The Book-Lovers' Retreat


 Contents
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Prologue
 Chapter 1
 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3
 Chapter 4
 Chapter 5
 Chapter 6
 Chapter 7
 Chapter 8
 Chapter 9
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Chapter 15
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 Chapter 27
 Chapter 28
 Chapter 29
 Chapter 30
 Chapter 31
 Chapter 32
 Acknowledgements
 About the Author
 Copyright
 
 
 
 Guide
 
 Cover
 Start of Content
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Prologue
 Acknowledgments
 About the Author
 Copyright
 
 
 
 
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 The Sunday Times Bestseller
 Heidi Swain
 The Book-Lovers’ Retreat
 One long summer. One perfect setting. Can fiction inspire real life…?
 
 
 Praise for Heidi Swain
 
 ‘Sweet and lovely. I guarantee you will fall in love with Heidi’s wonderful world’ Milly Johnson
 ‘An absolute joy’ Heat
 ‘So full of sunshine you almost feel the rays’ Woman’s Weekly
 ‘Sparkling and romantic’ My Weekly
 ‘The queen of feel-good’ Woman & Home
 ‘A summer delight!’ Sarah Morgan
 ‘The most delicious slice of festive fiction: a true comfort read and the perfect treat to alleviate all the stress!’ Veronica Henry
 ‘Sprinkled with Christmas sparkle’ Trisha Ashley
 ‘A story that captures your heart’ Chrissie Barlow
 ‘A delightfully sunny read with added intrigue and secrets’ Bella Osborne
 
 
 
 Also by Heidi Swain
 The Cherry Tree Café
 Summer at Skylark Farm
 Mince Pies and Mistletoe at the Christmas Market
 Coming Home to Cuckoo Cottage
 Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at the Christmas Fair
 Sunshine and Sweet Peas in Nightingale Square
 Snowflakes and Cinnamon Swirls at the Winter Wonderland
 Poppy’s Recipe for Life
 The Christmas Wish List
 The Secret Seaside Escape
 The Winter Garden
 A Taste of Home
 Underneath the Christmas Tree
 The Summer Fair
 A Christmas Celebration
 
 
 
 
 
 First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2023
 Copyright © Heidi-Jo Swain, 2023
 The right of Heidi-Jo Swain to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
 Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
 1st Floor
 222 Gray’s Inn Road
 London WC1X 8HB
 Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney
 Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi
 www.simonandschuster.co.uk
 www.simonandschuster.com.au
 www.simonandschuster.co.in
 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
 Paperback ISBN: 978-1-3985-1951-0
 eBook ISBN: 978-1-3985-1952-7
 Audio ISBN: 978-1-3985-1953-4
 This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
 
 To my Famous Five
 You know who you are!
 
 
 Prologue
 It was utterly impossible for the three of us to get our heads around the fact that we’d been living in the cottage by the lake for three whole months now or to believe that in just a few hours we’d be handing back the keys and setting off for opposite ends of the country.
 We had been serendipitously thrown together, three strangers leaving reality behind for one whole summer but now we’d got our lives working exactly how we wanted them to and we were ready to face the future, armed with our fresh starts. The three of us had become a unit, a solid one. Our shared trauma and soul-searching had pulled us together during our three-month journey and consequently we had formed a bond which we all