When You Read This

WHEN YOU READ THIS is a warm, heart-breaker of a novel, and just as you think you might be on the verge of tears, it will tip you over into laughter instead. On his first day of work at a struggling brand management firm, an ambitious intern discovers a blog created by his predecessor, Iris Massey. Iris, he quickly learns, died a few months earlier, leaving a hole in the life of the firm's morose boss, Smith. Now, stuck at his desk all day, Carl-the-Intern - whose sky-high aspirations are thwarted only by Smith's sluggishness - gets hooked on Iris's blog, and the stories she tells about the life she left behind. Determined to share her story, Carl and Smith soon track down Iris' sister Jade, an haute cuisine chef who's been knocked sideways by her loss, finding solace only in potato chips and red wine. Smith and Jade, tied together by their mutual grief and each carrying their own baggage, end up on a collision course: with their own unresolved pasts, and also with each other. Funny and moving in equal measures, WHEN YOU READ THIS is a sparkling debut about love, life, and all the emails you really wish you'd never sent. (P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited