Preloved: A sparklingly witty and relatable debut novel

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Brimming with life, love and the stories bound up in even the most everyday items, Preloved is a tale about friendship, loss, being true to oneself no matter the expectations – and the enduring power and joy of charity shops. While all Gwen’s friends are “procreating in the countryside”, she is single, lonely and now, jobless. So she begins anew in the place where all things get a second chance: a charity shop. Preloved is a funny and touching read.’ Particularly when we're living among bleakness and uncertainty, it’s a privilege when somebody chooses to sit down with a book you've written and invested hours of their life with a character; you owe it to them to give that character a satisfactory ending. I've had so many experiences where I've loved a book right up until the 5% and then I want to hurl it across the room!" You just feel cheated. And I couldn't do that to readers.”

Preloved by Lauren Bravo | Goodreads Preloved by Lauren Bravo | Goodreads

Gwen has been waiting to hear about a promotion at her work when she is made redundant – the real reason for which is revealed much later on in the book (but no spoilers) and if she’s being honest she feels as though she’s stagnating. Her relationships with her friends don’t seem to be going anywhere, to the point that she actually avoids spending too much time with them. She’s been isolating herself almost since the day she told her fiance that their relationship was over 5 years ago. Preloved is a beautiful, funny novel full of pitch perfect insight and detail. In a world of fast fashion, fast friendships and fast opinion, this is a refreshing and relatable alternative, celebrating and challenging our ideas about objects and ownership. For anyone (like me) who has ever stood behind the counter of a charity shop, it will spark particular joy. Political, delightful and very very funny." - Nell Frizzell Full of relatable anecdotes, lively, funny and modern, Preloved is a moving tale of emancipation and friendship. I loved it!" - Margaux VialleronWe all have our own personal opinions about charity shops don’t we dear reader? Some see them as a place to offload their junk that has been cluttering their house for years, to cleanse themselves of their past life in hopes that others will find need from their unwanted possessions. Others see them as Aladdin’s cave full of wonder and mystery just waiting for you to discover your next treasure. Other people think they smell of death and urine, they avoid them like the plague. However you view charity shops you can’t deny that they are a magical place full of untold stories. Just like that once-in-a-lifetime charity shop find, Preloved is a gleaming prize to be treasured. Lauren Bravo is witty and thoughtful in her exploration of our relationship with objects and trends, believing that – just as a pair of shoes can have many, many lives – so can the people that wear them.' Caroline O'Donohue, author of Promising Young Woman

Preloved | Lauren Bravo | 9781398510623 | NetGalley Preloved | Lauren Bravo | 9781398510623 | NetGalley

As she is sitting in a restaurant eating a solo dinner to celebrate her birthday (thus showing us, the readers, the isolated life she has made for herself), she starts to put together a to-do list of all the tasks she has been avoiding for far too long. One of these chores is to dispose of the engagement ring that she has been holding on to since the abrupt ending of the relationship. She takes this, and other items she has been keeping, to a local charity shop and so starts the journey to her new life.As the author of What Would The Spice Girls Do , How To Break Up With Fast Fashion , and reams of lifestyle magazine articles, Preloved by Lauren Bravo is the writer’s debut novel and TBH, we’re thrilled she’s diversified into fiction. Preloved also reads as a love letter to charity shops. The stories about the different people that visit and volunteer in them feel so real, like I almost expect to run into these characters next time I nip into Cancer Research or Oxfam. I’ll definitely look at these shops with even more fondness in future (and that’s saying something as I do love a charity shop).

Preloved by Lauren Bravo a spoiler-free book review Preloved by Lauren Bravo a spoiler-free book review

This is a tale about Gwen the main character who is in her late thirties. She cuts quite a lonely figure as most of her friends were coupling up. She has been made redundant and seems to be floating through life with no real direction. The writing style is clever, observant and witty. I’m sure Lauren Bravo knows my mother, because she’s uncannily similar to Gwen’s mum Marjorie! Her character descriptions are astute and sensitive and each one comes to life from her words. Laugh-out-loud funny but also poignant and tender, Preloved is an absorbingly special debut novel. I devoured in equal measure the delicious descriptions of food and the moving vignettes of preloved treasures peppered throughout the book, while the nineties and noughties nostalgia had me gasping with pleasure.' Laura Price, author of Single Bald Female I definitely have mixed feelings on this book. First, what I liked. I loved the concept. I really like charity shops/thrift stores so I really liked that part of it. And, I really liked the story. Preloved is full of sharp observations on life, loss, regret and self-preservation... spilling over with wit and hope. Cleverly interwoven with stories of the myriad reasons items find their way into charity shops, the joy, friendship and ultimate enlightenment Gwen discovers offers a quirky and poignant reminder that one person's trash is always somebody else's treasure.' Julietta Henderson, author of The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman

But life also has another side for things redundant, it is repurposed. Redundant things can be repurposed and find useful and fulfilling lives. The book points out that this is how life works. One man's treasure is another man's junk. One man's ex-wife is the love of another man's life.

Lauren Bravo Contact me — Lauren Bravo

Optimistic and engaging… intimate and joyful… We’re waiting for Preloved to be optioned by Reese Witherspoon or at least adapted into a binge-worthy Netflix series…’ Glamour The book follows Gwen as she struggles to come to terms with sudden unemployment and decides to volunteer at a local charity shop. There, she meets a fantastic cast of characters that make the book a joy to read. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of Haringey, an area of London that I currently reside in but rarely see in literature. Gwen's shrewd observations of life as a 30-something in London were also entertaining and relatable. I've also worked extensively as a commercial copywriter,for the likes of LEGO, Sainsbury's, River Cottage, The Flour Station, British Gas, Betty.me, RED Valentino, BBC, Channel 4, O2 Magazineand Tesco,on web copy,social media content and digital strategy.These days I focus on working with ethical and sustainable fashion and lifestyle brands. There is a glorious mix of characters that work alongside Gwen in the shop that help her in rediscovering life. Characters such as Nicholas who confuses Gwen as they go on a date to the National Gallery. She finds his boundless enthusiasm appealing and he seems to want to really know about her. Connie who works alongside Gwen is in her early sixties and very outspoken. She becomes a mother-figure for Gwen as she finds them spending more time together.

What didn't work for me was that it was just too long. And, it alternated between the story and items brought to the charity shop, so the constant stopping and starting made it a little choppy and made it seem even longer. As well as the stomach-churning and eye-opening, charity shops offer everyone hope. Lauren has found some gems in her time volunteering. Then she’s let go from a job she drifted into a decade ago and never left, and Gwen realizes it’s time to make a change, starting with cleaning out her apartment. In the charity shop where she literally and metaphorically unloads her baggage, she discovers a group of weird and wonderful people devoted to finding a new home for donated items that have lost their use elsewhere. Gwen volunteers there—and finds a new home for herself among her fellow workers while discovering joy in the untold stories of secondhand things.