Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for What Happens in France by Carol Wyer!
What They Say:
She stood and took her
place in front of the camera... It was now or never”
Bryony Masters has been looking for her long-lost sister, Hannah, for years, but when their father has a stroke her search takes on new urgency. So when primetime game show, What Happens in France, puts a call-out for new contestants, Bryony spots the ultimate public platform to find her reality TV-obsessed sister, and finally reunite their family.
With the help of handsome teammate Lewis, it’s not long before she’s on a private jet heading for the stunning beauty of rural France. With a social media star dog, a high maintenance quiz host and a cast of truly unique characters, Bryony and Lewis have their work cut out for them to stay on the show and in the public eye.
Yet as the audience grows and the grand prize beckons they find
that the search that brought them together may just fulfil more than
one heart’s wish…
This heartwarming romantic comedy of friendship, family and
laugh-out-loud adventures is perfect for fans of Kirsty Greenwood,
Colleen Coleman and Marian Keyes.
Extract from What Happens In France
As
her father dozed in the lounge, Bryony sat with her mother in the
kitchen. A frail figure, pale veined hands cupping her teacup, she
poured out her concerns to her daughter.
‘The speech
therapist worked with him again this morning but he’s still
slurring his words so badly, I can barely understand him. He gets
frustrated when no one can comprehend what he’s saying and then
angry. I don’t know how to handle it when he’s like that. I’m
scared it’ll bring on another stroke and this time it’ll be a
fatal one. I want him to get better so much. Oh, Bryony, what if he
doesn’t?’
‘He’ll make it,
Mum,’ said Bryony softly. ‘You’ve both been through bad stuff
before and survived.’
‘He’s not as
strong as he used to be, and he’s become so confused. You can see
that. He talks endlessly about her. He asks when she’s going to
visit. I don’t know whether to tell him Hannah left years ago.’
‘Maybe it would be
best not to. At least give me some more time to see if I can find
her. I’ve got my blog for her and the page on Facebook. I keep
hoping somebody who knows her will see them, or she will and get in
touch.’
‘I don’t
understand how that works. I know what these sites are but I can’t
see how it might get Hannah back.’
‘It’s along the
idea of putting up a lost and found poster but you do it on social
media rather than actually putting up posters. It worked for a friend
of a friend’s dog. Hector was stolen from her front garden but the
police couldn’t do anything. His owner – Lexi – set up a page
and asked her clients to share it. By the end of the first day it had
been shared by hundreds of people, including some England rugby
players and Ant and Dec, who tweeted about it to their thousands of
followers. The newspapers got hold of the story and so did GMTV, who
invited Lexi onto the show to share her story and to ask viewers to
look out for Hector. A couple of days later, two people turned up at
Lexi’s house with her dog. The thought was that whoever had taken
Hector had been frightened off by all the publicity and abandoned
him. It’s surprising who knows who on social media, and once
something like that gathers sufficient momentum, it really attracts
the attention of the press.’
‘The press was
involved before and it made no difference.’
‘That was the
local press. I’m aiming for national press and maybe even coverage
on nationwide television. If the right person gets involved in this,
then it’ll work.’
‘I’m sorry,
love, but I don’t think you’re right. I don’t want to hurt your
feelings but you’re being naïve or probably placing too much trust
in this approach. I can’t imagine an old forgotten case of a
sixteen-year-old who ran away thirty years ago, would cause a
sensation. It didn’t attract sufficient attention when we tried to
find her even back then because lots of young girls and boys run away
– too many. Some don’t even leave goodbye notes like Hannah did.
She wasn’t forced to leave, or kidnapped or—’ Her mother
stopped, anger making her voice rise. She continued, resignation
softening her words, ‘She upped and left and hasn’t contacted us
since and although for many, many years I hoped she would, I now
think she might not even be alive. I appreciate you want to help your
father but you’ve set yourself an impossible task.’ She sighed, a
sound filled with heartache and sorrow. ‘I drove her away. I should
have been there for her when she needed me. I believed she was a
normal teenager with moods and quirky behaviour and I didn’t spot
the signs she was unhappy. She never hinted there was any real
problem. I failed her, Bryony. She obviously couldn’t talk to me,
and for that I blame myself. I was far too wrapped up in work and
your father’s career. I was so intent on supporting him, I failed
my daughter.’ She stopped again. This time the tears trickled down
her face, down the creases that had recently appeared.
Bryony had borne
witness to her mother’s suffering and her father’s decline over
the years. At first, both of them had believed Hannah would walk back
into their lives. Derek Masters had kept up the appearance required
of an important headmaster at a large school. He taught his sixth
form classes and ran his school like a tight ship, but as time passed
and it became increasingly unlikely that Hannah would return home,
cracks in his demeanour appeared.
The police had
written Hannah off as a runaway. After all, she had left a note
saying she was leaving and had taken some personal belongings with
her, and they did not consider the possibility that she might have
been abducted. Her parents were less convinced and had hired two
detectives at different times to track down Hannah. Neither detective
found evidence she was alive. Hannah had simply vanished.
Both her mother and
father eventually began to fear the worst – that their daughter was
dead. Her father could no longer maintain his front. The
responsibility of looking after 400 children, ensuring their
well-being and education when he could not look after his own
daughter, was too much to bear. Worry ate away at him and eventually
he had the breakdown that saw what was left of their fractured family
move to a village outside of Derby and where he was confined to the
house for many months with Geraldine caring for him.
Once he began to
mend, Hannah’s name was mentioned less often. Gradually, her
mother’s tears dried up and she took employment in a local hospice
where she helped care for those who were terminally ill by reading to
them or visiting and chatting with them.
Bryony too erased
the painful memories that followed her sister’s departure, although
on occasion, she would stop dead in the street, convinced she had
spotted her sister – another woman with blonde hair and grey eyes –
and
scurry after them only to recognize at the last moment that she had
made a mistake.
Bryony buried her
self-reproach deep within herself. She studied hard. She went to
university, made some new friends and lived a life without her
sister. Each time the memories rose to the surface she drove them
back, although sometimes she would shed a tear with Melinda. The year
before, she’d suddenly decided to look once more for Hannah. She’d
begun the quest, set up the blog and hoped, but then in March, her
father had suffered a serious stroke and suddenly it became
imperative to find her sister.
Bryony held her
mother’s hand and squeezed gently. She felt the acrid taste in her
mouth as guilt stirred in her stomach. Her mother wasn’t at fault.
Nor was her dominating, demanding father. She knew there was only one
person to blame for Hannah’s leaving, and that was Bryony.
About The Author:
As a child Carol Wyer was always moving, and
relied on humour to fit in at new schools. A funny short story won
her popularity, planting the seed of becoming a writer. Her career
spans dry cleaning, running a language teaching company, and
boxercise coaching. Now writing full-time, Carol has several books
published and journalism in many magazines.
Carol won The People’s Book Prize Award for non-fiction (2015),
and can sometimes be found performing her stand-up comedy routine
Laugh While You Still Have Teeth.
What I Say:
Well, it's common knowledge that I have a massive soft spot for Carol and her books. She's one of the loveliest ladies you could ever meet (well, not actually met irl yet) and her books are amazing, whether it be rom-coms or psych thrillers.
WHIF is just a joy to read! There are kind of two threads running side by side here. There's the game show story, which is so fun, and the story of Bryony's search for her missing sister Hannah. Obviously the two are intertwined and Hannah is the reason Bryony applies to the show, but it in itself is a fantastic storyline!
I adored Bryony and Lewis! They are so much fun and I wish I knew them in real life! Oscar and Biggie Smalls (smoooooosh!) are fab and I loved Jim too. But Bryony really is the heart and soul of this book. She's a lovely woman with a broken heart and I so wanted to hug her and help her find her sister.
The setting of France for the game show was brilliant and I feel like I've been there now. It was so beautifully written that you can feel Carol's passion for the place leaping from the pages. The show was hysterical and would be an amazing show to watch!
Carol, you've done it again. You've written a book that has made me feel all the feels. You made me stay up late at night and ignore my own dogs as I was too busy reading about Biggie. (If you need inspiration for a dog in another story, have one of mine!).
Bloody brilliant and zut alors! C'est magnifique! 10/10
You can follow the rest of the tour here:
Big thanks to Ellie at Canelo for allowing me to be part of the blog tour! xx
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