The Start of Something Wonderful: a fantastically feel-good romantic comedy!
Previously published as Learning to FlyIt’s never too late to follow your dreams…Forty-year-old air stewardess, Emily Forsyth, thought she had everything a woman could wish for: a glamorous, jet-set lifestyle, a designer wardrobe and a dishy pilot boyfriend. Until he breaks up with her…Catapulted into a mid-life crisis she wishes she’d had earlier, she decides to turn her life upside-down, quitting her job and instead beginning to chase her long-held dreams of becoming an actress!Leaving the skies behind her, Emily heads for the bright lights of London’s West End – but is it too late to reach for the stars?Don’t miss this heartwarming and uplifting debut, perfect for fans of Colleen Coleman and Cate Woods!Readers love Jane Lambert:“It is so bloody funny you will be crying with laughter.”“There is a lot of love, warmth and humour in this novel”“Jane Lambert's writing is laugh-out-loud funny.”“A thoroughly entertaining read.”“Its well written, easy to read, entertaining and witty.”“funny, witty, heartbreaking and heartwarming”
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It’s never too late to follow your dreams …
Forty-year-old air stewardess Emily Forsyth thought she had everything a woman could wish for: a glamorous, jet-set lifestyle, a designer wardrobe, and a dishy pilot boyfriend. Until he breaks up with her …
Catapulted into a midlife crisis she wishes she’d had earlier, she decides to turn her life upside down, quitting her job and instead beginning to chase her long-held dreams of becoming an actress!
Leaving the skies behind her, Emily heads for the bright lights of London’s West End – but is it too late to reach for the stars?
Don’t miss this heart-warming and uplifting debut, perfect for fans of Colleen Coleman and Cate Woods!
The Start of Something Wonderful
Jane Lambert
ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018
Copyright © Jane Lambert 2018
Jane Lambert asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Excerpt from Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, translation by Peter Carson, is reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
The extract from Miranda by Peter Blackmore is used by the express permission of the publishers, Creselles Publishing Company Limited, Colwall.
Lines from On Golden Pond by Ernest Thomson by kind permission of Earl Graham at The Graham Agency, New York.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © January 2018 ISBN: 978-0-00-828390-2
Version: 2017-12-12
JANE LAMBERT
taught English in Vienna then travelled the world as cabin crew, before making the life-changing decision to become an actor in her mid-thirties. She has appeared in ‘Calendar Girls’, ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ and ‘Deathtrap’ in London's West End. The Start of Something Wonderful is her debut novel.
This book is dedicated to
my mum, who believed I could write,
and to my dad, who told me to get on with it.
Contents
Reasons for and against giving up the glitzy, glamorous world of flying:
Pros:
No more cleaning up other people’s sick.
No more 2 a.m. wake-up calls, jet lag, swollen feet/stomach or shrivelled-up skin.
No more tedious questions like, ‘What’s that lake/mountain down there?’ and ‘Does the mile-high club really exist?’
No more serving kippers and poached eggs at 4 a.m. to passengers with dog-breath and smelly socks.
No more risk of dying from deep vein thrombosis, malaria, or yellow fever.
No more battles with passengers who insist that their flat-pack gazebo will fit into the overhead locker.
No more wearing a permanent smile and a name badge.
No danger of bumping into ex-boyfriend and his latest ‘I’m-Debbie-come-fly-me’.
Cons:
No more fake Prada, Louis Vuitton, or Gucci.
No more lazing by the pool in winter.
No more ten-hour retail therapy sessions in shopping malls the size of a small island – and getting paid for it.
No more posh hotel freebies (toiletries, slippers, fluffy bathrobes etc.).
Holidays (if any) now to be taken in Costa del Cheapo, as opposed to Barbados or Bora Bora.
No more horse riding around the pyramids, imagining I’m a desert queen.
No more ice-skating in Central Park, imagining I’m Ali MacGraw in Love Story.
Having to swap my riverside apartment for a shoebox, and my Mazda convertible for a pushbike.
‘Cabin crew, ten minutes to landing. Ten minutes, please,’ comes the captain’s olive-oil-smooth voice over the intercom. This is it. No going back. I’m past the point of no return.
The galley curtain swishes open – it’s showtime!
I switch on my full-beam smile and enter upstage left, pushing my trolley for the very last time …
‘Anyheadsetsanyrubbishlandingcard? Anyheadsetsanyrubbishlandingcard?’
Have I taken leave of my senses? The notion of an actress living in a garret, sacrificing everything for the sake of her art, seemed so romantic when I gaily handed in my notice three months ago, but now I’m not so sure …
Be positive! Just think, a couple of years from now, you could be sipping coffee with Phil and Holly on the
