Synopsis
For many of us, the idea of walking away from our jobs and running a charming B&B in the Irish countryside sounds fabulous. Not so for Lainey Byrne, an events manager in Melbourne who gets a real kick out of controlling the chaos of her professional and personal life ( in other words, telling everyone what to do).
But when Lainey's Aunt May passes away, someone from the Byrne family must return home to Ireland and take over her business for a year in order to collect the inheritance. As uusual, Lainey volunteers, deciding to break up with her sex, sensitive boyfriend "for practical reasons." After all, their work keeps them apart even in Melbourne. How would the relationship survive a year of separation?
When she arrives, Lainey discovers something she didn't anticipate: a run-down house on the Hill of Tara with nary a guest in sight. And since Lainey can barely cook or clean, the challenge is on. Between getting the B&B up and running ( with a little help from old friends), worrying about her family from afar, adjusting to country life, and dealin with the repercussions of choosing not to pursue long-distance love, Lainey begins to suspect that she's in way over her head.
Then a reunion with a gorgeous childhood friend sparks unexpected complications, and Lainey realizes that fate may have another path for her. It just might be time to slow down, take a breath, and take stock of who she really is-- and who she wants to be.
Author
Monica McInerney is the internationally bestselling author of Upside Down Inside Out, The Alphabet Sisters, Family Baggage and The Faraday Girls.
McInerney grew up in a family of seven children in the Clare Valley in South Australia, where her father was the railway stationmaster and her mother worked in the local library. Becore becoming a full-time writer she worked in children's television, tourism festivals, book publishing, arts marketying, the music industry and as a waitress, a hotel cleaner, a Kindergym instructor and a temp.
She lives in Dublin with her husband.
