The Little Library on Cherry Lane by Katie Ginger

Author:Katie Ginger [Ginger, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-01-11T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

‘Why didn’t you tell me about this bloody book launch, Jacob?’ Conrad shouted through the computer screen. This was not how Jacob wanted to spend his Saturday afternoon. His father’s face was puce and so close to the screen, Jacob could see the new, smaller hairs growing at the top of his moustache. ‘I could have stopped all this nonsense from happening. Now look—’ He held his phone up, showing some sort of news article, but from the glare, it was difficult to see.

He didn’t need to read it. He already knew what it said. He’d completely underestimated Elsie Martin and the effect this innocent-sounding book launch would have. It hadn’t just been some author he’d never heard of and a few of the villagers, it had been a media-attended, packed-out gig. The local paper was full of it. They’d dedicated the first five pages, including the front, to the fabulous author revealing his true identity in the library due for closure. After seeing all the journalists there, Jacob had also kept an eye on the social media channels, and the publishing world was ablaze with the fact that best-selling romance author Neve Chapstone was actually a six-foot-tall man called Liam.

The one thing he could say for Elsie Martin was that she had an amazing poker face. Never once when he’d spoken to her before the book launch began had he suspected she was harbouring such a secret. She was certainly an enigma. The trouble was, no matter how much this enigma consumed his thoughts, and she had been, far more than was necessary, she was causing him trouble and threatening everything. He couldn’t afford for his father to lose faith in him when he’d only recently made so much progress.

Then there were the doubts she’d cast in his mind. The event had been packed out and more than once he’d heard the villagers saying it was like this or that event they’d attended before at the library. A seed of doubt had been planted that maybe this place was more of a hub for the community than he’d realised. He’d thought libraries were outdated but maybe it was his opinion of them that was?

‘Well?’ his father barked. ‘What do you make of all this? You’ve really let us down here, Jacob. I hope you’ve got a plan to bring things back in line.’

‘Yes, of course I do,’ he replied, though in actual fact he didn’t. His brain scrabbled around for something tangible, leaving behind a mass of self-doubt.

‘Because if you don’t, we could be in a whole heap of trouble. This is a PR nightmare. If some of the nationals pick this up, we could be in real trouble.’

He had to play things down as much as possible or his father would be here like a shot. From the corner of his eye, a headline on his phone caught his attention. ‘If you look into the different articles, most are focused on the fact that this guy is writing really successful romance novels.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.