In Bloom by Eva Verde

The brilliant and incisive new novel from the author of Lives Like Mine... A deeply affecting novel, In Blooms tells of strength, survival, forgiveness, resilience and determination, and the fierce love and unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters. Ever since Sol's untimely death left her pregnant and alone at twenty-four, Delph's kept herself small as a form of self-protection.

Now, over a decade later, she lives with their daughter Roche and her new partner Itsy, a kind and protective cabbie, on the fourteenth floor of Esplanade Point on the Essex coast. But Delph's protective bubble bursts when Roche moves in with her estranged nan, Moon. Feeling on the outside of the bond between her fierce-yet-flaky tarot-reading mother and volatile martial-arts-champion daughter, Delph begins questioning her own freedom.

And when Roche's snooping into her grandmother's past unearths a familial line of downtrodden women; a worrying pattern emerges. Has keeping small and safe truly been Delph's choice all these years...?Praise for Lives Like Mine: 'Londoner Eva Verde's Lives Like Mine explores the theme of a school-run affair and the complications and joys it brings to a dual-heritage mother struggling with her intolerant in-laws' Independent 'A bitter sweet story of longing and self-discovery, of deceit and regret. Visceral, authentic and funny, Eva's prose reads like something between a conversation and a confession.

An exciting new voice and a joy to read' Kit de Waal 'Eva's writing breaks new ground in a confident and original voice, with a sharp eye for detail, wonderful characterisation and some seriously badass humour' Yvvette Edwards, author of the Man Booker Prize longlisted novel, A Cupboard Full of Coats 'Lives Like Mine is an assured debut from a writer who's going to go far' Red Online 'Londoner Eva Verde's breathtaking novel' New!