A Second Chance Summer by Katharine E Smith

A Second Chance Summer by Katharine E Smith

Is it possible to relive the best time of your life? As they approach their thirties, Alice and Julie are determined to find out.

Still recovering from a toxic relationship, Alice realises she has allowed life to become too predictable, while Julie has just ended things with the man she was due to marry. The two friends decide to throw caution to the wind; coming back to Cornwall, where they spent a long, happy summer ten years before. As they return to the same small flat in the centre of town, and seasonal jobs at the Sail Loft Hotel, Alice harbours hopes of finding Sam, the love of her life, while Julie is determined to enjoy the freedom she's been missing.

A lot can change in ten years, though, as their friend Luke - now a handsome, successful businessman - proves. Back in Cornwall himself, as his mum is seriously ill, he and Julie grow close. Alice is worried that her friend is making a huge mistake and, all-but-abandoned, starts to spend time with single mum Casey.

Sam, meanwhile, proves elusive but slowly reveals that, although he appears not to have changed at all, the previous decade has been eventful for him, too.

E. Katharine Katharine E. Smith is a Yorkshirewoman who lives with her husband and two small children in Shropshire, England. She is the owner of Heddon Publications, an independent publishing business, and has a degree in philosophy. Katharine has loved writing since she was a child, but it took her more than five years to finish her first novel, Writing the Town Read, to her satisfaction. Two years later, Seeing Back was published, and a third novel, Between Friends, is in the works.

Katharine's stories are defined by their settings and characters, which show a deep connection to the South West of the United Kingdom, where she attended school and afterwards lived for another five years. Kate Atkinson, Anne Tyler, and Maggie O'Farrell provide inspiration, with a dash of Nick Hornby and John O'Farrell thrown in for good measure.