What Happens in France by Carol Wyer | Blog Tour Extract |

Published by Canelo Escape
Available in ebook (28 January 2019)
Genre: Women’s Fiction

About the Book

“She stood and took her place in front of the camera… It was now or never”

Bryony Masters has been looking for her long-lost sister, Hannah, for years, but when their father has a stroke her search takes on new urgency. So when primetime game show, What Happens in France, puts a call-out for new contestants, Bryony spots the ultimate public platform to find her reality TV-obsessed sister, and finally reunite their family.

With the help of handsome teammate Lewis, it’s not long before she’s on a private jet heading for the stunning beauty of rural France. With a social media star dog, a high maintenance quiz host and a cast of truly unique characters, Bryony and Lewis have their work cut out for them to stay on the show and in the public eye.

Yet as the audience grows and the grand prize beckons they find that the search that brought them together may just fulfil more than one heart’s wish… 

This heartwarming romantic comedy of friendship, family and laugh-out-loud adventures is perfect for fans of Kirsty Greenwood, Colleen Coleman and Marian Keyes.

EXTRACT

‘Searching for Hannah’

Dear Hannah,

Today I finished work at lunchtime. I only had one group of children to teach. Because I mostly teach examination-year classes, I find myself free quite often this time of year. The GCSE and A-level students have left school and it feels odd without them.

One pupil who shall remain anonymous here, a tricky individual renowned for disrupting classes, completed William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and actually enjoyed it. He stayed behind after class to tell me it was the first book he had liked and asked if I thought there were any more books like that he could try. Little achievements such as this make my job as a teacher worthwhile. I can see why our parents loved teaching so much.

I borrowed a copy of Albert Camus’ L’Étranger from the French department to read. I haven’t tried any of his works before. I wonder if you have kept up your French and still speak it. Sometimes, when I shut my eyes, I imagine I am listening to your sweet voice singing ‘Frère Jacques’ as you did when you sang me to sleep some nights when I was frightened.

After school, I visited my good friend, Melinda, whose suggestion it was that I write this blog. She wondered if you’d ever try to search for me or look me up, and pointed out that one of the most obvious ways in this age of technology would be to Google my name, in which case you’d find this blog and the Facebook page I’ve set up for you. Since then, I’ve tried hunting for you on various social media sites and used numerous search engines, but only drawn blanks. You don’t seem to have any online presence, at least not as Hannah Masters.

Anyway, Melinda is planning a murder mystery dinner party for the weekend. I’m to play the character of Tilly Poole, an unmarried twenty-nine-year-old kitchen hand who works in a top restaurant. I’ll have to borrow one of mum’s aprons and wear a dark skirt. I hope I don’t have to cook. That’s something I’m no good at.

Melinda helped me with something this afternoon which I hope will lead me to you. It’s a crazy idea I came up with, but if I manage to pull it off, it might bring you back to us. I’ll tell you more about it if it comes to fruition.

Dad continues to make progress but it’s frustrating for him and he asks for you repeatedly. If only you would read this blog and understand how much you mean to us all, Hannah. Mum and I aren’t sure if he will make a continued recovery and are anxious he’ll suffer another even more serious stroke. He needs to see you, Hannah. He needs to see you soon.

I fervently hope you read this and contact me.

Hannah, I love you and miss you every day.

Please come home.

Your loving sister,

Bryony

Bryony read the post again and published it. She’d set up the blog a few months before her father’s stroke, and although it had attracted visitors, it had yet to attract Hannah.

In the early years, her parents had tried more conventional routes to find Hannah. They’d contacted journalists, given interviews on local television and hired detectives. Each fruitless attempt drained her parents further and Bryony watched their optimism ebb. Initially, she too had believed Hannah would return home but as time went by, Bryony began to hate her sister for abandoning them and causing such pain. In the end, she shut off from her emotions and continued life without giving her too much thought.

Her father’s stroke had jolted Bryony into further action. She’d made efforts before but now she had to undertake a more determined effort and was intent on seeking alternative ways that might help locate her sister, should she still be alive. Hence the idea of applying for What Happens in… Bryony was pinning much on getting onto the new game show. Truth was, she was rapidly running out of alternative ideas and ways to track down Hannah and now she was running out of time.

My thanks to Ellie of Canelo for the tour invitation and for providing the extract.

About the Author

As a child Carol Wyer was always moving, and relied on humour to fit in at new schools. A funny short story won her popularity, planting the seed of becoming a writer. Her career spans dry cleaning, running a language teaching company, and boxercise coaching. Now writing full-time, Carol has several books published and journalism in many magazines.

Carol won The People’s Book Prize Award for non-fiction (2015), and can sometimes be found performing her stand-up comedy routine Laugh While You Still Have Teeth.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon UK | Goodreads