All The Lonely People
From the Richard and Judy bestselling author of Half a World Away comes a warm, life-affirming story – the perfect read for these times
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4.2 • 215 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
DON'T MISS MIKE'S NEW NOVEL A SONG OF ME AND YOU - AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW!
Shortlisted for the British Book Awards Book of the Year: Pageturners.
The 2021 recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.
A heart-warming novel about family, friendship and human connection.
'Hubert Bird stole my heart' Beth O'Leary, author of The Flat-Share and The Switch
'Lovely, emotional, uplifting' Libby Page, author of The Lido
'A heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting look at isolation' Guardian
In phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun and friendship.
But Hubert Bird is lying.
Something has made him turn his back on people, and he hardly sees a soul.
So when his daughter announces she's coming to visit, Hubert faces a race against time: to make his real life resemble his fake life before he's found out.
Along the way Hubert renews a cherished friendship, is given a second chance at love and even joins an audacious community scheme. But with the secret of his earlier isolation lurking in the shadows, is he destines to always be one of the lonely people?
Readers love All The Lonely People:
'Best book of 2021 so far' 5*
'I absolutely adored every page' 5*
'Wonderful, moving, emotional and very thought provoking' 5*
'An emotional journey' 5*
'A beautiful book' 5*
'Heartbreaking and heartwarming' 5*
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British author Gayle (Half a World Away) returns with a winning tale of a lonely 82-year-old widower. Hubert Bird, a Black immigrant from Jamaica living in south London, gradually lost touch with all of his friends after an unspecified traumatic event five years earlier. When single mother Ashleigh introduces herself as his new neighbor, he shoos her away to take a call from his daughter Rose, whom he's lied to about having a trio of pals so as not to worry her. When Rose says she's planning a visit, he scrambles to find friends to fool her. So begins Gayle's engaging narrative, enriched by flashbacks from 1950s England, when he faced hardships and racism and fell for the white Joyce Pierce while working at a department store. After Joyce gets pregnant and they plan to marry, her racist family disowns her. Decades later, Hubert's son battles drug addiction and Joyce faces early-onset dementia. In the present, with Hubert still at a loss for friends, he babysits for Ashleigh and agrees to be part of her "Campaign to End Loneliness in Bromley," which ends up going viral with Hubert as its spokesperson. While a late plot twist feels destabilizing, Gayle finds many endearing moments in Hubert and Ashleigh's search for friendship and community. Readers will be touched.
Customer Reviews
All the lonely people
Enjoyed this book must read more of this authors work.
Incredible
Wish I could read it for the first time again. There’s nothing I would change about this book.
Great Read
I was immediately invested in Hubert Bird’s character and was moved by the story’s ups and downs. I also loved the dual then & now narrative, the two timeframes worked together seamlessly to provide insight into Hubert’s life. Very easy to read and would definitely recommend.