The People on Platform 5: A feel-good and uplifting read with unforgettable characters from the bestselling author of The Authenticity Project

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Clare's dark but hilarious memoir, The Sober Diaries, has helped thousands of people around the world to quit drinking. Working for a woman's magazine, Iona grew popular over the years due to advice given to those struggling with life. In her 50s, she'd lived with her long time partner, Bea, who began to suffer with early Alzheimer symptoms and was eventually placed in a home. Her editor decides the magazine needs to attract a younger demographic and soon she's put on notice. THE AUTHENTICITY PROJECT is one of my favorite books and IONA IVERSON’S RULES FOR COMMUTING shines just as brightly, if not even brighter. Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting" by Clare Pooley is a story about perceptions, kindness, and friendship!

Another totally original, thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying book from Clare Pooley. Full of original characters and wisdom, I absolutely loved it Katie Fforde While we wait for real life to cooperate with our vaulting, idealistic daydreams, we have gloriously uplifting, warmhearted and grounded novels like The People on Platform 5 by Clare Pooley ( The Authenticity Project) which is honest about how challenging life can be but which offers the very real hope that maybe the ending doesn’t have to be as disappointing as life often seems to serve up. A magnificent, heart-warming novel celebrating the power of human connection - it's an absolute joy Freya Sampson, author of The Last Library The Peopke on Platforn 5 is certainly heartfelt story. It is not romance but how strangers intereact with each other and helps each other. Some of the conversation is heavy and contains mental health issues. A glorious triumph of a novel; warm, funny and moving, with an unforgettable cast of characters Rosie WalshA glorious triumph of a novel; warm, funny and moving, with an unforgettable cast of characters * Rosie Walsh *

courtesy Penguin Random House) If really good sci-fi is all about to taking a great big, long, hard look at the dark soul of humanity, and the best of it is, then Voyaging Vol. 1 – The Plague Star by George R R Martin with art and adaptation by Raya Continue ReadingDie schrullige Mitfünfzigerin hält sich dabei an ihre eiserne Pendlerrregel: bloß mit niemandem sprechen! Clare Pooley graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge and spent twenty years in the heady world of advertising, where the line between authenticity and fiction is constantly blurred, before becoming a full-time mum. She is the author of the hugely popular blog, Mummy was a Secret Drinker, under the pseudonym Sober Mummy and her memoir, The Sober Diaries was published in 2017 to critical acclaim. Her blog has had over two million hits and her TEDx talk, Making Sober Less Shameful, has had over 110,000 views. Then, one morning, Smart-but-Sexist-Surbiton chokes on a grape right in front of Iona. Suspiciously-Nice-New Malden steps up to help and saves his life, and this one event sparks a chain reaction. Based in the outskirts of London, Iona commutes with Lulu her pug, which draws attention from the other commuters. Regimented, she sits at the same table on her regular route and it's here she meets Piers, Sanjay, Martha, David and Emmie. Like most, each have issues they're coping with and as they connect with Iona, she offers advice for each and as its adopted, they realize what a gift it was to meet her. The characters don’t always see it that way but then that makes sense; we can be so consumed by the difficulties and trials in our life that we can’t see if there’s any sort of way forward.

Bunch of strangers meet on their daily commute to work in train. Bad impressions/first meeting fiascos soon blossoms in friendship. They learn from and inspire each other to face their insecurities and fears. With nothing in common but their commute, an eclectic group of people learn that their assumptions about each other don't match reality. But when Iona's life begins to fall apart, will her new friends be there when she needs them most? Survival against impossible extraterrestrial odds: Invasion ends its second season with hope … and not? (S2, E6-10)It leaves] the reader with that fuzzy feeling you want from a feel-good book. Fans of her previous hit, The Authenticity Project, will not be disappointed Woman's Weekly But there is a way, and The People on Platform 5 shines a heartening light on it, reassuring us that no matter how trenchant a problem might be or how far off a solution might be, that it is there somewhere and we can often find it and live it out if we only have the love and support of people around us. In Clare Pooley's author's letter at the end of this book, she talks about how she came up with these characters - how she decided to disregard the unspoken rules of commuting to create a world in which a large cast of people who take the train together become a community. I love that she writes about how Iona, a 57-year-old woman who is being pushed into redundancy at her magazine, is almost an invisible woman in society. That Iona becomes the glue of this ragtag group of commuters is the thrust of the story, a tale that made me just so very happy. Right now I’m gravitating towards stories that just make my heart happy. Stories that bring me joy and make me feel content, safe, and optimistic. Pooley pulls no punches when it comes to how uncompromisingly difficult and awful life can be, but she does so in a way that doesn’t feel hopeless and which comes with a sense that it might be possible to find a way through.