Kellie Hailes - The Little Bakery of Hopes and Dreams

KELLIE HAILESdeclared at the age of five that she was going to write books when she grew up. It took a while for her to get there, with a career as a radio copywriter, freelance copywriter and beauty editor filling the dream-hole, until now. Kellie lives in Auckland, New Zealand with her patient husband and delightful daughter. When the characters in her head aren’t dictating their story to her, she can be found taking short walks, eating good cheese and hanging out for her next coffee fix.

You can follow Kellie on Twitter: @KellieHailes

The Little Bookshop at Herring Cove

The Little Unicorn Gift Shop

Christmas at the Second Chance Chocolate Shop

The Big Little Festival

The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2019

Copyright © Kellie Hailes 2019

Kellie Hailes asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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 © November 2019 ISBN: 9780008336141

Version: 2019-10-09

Table of Contents

Cover

About the Author

Also by Kellie Hailes

Title Page The Little Bakery of Hopes and Dreams KELLIE HAILES

Copyright HQ An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2019 Copyright © Kellie Hailes 2019 Kellie Hailes asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. 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 © November 2019 ISBN: 9780008336141 Version: 2019-10-09

Dedication For Daisy. My biggest teacher. My greatest love.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Extract

Dear Reader …

Keep Reading …

About the Publisher

For Daisy.

My biggest teacher.

My greatest love.

The shops either side of the bakery looked like someone had taken in too much festive cheer and then vomited it up. Twinkling golden fairy lights danced around Santa-red tinsel. Snowflakes were spray-painted onto their windows, floating down to sills where they gathered into thick fake drifts.

Josie shuddered. It was all so totally, utterly, over the top. Thankfully Christmas would be done and dusted in a matter of weeks, and then she’d be free of it for another eleven months.

At least the bakery was bare of Christmas decorations. One person’s stand against a season that promised so much, but always failed to deliver. At least, it had in more years than Josie cared to remember.

A tendril of hope stirred low in Josie’s stomach. Surely the lack of seasonal cheer was a sign she was going to get the position advertised in the bakery’s window. She just had to go in there and prove she would do a great job being the front-of-house face of the business.