«How To Be Brave» by Louise Beech

All the stories died that morning … until we found the one we’d always known.When nine-year-old Rose is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, Natalie must use her imagination to keep her daughter alive. They begin dreaming about and seeing a man in a brown suit who feels hauntingly familiar, a man who has something for them. Through the magic of storytelling, Natalie and Rose are transported to the Atlantic Ocean in 1943, to a lifeboat, where an ancestor survived for fifty days before being rescued.Poignant, beautifully written and tenderly told, How To Be Brave weaves together the contemporary story of a mother battling to save her child’s life with an extraordinary true account of bravery and a fight for survival in the Second World War. A simply unforgettable debut that celebrates the power of words, the redemptive energy of a mother’s love … and what it really means to be brave.'It’s a gentle book, full of emotion and it’s similar in tone to The Book Thief, a book that Rose reads with a torch under the bedclothes.’ The Irish Times’Moving, engrossing and richly drawn, this is storytelling in its purest form … mesmerising’ Amanda Jennings‘An amazing story of hope and survival … a love letter to the power of books and stories’ Nick Quantrill‘Two family stories of loss and redemption intertwine in a painfully beautiful narrative. This book grabbed me right around my heart and didn’t let go’ Cassandra Parkin‘Louise Beech is a natural born storyteller and this is a wonderful story’ Russ Litten‘Beautifully written, intelligent and moving, this book will stay with you long after you reach the end’ Ruth Dugdall