I’m delighted to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for the lovely and heartwarming Four Minutes To Save A Life by Anna Stuart. Thank you to Tracy Fenton and Trapeze Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this gorgeous book.
About the book:
There’s always time to help out a stranger…isn’t there?
Supermarket delivery driver Charlie enjoys his new job, because he doesn’t have to spend too long with people, who, he’s found, are nothing but trouble. But when he’s assigned the Hope Row street, he realises there are a lot of lonely people out there – and for some, he’s their only interaction.
The supermarket boss tells Charlie he’s a driver, not a social worker – but Charlie can’t abandon the Hope Row residents and he sets about trying to draw them out of their shells and back into the world. But will his helping hand make everything worse?
A heartfelt and uplifting read, for fans of Ruth Hogan and Sheila O’Flanagan
About the author:
Anna wanted to be an author from the moment she could pick up a pen and was writing boarding-school novels behind the sofa by the age of nine. She made the early mistake of thinking she ought to get a ‘proper job’ and went into Factory Planning – a career that gave her some wonderful experiences, amazing friends and even a fantastic husband, but did not offer much creative scope. So when she stopped to have children she took the chance to start the ‘improper job’ of writing. During the baby years she wrote in those gaps provided by sleeps, playschools and obliging grandparents, publishing short stories and serials in all the women’s magazines.
Her ultimate aim was to write longer fiction and several years ago she published a series of successful historical novels under the pseudonym Joanna Courtney. She will continue to publish under that name but is delighted, as Anna Stuart, to also be able to write Bonnie and Stan – a real-life romance set in both the present day and sixties Liverpool.
My Review:
Oh, what a lovely, uplifting and heartwarming book this is! As someone who adored Anna Stuart’s previous book Bonnie and Stan, I was delighted to be given the opportunity to be a part of the blog tour for her new novel, Four Minutes To Save A Life, and wow, it did not disappoint!
Charlie loves his new job as a supermarket delivery driver, because he can spend as little time with people as possible. Deliver their groceries and run. Right? But he soon begins to realise that there is so much more to his new job than that… and that maybe, just maybe, those precious few minutes he spends with his customers could even go so far as to save a life…
Oh my goodness, where do I even start? I loved everything about this gorgeous story! It’s like a warm, comforting hug in book form. At first glance you could be forgiven for thinking Four Minutes To Save A life is a lighthearted and frivolous read, but there is so much more to this beautiful book than that. Touching on serious subjects, this is a book that will make you think, touching your heart in ways you would never have expected it to when you started it.
With a cast of memorable characters, all from various different walks of life, this is a book that never ceased to surprise me from beginning to end. The frailties and resilience of human life are on display for all to see and I couldn’t help but fall in love with these characters, who soon became like real people to me as I got to know them through the pages of this book.
There is a warmth to Anna Stuart’s writing that captivates me, sweeping me away on a tsunami of emotions as the motivation behind Charlie’s change of heart slowly becomes clear. And although some of the topics covered are difficult and emotive ones, the author is such a skilled storyteller that they are handled with a gentleness and sensitivity that warms your heart.
As I turned the final page of this heartachingly beautiful and uplifting book, I was left with an overwhelming feeling of hope. It was heartwarming to see what a difference the kindness of strangers can make to someone’s life and, in the increasingly selfish world we live in today, definitely gave food for thought. Being kind really does cost nothing and, at the end of the day, could even go so far as to save a life.
A beautiful, poignant and uplifting book that I would highly recommend.
Four Minutes To Save A Life by Anna Stuart is available to buy now: Amazon UK
Check out what these other lovely bloggers have to say about this beautiful book:
Cal Turner Reviews 