The Best Things: The joyous Sunday Times bestseller to hug your heart

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It’s the story of a family who lose everything, only to find themselves, and each other, along the way. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. View image in fullscreen Ruth Jones ‘digs her fingernails into decades of complicated family history’. The Parker family are a chaotic, loveable bunch''I zipped through it with many an accompanying titter, the occasional chortle and the odd unladylike snort.

In this funny, revealing and heart-warming travelogue, the two friends walk in the footsteps of Meryl Streep’s French Lieutenant’s Woman, gulp down lashings of ginger beer on a steam train ride through Enid Blyton country and enjoy a boat trip to the world-famous Durdle Door on the breathtaking Jurassic coast which ultimately proves challenging for the sea-sick Mel despite Martin’s best efforts at distracting her by reading bursts of Thomas Hardy.

Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Successful pivot from quizshow sidekick to bestselling author … Richard Osman.

No soggy bottoms here' CLARE MACKINTOSH__________Sally Parker is struggling to find the hero inside herself. Part of Osman’s appeal is how familiar he is willing to be, whether to his readers, viewers or Twitter followers. But when her husband suddenly goes bankrupt, all this is whipped away from her and she can start to find herself again. Mel has written two non-fiction books and has appeared in sitcoms and panel shows, as well as on radio and on stage, most notably in Stephen Sondheim’s Olivier Award-winning Company in the West End.After all, there are only so many celebrities in the world, and traditionally you can only tell your life story once. Julian, Dick and Anne are spending the holidays with their tomboy cousin George and her dog, Timothy. Main character The story is told from the perspective of all four characters, although the main one is Grace, a woman approaching her 90th birthday with the same energy that most approach their 30th. He spends chapter after chapter making doubly sure you feel the way he wants you to feel about each character before dropping his bomb.