Published By: Piatkus
Pages: 288
Released On: 10/07/2025
Do you ever feel that life isn’t going to plan?
When Alice Thorington collapses in the street after a particularly hellish day at work, she must finally admit to herself that her outwardly happy life – steady relationship, well-paid job, beautiful flat in the city – isn’t everything she’d hoped it would be. Burnt out by long hours and living a life that doesn’t fulfil her dreams, Alice returns home to Yorkshire.
Her childhood home brings complicated family dynamics, a rediscovery of her passion for stargazing and two new friends: Berti, a boy who finds it easier to count the stars than interact with people, and Matt, her brother’s best friend and Alice’s teenage crush. With each of them facing their own struggles, can the stars that meant so much to Alice in her past help them to find their way in the present?
Filled with heart and warmth, this uplifting novel reminds us all that we need the darkness if we want to see the stars.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Piatkus for the gifted copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I love Eleanor’s books so much and this one sounded so wonderful. They’re all heartfelt and soulful and magical and joyous.
This had me hooked from the very start and didn’t let up until the end.
It is mostly set out in the present time, but every other chapter or so is set in Alice’s childhood and student years, which gives us a real depth of character. She was such a wonderful character. I also loved her Grandfather, seen in the “past” chapters. I lost my grandparents many years ago, and so I love it when I read about grandparents because they’re so warm and comforting. I didn’t like Alice’s partner Hugo, I found him very self-centered.
My standout character though has to be Bertie. He is a teenager that Alice meets when she’s staying at her Mum’s house. He is so amazing and really shone on the page, even when in scenes with the main adults, he still stole the show.
I loved the focus on space. I am fascinated by space and planets and whatnot, but I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. So I loved hat Alice’s interest started as a child with her grandfather, with a homemade telescope in his shed. It made it more relateable.
It is a relatively short book and quick to read but it still manages to give us that depth of emotion and story I’ve come to expect.
It is such an uplifting story. Yes it has some difficult topics – dementia, ageing, illness, mental illness, disability, neurodiversity – but overall it is just such an upbeat, joyful story.
I have a copy of Eleanor’s book The Art of Belonging still to read, but whenever I read her work, it’s just…it’s perfect and she is just cementing her position as one of my go-to authors.
Books By Your Bedside 