Mel Giedroyc: The Comeback

Linghams and Booka Bookshop, two indie bookshops are thrilled to announce an event with Mel Giedroyc at Storyhouse, Chester.

The brand new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Mel Giedroyc is a funny, big-hearted story of second chances. 

Sometimes life surprises you with an encore… 

Twenty years ago, aspiring performer Gill Piper boarded a bus out of Leatherhead with a spring in her step and stars in her eyes. Things didn’t quite pan out… 

Back home again, Gill finds much has changed. Young Lights, the youth theatre group which coaxed her out of her shell, is no more. The theatre itself, once the heartbeat of the community, now feels like a has-been; Gill can relate. 

When Gill learns the theatre is approaching its hundredth year, she decides to put on a spectacular anniversary show to give it a comeback and unite the town. She has just eight weeks, but if she can persuade some shy newcomers to step into the spotlight, it might just be possible. 

But Gill hasn’t counted on self-appointed Artistic Director and diva extraordinaire Carla Keswick, who declares war. Can Gill and her unlikely company of amateurs defy Carla’s dirty tricks, and prove it’s never too late for a curtain call? 

Mel will be interviewed on stage by Clare Balding who will also have copies of her new novel available on the evening.

Clare Balding grew up in the countryside surrounded by horses and dogs, and reading everything from Jilly Cooper to Henry James. Her autobiography, My Animals and Other Family, won the National Book Award for Autobiography of the Year.

Pastures New: Where there’s a will, there’s a way home…
Alex has perfected the art of dodging responsibility during her almost 40 years — until an unexpected letter turns her life upside down. She’s inherited a crumbling sheep farm in deepest, wettest Wales. This was not her life plan. Not at all.

An enormously enjoyable debut novel from on of the UK’s best-known broadcasters, full of all the warmth and wit and mischievous humour of early Jilly Cooper crossed with Clare’s enormous affection for the countryside.