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…
Purchase your copy - HERE
A brilliant debut from Laura Bambrey; I enjoyed ‘The Beginners
Guide to Loneliness’ from start to finish. It’s emotional, fun-filled, dramatic
and covers some very sensitive topics that will resonate with many readers. You
get a real sense of how much love and passion has gone into creating these
characters and their stories. It’s such an impressive debut -I will be looking
forward to more.
Tori is our main character, and she is one I immediately
empathised with. She has been through so much and the pain/hurt she feels means
she isolates herself from others and is determined to keep people from getting
close. She feels lonely and has cultivated an online persona for herself, one
in which she has control, speaks freely but is anonymous. Her online friends
have been her rock and guide her into making some big decisions. When an
opportunity comes for Tori to visit The Farm; a retreat where she can take more
time for herself and her issues; the warriors are all for it and convince her
to go.
The Farm is brilliant, very “out there” for Tori and I
couldn’t imagine myself in her position at all! I adored the cast of
characters, you could tell who would be good and who would cause trouble. I am
a huge fan of Rowen though – that girl is going to go far and she really comes
through for all involved in the end.
The Farm seems like the perfect place for some respite and
to discover a little more about yourself; maybe we should all have a visit! I
With themes that can be sensitive like grief, torment,
guilt, fear and betrayal, great care has been taken by Laura to write this with
compassion and with great balance with funny, laugh out loud moments.
Keep an eye out for Dennis, he may be the star.
I highly recommend this one – enjoy!
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