Book Extract: A Random Act of Kindness by Sophie Jenkins

Sophie Jenkins joins me today with the blog tour of her latest novel, A Random Act of Kindness. Even the title makes me smile. Here’s a little about the novel. 

It only takes a moment, to change a life for ever…

Fern is too busy making sure other people feel good about themselves to give much thought to her own happiness. But somehow, without her noticing, life has run away from her.

Suddenly, Fern realises her vintage clothes business is struggling, and the casual relationship she’d always thought she was happy in doesn’t look so appealing.

But sometimes, karma really does come through. And when Fern goes out of her way to help 85-year-old Dinah, little does she realise their new friendship will change her life.

Dinah may have troubles in her past, but she’s lived and loved to the full. Can Dinah show Fern that even the smallest acts of kindness can make the world a better place?

To celebrate the book’s release, Sophie and Avon have shared an extract today. Enjoy.

***** beginning of extract*****

She always thought that I’d go first. We both did. All her friends are widows and some of them had a new lease of life after their loss. I’m not saying she was looking forward to her widowhood, but she was pragmatic about it. She liked to make the best of things.

The husbands went in various different ways in their own time: heart attack, cancer, mobility scooter accident. Stan broke his hip on a golf course after Christmas. He’d tripped over the rake in the bunker, stayed there overnight and got hypothermia while his wife, Betty, thought he was in bed with her all the time. She’d been at watercolour classes, painting flowers. She’d undressed in the bathroom, tiptoed into bed, woke up the next morning, made him a cup of tea and saw he wasn’t there, after all. Surprise of her life, she said, to see his side of the bed empty.

Enid thought it was the way he’d have wanted to go, on a golf course. She was wrong about that. I know Stan. Stan wouldn’t have chosen to die in a bunker, out of all the ways to go.

On a green, maybe. Stan was competitive.

But if he’d broken his hip on a green somebody would have seen him and there wouldn’t have been a rake to trip over in the first place.

Betty had a shock when she read through his will, because he wanted his ashes scattered in the Himalayas. But by the time she read it, he’d been buried in East Finchley Cemetery.

It was a bit of a puzzler why he wanted to be scattered in the Himalayas. Betty couldn’t fathom it. He didn’t like heights or travelling. I think it was Stan’s way of having an adventure to look forward to.

Enid thought he’d wanted to spite Betty, because even if Betty had read the will earlier, she’d have had all the worry of getting him there. Enid had a cynical view of people. She was always alert to people’s motives.

***** end of extract*****

About Sophie: 

Sophie Jenkins’s debut novel The Forgotten Guide to Happiness is published by Avon. After studying creative writing at City University, Sophie took an MA in Prose Fiction at Middlesex University and finds that the creative stimulation of belonging to writing groups wonderfully balances the solitude of writing.

She is a member of the Society of Authors and the Romantic Novelists’ Association and lives in lively north London.

In The Forgotten Guide to Happiness, Sophie explores the enduring happiness of love that persists even when memories are fading, and its life-changing effect on those who witness it.

In her second novel, A Random Act of Kindness, a good deed sparks an immediate bond between vintage-loving Fern and Dinah, an 89-year old fashionista. Their reinvention through style helps them rediscover love in their lives as they come to realise that it’s not the way people look but how they feel that counts.

Say hi to Sophie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiejenkinsuk

To view A Random Act of Kindness on Amazon UK, click on the link: www.amazon.co.uk

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Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.