INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP SIGNED EDITION Author: Mel Giedroyc United Kingdom, Great Britain | Performance art | Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Published on 27th August 2026 by Headline Publishing Group (Headline Review) in the United Kingdom.Hardback | 416 pages 240mm x 156mm | 410g The brand new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Mel Giedroyc is a funny, big-hearted story of second chances. Sometimes life surprises you with an encore... Twenty years ago, aspiring performer Gill Piper boarded a bus out of Leatherhead with a spring in her step and stars in her eyes. Things didn't quite pan out... Back home again, Gill finds much has changed. Young Lights, the youth theatre group which coaxed her out of her shell, is no more. The theatre itself, once the heartbeat of the community, now feels like a has-been; Gill can relate. When Gill learns the theatre is approaching its hundredth year, she decides to put on a spectacular anniversary show to give it a comeback and unite the town. She has just eight weeks, but if she can persuade some shy newcomers to step into the spotlight, it might just be possible. But Gill hasn't counted on self-appointed Artistic Director and diva extraordinaire Carla Keswick, who declares war. Can Gill and her unlikely company of amateurs defy Carla's dirty tricks, and prove it's never too late for a curtain call? Praise for Mel Giedroyc's The Best Things:'I enjoyed it HUGELY. A real treat' MARIAN KEYES'A brilliant cast of characters and properly funny!' GRAHAM NORTON'A warm contemporary fable bursting with colourful characters and comic energy' DAILY MAIL'Exactly like Mel herself: engaging, uproarious and gleeful. A stonking good read' JO BRAND'A warm look at a family and what really matters in life. Brimming with hilarious scenes, it is also a redemptive book, and one of hope' WOMAN & HOME
