Author(s): Dianne Yarwood

Fiction

A heartfelt, funny and uplifting debut about two failing marriages, two strangers falling in love, two friends embarking on a catering business - and the four funerals that connect them all This is a story about Clare, Louisa and Chris. And sometimes Paul, and less often, Beth. It is most certainly not about frittatas (a terrible concession), and more to do with lemon tart (a perfect contrast of textures). It is about what to do when your husband tells you that he doesn't love you anymore. And what to do when your wife leaves you after too many rounds of IVF. It's about helping your new friend with her funeral catering business, and discovering that, sometimes, the most unlikely of pairings are the very, very best. It is about food that is outrageously good and comforting to sad people. And, for once, not being sensible, and throwing away everything you know. Catering, like life, doesn't always go according to plan, and as Clare, Louisa and Chris's stories become more intertwined, they will learn that life will always manage to break in to remind you of just how good it can be. This is a book about living. After all, the thing about death is that it makes life important. The Wakes is a bittersweet and irresistibly readable novel that perfectly blends laugh-aloud humour with poignant reflections on life and death and what really matters. 'The Wakes is a truly delightful debut novel about life, death ... and chicken sandwiches. Funny, moving, tender and wise, I ate up every delicious word' LIANE MORIARTY 'The Wakes is an utter delight - warm, funny and profound. I can't wait for everyone to read it. I couldn't believe it was a debut' SALLY HEPWORTH, author of The Younger Wife 'So warm and poignant and sweetly funny. I loved it' JACQUELINE MALEY 'The Wakes is a celebration of what it means to be alive, and the joy of finding friendship where you least expect it. Dianne Yarwood explores the messiness of middle age with warmth, humanity and wry humour, as well as fiction's most delicious lemon tarts! I'd eat this book if I could' JOANNA NELL, author of The Tea Ladies of St Jude's Hospita l'A truly exceptional novel. Dianne Yarwood skilfully illuminates the breadth of the human experience through the eyes of a suite of perfectly imperfect characters. This novel is rich with wisdom, love, humour and a sparkling joy - that unique kind of story that can make you sob and chuckle in the very same scene' KELLY RIMMER, author of The Warsaw Orphan