Home Bird
1979. Jackie Chadwick is 17 and living in a supported bedsit. She's still close to her foster parents and friends with (aka unofficial minder for) Amanda, their irresponsible daughter, but she's enjoying her independence – until a fire leaves her temporarily homeless. Jackie's dad, widower and recovering alcoholic Dave, has just been released from prison and sees this as his chance to make amends. He offers her his spare room – but can their relationship survive him going back on the booze and the arrival of his gin-loving lady friend and her errant son? As things go from bad to worse, Jackie has to decide how many chances you give someone who keeps letting you down.
Bittersweet and funny, Home Bird draws on Fran Hill's own experiences as a teenager in foster care.
‘Warm and wonderful’ – Adele Parks, Author of the #1 Sunday Times bestseller One Last Secret
‘Fresh, authentic and darkly funny.’ – Ruth Hogan, Author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Keeper of Lost Things
‘Vivid, funny, nostalgic and utterly charming – I loved every word of this moving story.’ –Veronica Henry, bestselling author of The Long Weekend
Fran Hill is a self-employed English teacher and writer; this is her second full-length work of fiction. Fran’s first novel, Cuckoo in the Nest, is based on Fran’s own experience of being fostered; the novel has been shortlisted for the SoA Paul Torday Memorial Prize and was a Daily Mail Book of the Year 2022.
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