Widowed in her thirties, left to bring up a teenage daughter, Alys, she ran a boarding house with her friends John, and his sister Cassie for years until Cassie and John's ill-health forced them to move to a home where she visits them every day. And I loved the idea of the main character, Grace, having this backstory from when she was a young girl. The reader learns the history of this family, and the hurt and pain that has been caused in the past. I know you’ve mentioned your mother but have you drawn from any other personal experiences in the book? I often find it hard to keep up with multigenerational novels and each chapter written from someone else’s perspective but the transitions in this were pretty seamless and the humour was just right.

The prime and proper headteacher whose daughter fails all but two exams and a husband who runs to play hippie. Rich in warm, engaging characters and a judicious mix of humour and pathos for which Jones is renowned, it’s a compassionate, wise and life-affirming book. Elin isn't forgiving when it comes to her mother, she can't just forget all the past hurt, secrets and lies so easily. Grace is eighty-nine, she’s proud and independent and enjoys an early morning swim in the sea, no matter what the weather.This is a wonderful story about the relationships between different generations of women within the same family. The author pens a beautiful story that includes an exploration of the family trees of the two leads, their character profiles, and maps of Billericay and Barry with key landmarks and key sights. There’s little things that happen in the book that I’ve drawn from – there’s a particular story I’d taken from Justin Davies who played my son in Stella. It is a joy-filled, life-affirming, sob-inducing novel – with characters you’ll come to know and love – from no. For Alys, Grace’s daughter, Elin’s mother she has been constantly running from herself and has come close throughout her life to time running out.

She has won acclaim for her performances in BBC dramas Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Little Dorrit and Hattie, as well as comedies Little Britain, Saxondale and Nighty Night. This is a story of mother and daughter relationships, a bitter sweet tale that tells of heartbreaks, joy and forgiveness. Ruth Jones’ third novel is another warm, heartfelt story, filled with strong and joyful female characters that captures the challenges and joys of relationships and family. Like many chic lit books the characters learn all about love; but unlike a lot of books, they experience the bad parts of love as well as the good.

She has no idea quite what will happen next and whatever it is, it is sure to cause trouble in the family. Was the representation of older women and generational women of importance to you when writing this book?