and why?

The seed that the story of this book grew from is actually a very handsome German man, but I unfortunately cannot bring him along. **deep sigh**

Now THAT is a shame!

Instead, I’m coming armed with a feast fit for two queens, and just like Pepper and Josephine in Hello, Again, we’re going to gobble up paella, glug down jugs of sangria then finish the evening with pastel del nata (Portuguese custard tarts) and thick, creamy German coffee sprinkled with cinnamon. Art, food and bookish chat = a dreamy evening in!

What a feast. Thanks so much for staying in with me Isabelle. Now, you get sanding that television cabinet whilst I shove in one of those custard tarts and tell everyone all about your wonderful new book Hello, Again:

Hello, Again

Philippa Taylor (Pepper to her friends) has big dreams. When she closes her eyes, she can picture exactly who she ought to be. The problem is, it’s about as far away from her real life in a small coastal town in Suffolk as she can imagine.

So when her elderly friend Josephine persuades Pepper to accompany her on a trip to Europe, she jumps at the chance to change her routine. And when Pepper bumps (literally) into the handsome Finn in Lisbon, it seems as though she might have finally found what she’s been looking for.

But Pepper know all too well things are rarely as they seem. Her own quiet life hides a dark secret from the past. And even though she and Finn may have been destined to find each other, Pepper suspects life may have other plans as to how the story should end.

A romantic and sweeping story about friendship, love and realising that sometimes it’s about the journey, not the destination.

Hello, Again is out today from Hodder and is available for purchase here.

About Isabelle Broom

Isabelle Broom was born in Cambridge nine days before the 1980s began and studied Media Arts in London before a 12-year stint at Heat magazine. Always happiest when she’s off on an adventure, Isabelle now travels all over the world seeking out settings for her escapist fiction novels, as well as making the annual pilgrimage to her second home – the Greek island of Zakynthos.

Currently based in Suffolk, where she shares a cottage with her two dogs and approximately 467 spiders, Isabelle fits her writing around a busy freelance career and tries her best not to be crushed to oblivion under her ever-growing pile of to-be-read books.

For more information, visit Isabelle’s website. You can also follow her on Twitter @Isabelle_Broom and find her on Facebook.