Even though the story is set at Christmas, the festive period is incidental and the story could have been set at any time. A NICE CLEAN AND TIGHT UK FIRST EDITION FIRST PRINT PAPERBACK COPY OF A FARAWAY SMELL OF LEMON BY RACHEL JOYCE. I think the idea could have been further developed, even within the short story format, to make this a more satisfying read. Proof that you never know when you might have significant impact upon someone else's life in the seemingly most insignificant interactions.

Just in time for Christmas, a heartwarming holiday e-original story by Rachel Joyce, the author of the bestselling The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. A Faraway Smell of Lemons is a Christmas Short Story by actress, radio playwright and author, Rachel Joyce. Rachel has also written over twenty original afternoon plays and adaptations of the classics for BBC Radio 4, including all the Bronte novels. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and discovered it was a short story, quite apt for the time of year, and indeed, for this extraordinary year! Though I gather this aversion was one symptom of her depression, resulting from repression of emotion, which becomes clear as the story unfolds.No sermons, without sentimentality Joyce's words wash over you and through these fictional events a deeper truth is revealed. But it's raining, her house is falling apart and she's just been left by her boyfriend who has taken up with another woman. Going through these bad times is never easy, but simple escapism - doing something as ordinary as polishing - can have such an emotional effect on us. It offers a glimmer of hope for a way forward amid the chaos and a way to reconnect with parts of our lives (and ourselves) going forward.

Rather than dealing with her emotions by expressing them verbally, instead she chooses to throw plates, covering her kitchen floor with the "thousand blue ceramic pins" that were formed, then she "swept the splinters of china into her hands and squeezed until she felt them spike the skin. A chance meeting with her polar opposite reveals a pain she hasn't dealt with, buried deep with memories and hurt. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. While waiting for the 'prequel' to Rachel Joyce's "the unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Frye", I purchased her short story," a faraway smell of lemon".Binny was a sympathetic character to whom I could relate, especially her aversion to cleaning house! She begins to work through the grief in an most unlikely way which I will not expand on other than to say that help and solutions can come in the most unusual ways. I really liked her style, very straightforward, yet revealing the "full story" gradually through her interactions with and thoughts about others. A beautiful gem of a short story from Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Perfect The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. and read it because our book club selected her book The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry to read and discuss for our January 2015 meeting.

I thought this would be an easy way to try out her writing style to better prepare me for reading this book, and it was! This author is new to me and I wanted to read this before undertaking her best-seller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which mostly caught my attention because of the elegant cover. Binny has four hours to make Christmas happen and she couldn’t feel less like wishing glad tidings of good will to all men – least of all to Oliver.

A beautiful gem of a short story from Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Perfect. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. It is important to accept the hiccups in life otherwise you can never move forward - Joyce portrays this so well. Also, you're not alone with our troubles - everyone has secret problems or worries they don't talk about and we often get so consumed with our own lives we forget that. Rachel Joyce has written over 20 original afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, and major adaptations for both the Classic Series, Woman's Hour and also a TV drama adaptation for BBC 2.

La corsa per i regali di Natale diventa insopportabile quando la tua vita non è quella che vorresti. He seems rather oblivious to the pain he's caused but then, that seems to encapsulate Oliver's personality. A pleasant short story although I don't remember much about the resolution two weeks after the fact.

What sort of Christmas Binny’s children, Coco and Luke are going to get this year is anyone’s guess. It was an interesting idea - a woman stops and recoups following a crisis, finding herself again in every day tasks. What I liked about that was that it meant this story didn't fall into the sentimentality that plagues seasonal reads. I worried it might spoil my experience with PERFECT before I had a chance to review it but the writing was just as lovely and the story touching.