A Parcel for Anna Browne – Miranda Dickinson

A Parcel for Anna Browne


Published by Pan

24 September 2015

The gift of a lifetime?

Anna Browne is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life. Her day job as a receptionist in bustling London isn’t exactly her dream, yet she has everything she wants. But someone thinks Anna Browne deserves more…. a parcel addressed to Anna Browne arrives, she has no idea who has sent it. Inside she finds a beautiful gift – one that is designed to be seen. And so begins a series of incredible deliveries, each one bringing Anna further out of the shadows and encouraging her to become the woman she was destined to be. As Anna grows in confidence, others begin to notice her – and her life starts to change.


But who is sending the mysterious gifts, and why?

There is something rather magical about Anna’s story. She is just a normal person enjoying her job as a receptionist at the London offices of a newspaper, The Daily Messenger, and living a ordinary quiet life, spending time with her friends, the exuberant Tish, an American living in the same apartment block, Jonah, her Yorkshire born cameraman friend and Isadora, the scared and elderly neighbour adopted by Anna and her friends whom they take out on a rota system, devised of course by Anna.

Good things should happen to good people and Anna certainly falls into that category. She doesn’t seem to have a nasty bone in her body and is always willing to see the best in everybody. Despite the lack of parental love experienced by Anna and her brother Ruari as children in Cornwall, the siblings had carved out their own successful lives and Anna loved her life in London.

The magical aspect to Anna’s life begins when she starts receiving beautifully wrapped gifts from an unknown sender. The parcels are delivered to her at work which causes quite a stir with her colleagues with much speculation. Whilst his concern is kindly meant, the Messenger’s chief of security, Ted, is not only full of his own importance but he is also the master of conspiracy theories and is convinced that the sender has an ulterior motive and intends to do her harm whilst her fellow receptionist Sheniece is slightly jealous of Anna and is desperate to know what is in each parcel. With each new gift, Anna becomes more aware of her own capabilities and travels her her own journey of self discovery.

There are some excellent characters in this story and Anna’s life is certainly full of drama – both welcome and unwelcome, and of course a romance element with a love interest that will keep you guessing. I did guess who the mysterious sender was but Miranda doesn’t make it easy.

This was a really enjoyable read with a few twists along the way and I loved how Anna’s character showed that with a little confidence and self belief, you can do anything you want. I only have one reservation with this book. My proof copy was over 500 pages and whilst the actual finished copy may not be as big, I did feel that the book was a little too long for the story. However, it is a lovely warm read with that feel good factor and well deserves a 4* rating from me.

My thanks to Francesca and the publisher, Pan for providing me with an ARC and inviting me to take part in the blog tour.

My own parcel from the publisher

About the author:

Miranda Dickinson has always had a head full of stories. From an early age she dreamed of writing a book that would make the heady heights of Kingswinford Library and today she is a bestselling author. She began to write in earnest when a friend gave her The World’s Slowest PC, and has subsequently written the bestselling novels Fairytale of New York, Welcome to My World, It Started With a Kiss, When I Fall in Love, Take A Look At Me Now and I’ll Take New York. Miranda lives with her husband Bob and daughter Flo in Dudley.

To find out more visit:

Miranda’s website

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