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Preloved: A sparklingly witty and relatable debut novel

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I’m an author and award-winning journalist, writing about fashion, food, pop culture, travel, feminism and life,for people like Sunday Times Style, Grazia, Refinery29 UK, Cosmopolitan, Stylist, easyJet Traveller, Foodism, Delicious, The Telegraph and The Guardian. I just hummed along with the first, rather long like 2/3's of the book, and then all of a sudden it made sense. I did like the chapters and the things that showed up at the shop what they were and how they got there. But overall I thought the book was rather melancholy and at timesin places it just rambled on. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Definitely one of my favourite books that I’ve read so far this year!

Preloved: A sparklingly witty and relatable debut novel

Gwen has been waiting to hear about a promotion at her work when she is made redundant – the real reason for which is revealed much later on in the book (but no spoilers) and if she’s being honest she feels as though she’s stagnating. Her relationships with her friends don’t seem to be going anywhere, to the point that she actually avoids spending too much time with them. She’s been isolating herself almost since the day she told her fiance that their relationship was over 5 years ago. Preloved is full of sharp observations on life, loss, regret and self-preservation... spilling over with wit and hope. Cleverly interwoven with stories of the myriad reasons items find their way into charity shops, the joy, friendship and ultimate enlightenment Gwen discovers offers a quirky and poignant reminder that one person's trash is always somebody else's treasure.' Julietta Henderson, author of The Funny Thing about Norman ForemanI've also worked extensively as a commercial copywriter,for the likes of LEGO, Sainsbury's, River Cottage, The Flour Station, British Gas, Betty.me, RED Valentino, BBC, Channel 4, O2 Magazineand Tesco,on web copy,social media content and digital strategy.These days I focus on working with ethical and sustainable fashion and lifestyle brands.

Female friendships (and sustainable fashion) are at the heart

With tough issues at its core, Preloved is still intimate and joyful. While you’ll find no spoiler alerts here, there is an optimistic finish. GLAMOUR wonders, why do you think people need happy endings?

Table of Contents

This book is an absolute delight from beginning to end. Interspersed with Gwen’s story (our MC) are random vignettes about the various items that make their way through the charity shop (or are they random after all? Read to find out). Equal parts hilarious and bittersweet, the story strolls along at a nice leisurely pace. I love a slow, character-driven story, so this is right up my alley. What didn't work for me was that it was just too long. And, it alternated between the story and items brought to the charity shop, so the constant stopping and starting made it a little choppy and made it seem even longer. While all Gwen’s friends are “procreating in the countryside”, she is single, lonely and now, jobless. So she begins anew in the place where all things get a second chance: a charity shop. Preloved is a funny and touching read.’ Laugh-out-loud funny but also poignant and tender, Preloved is an absorbingly special debut novel. I devoured in equal measure the delicious descriptions of food and the moving vignettes of preloved treasures peppered throughout the book, while the nineties and noughties nostalgia had me gasping with pleasure." - Laura Price Gwen is floundering. She is let go from her job and had recently broken things off with her fiancé. Her relationship with her parents is somewhat estranged, and her close friends are all paired off. She decides to clean out her apartment and takes her unwanted items to a second hand store, and while there she decides to volunteer at the store while she lives off of her severance and contemplates what to do as a next step.

Lauren Bravo Lauren Bravo

Gwen is coasting through life. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the countryside and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around the council’s wheelie-bin timetable.Particularly when we're living among bleakness and uncertainty, it’s a privilege when somebody chooses to sit down with a book you've written and invested hours of their life with a character; you owe it to them to give that character a satisfactory ending. I've had so many experiences where I've loved a book right up until the 5% and then I want to hurl it across the room!" You just feel cheated. And I couldn't do that to readers.” A hot water bottle of a novel – in that it’s best enjoyed on the sofa when you’re in need of something warming and comforting Having Volunteered / Worked in a local Charity Shop for 5 years (and counting), I was very pleasantly surprised by the positive messages about our purpose & the lives of those that stand 'behind the counter' .. Preloved is full of sharp observations on life, loss, regret and self-preservation.' Julietta Henderson, author of The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman

Preloved — Lauren Bravo

As she is sitting in a restaurant eating a solo dinner to celebrate her birthday (thus showing us, the readers, the isolated life she has made for herself), she starts to put together a to-do list of all the tasks she has been avoiding for far too long. One of these chores is to dispose of the engagement ring that she has been holding on to since the abrupt ending of the relationship. She takes this, and other items she has been keeping, to a local charity shop and so starts the journey to her new life. The book alternates between chapters involving items that find their way to the second hand store and Gwen's narrative about her life and learning how to move forward. About midway through, the pieces slotted together and I realized the significance of many of the "item" chapters. This is when the story began to take on more meaning for me and the flow felt more natural.Now it’s time for Gwen to get out of her life in pause, and to find a way to move forward with bravery and humanity—and more regular dental care. Overall, Preloved is a heartwarming and humorous novel with great characters that I would recommend to anyone. I eagerly await Lauren Bravo's future releases. We all have our own personal opinions about charity shops don’t we dear reader? Some see them as a place to offload their junk that has been cluttering their house for years, to cleanse themselves of their past life in hopes that others will find need from their unwanted possessions. Others see them as Aladdin’s cave full of wonder and mystery just waiting for you to discover your next treasure. Other people think they smell of death and urine, they avoid them like the plague. However you view charity shops you can’t deny that they are a magical place full of untold stories. Second of all, it’s fully your fault that I lost an entire day to this book instead of just reading it in bits over a few days, as I couldn’t bear to let it out of my hands until I’d finished. The writing style is clever, observant and witty. I’m sure Lauren Bravo knows my mother, because she’s uncannily similar to Gwen’s mum Marjorie! Her character descriptions are astute and sensitive and each one comes to life from her words.

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