A Christmas Miracle for the Railway Girls

Oct 4, 2024 11:26 AM

Author:Maisie Thomas,Julia Franklin

Brought to you by Penguin.

The sixth heartwarming, feel-good instalment in the much-loved Railway Girls series!

Manchester, 1942. There are surprises in store for the railway girls this festive season...

When Cordelia's daughter Emily falls for a young chap who doesn't meet the approval of her father, Cordeliais reminded of her own first love - a love that she has never forgotten.

Mabel is determined to get to the bottom of a spate of local burglaries. Her heart is in the right place as she sets out on a quest to clear her friend's name, but there will be unforeseen consequences.

It's nothing short of a miracle when Colette returns to Manchester. But it's not going to be easy for her to keep living the life she once knew, and an impossible situation lies ahead.

There will be more than one storm for the railway girls to weather but with the friendship and support of one another, there's hope that all will be well by Christmas...

Readers LOVE the Railway Girls:

'Make yourself a cuppa and find a comfy spot on the sofa because you are not going to be able to put this down'

'I simply cannot wait for the next one - I am hooked!'

'Gives a vivid picture of women's lives in wartime Manchester'

'Dramatic, intriguing and sprinkled with plenty of wit and heart'

'It's just like catching up with old friends'

Reviews

Supple, artful, skilful storytelling - it takes an immediate grip on the reader's imagination and doesn't let go

—— Hilary Mantel

A brilliant novel about homecoming and the layered, unstable past that haunts and hurts . . . I admire it enormously

—— Colm Tóibín

An impressive debut, atmospheric and unsettling

—— Telegraph, 5 stars

A striking debut . . . A bold, interesting novel . . . I'm excited to see what Menon comes up with next

—— Sunday Times

A bravura debut novel . . . It's clever, satisfying, and often playful

—— Guardian

This is a book saturated with the sensations of southeast Asia; where, in Menon's pungent turns of phrase, you feel as though you could "grab the air in two hands and wring it out"; where guilt can be "squatting in the room . . . stringy as spit", and where tiger princes and jungle spirits lurk amid a painful colonial past

—— The Times, pick of the latest fiction

A rich and moving family history takes shape, filled with love and heartache, guilt and grief, and no end of secrets and lies . . . Gripping, compelling . . . Menon's story shows that, though time flows on, history's waves still ripple decades downstream

—— Economist

Menon is a sparky storyteller whose thickly atmospheric debut keeps us guessing as its many ghosts press in ever closer

—— Daily Mail

A beautiful, richly textured absorbing read. I was utterly transported

—— Irenosen Okojie

A propulsive debut scattered with gems of fresh and surprising imagery. Menon is at her best exploring the intricate bond between women over generations, their histories strung tight over the fraught realities of a nation coming into being

—— Preti Taneja

Always here for a cross-generational family story, especially one that involves moral ambivalence

—— Marian Keyes selection for her PageTurners top reads

An intriguing, fast-paced, imaginative novel

—— Bad Form

A beautifully written story of one Indian Malaysian family's history, entwined with secrets and hidden heartbreak . . . Fragile Monsters is a story of homecoming which illustrates the tension of returning to a past which remains painfully present . . . a cleverly-crafted family saga which explores themes of truth, belonging and shame across multiple generations

—— Asian Review of Books

Leavened with a brisk, dry humour, Fragile Monsters is as propulsive as any mystery, with a bewitching sense of place . . . an accomplished feat of multi-stranded storytelling

—— Evening Standard

Lyrically beautiful writing

—— i

Spellbinding

—— Tatler Malaysia

A story about love, betrayal and redemption with an electric daughter-grandmother relationship at its heart

—— Sheer Luxe, reading recommendation

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