Tori Williamson is alone. After a tragic event left her isolated from her loved ones, she’s been struggling to find her way back to, well – herself. That’s why she set up her blog, The Beginner’s Guide to Loneliness, as a way of – anonymously – connecting with the outside world and reaching others who just need a little help sometimes.
When she’s offered a free spot on a wellbeing retreat in exchange for a review on her blog, Tori is anxious about opening herself up to new surroundings. But after her three closest friends – who she talks to online but has never actually met – convince her it’ll do her some good, she reluctantly agrees and heads off for three weeks in the wild (well, a farm in Wales).
From the moment she arrives, Tori is sceptical and quickly finds herself drawn to fellow sceptic Than, the retreat’s dark and mysterious latecomer. But as the beauty of The Farm slowly comes to light she realizes that opening herself up might not be the worst thing. And sharing a yurt with fellow retreater Bay definitely isn’t. Will the retreat be able to fix Tori? Or will she finally learn that being lonely doesn’t mean she’s broken . . .
Welcome to The Beginner’s Guide to Loneliness! Where you can learn to move mountains by picking up the smallest of stones…
Title: The Beginner's Guide to Loneliness
Author: Laura Bambrey
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: 28th July 2020
Our Review
What a beautiful, uplifting and heart-warming debut novel.
Tori runs a blog called The Beginner’s Guide to Loneliness and when she is offered a free stay at a retreat in exchange for a review she accepts with some trepidation.
Whilst on the retreat which was very entertaining by the way, she meets some very colourful characters including a couple of extremely handsome men to choose from.
What a beautiful, uplifting and heart-warming debut novel.
Tori runs a blog called The Beginner’s Guide to Loneliness and when she is offered a free stay at a retreat in exchange for a review she accepts with some trepidation.
Whilst on the retreat which was very entertaining by the way, she meets some very colourful characters including a couple of extremely handsome men to choose from.
Tori's loneliness stemmed from losing someone close to her but also because her best friends were online buddies whom she never got to meet, however she found them very supportive over the years. I found the scenes at the retreat quite comical and I loved the way Laura Bambrey really threw Tori in at the deep end and completely out of her comfort zone. She and one of the handsome men don't really take the activities seriously at first but Tori soon realises that they are actually doing her some good.
My heart really went out to Tori as she was such a lovely character and had been through so much heartbreak. The rest of the cast were a bunch of complete eccentrics which kept the story full of fun. I think one of my favourite characters was Rowan, the daughter of the retreat owners who added a lovely bit of enterprising naughtiness into the mix.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book it was well written, totally unique and was very current as maybe a lot of us distance ourselves as our lives are more online. I can't wait to read more from Laura.
Sincerely
Book Angel x
About the Author
Laura Bambrey was born in Dorset but raised in Wales. She’s worked as a trapeze choreographer, sculpture conservator and stilt walker, amongst others, and spent most of her time collecting stories from the people she met along the way.
She has spent many years as a book blogger and reviewer of women’s fiction and now lives in Devon with her very own romantic hero and a ridiculously fluffy rabbit named Mop. The Beginner’s Guide to Loneliness is her début novel.
You can connect with Laura on twitter @laurabambrey, on Instagram @laura_bambrey_books, on Facebook @laurabambreybooks, and via her author blog laurabambreybooks.blogspot.com
