The Peacock Emporium: A charming and enchanting love story from the bestselling author of Me Before You

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Some of the great joys of this novel are the wonderful secondary characters, such as Arturro, Father Lenny, Mrs. Creek, etc. Which of these characters stood out most for you? Did you relate personally to any of them? In what ways? This book although having some intriguing plots running through it, it fell a bit short for me. There were a lot of characters and I was sometimes confused as to who was the actual focus of the book. It jumped around era's a little and the point of this was a little lost at times and outright confusing at others. So there was a lot of eye-rolling and gritting of teeth but somehow I persevered with the story and made it to the end (which I did not like btw!).

The Peacock Emporium by Jojo Moyes: 9780735222335

I think it’s become an undercurrent in my books—female contentment and emancipation through work! Or at least working out what you love to do. I didn’t think Suzanna was the kind of character who would ever be properly satisfied without that—she reminded me of some mothers I was around when writing this who poured their energy into soft furnishings or playgroups but were somehow always restless and dissatisfied. I think it’s such a gift to know what really makes you happy. You have written both contemporary and historical novels, and some, like this one, have dual timeframes within them. (The Last Letter From your Lover is another one, as is The Girl You Left Behind.) What attracts you to these kinds of dual stories? This is more of a contemporary setting than I had expected, given the front cover of ball gowns and the start of the book when Vivi is young and going to her first unchaperoned ball.

Another character I felt sorry for was Vivi, she was definitely under appreciated by her family. Everything she did for her husband, her mother in-law, she felt like more of the maid, you could tell she loved her husband more than he loved her and even though Suzanna isn't tecniqully her biological daughter she raised and loved her as her own anyway, I felt Suzanna to be a complete bitch towards her. I adored this! Jojo Moyes has yet to let me down. She’s one of my all time favorite authors. If you’ve only read Me Before You, I highly encourage you to read other books of hers. I loved Me Before You, but it’s nowhere near my favorite.

The Peacock Emporium | Beaminster - Facebook The Peacock Emporium | Beaminster - Facebook

But the spectre of her mother still haunts Suzanna, setting in place a series of dramatic events. Only by confronting the past will she finally be able to face the future . . . Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist. Moyes wisely knows that life-changing events don’t always change our lives for the better. . . . After You may not be the sequel you expect, but it is the sequel you needed.” —Entertainment Weekly Family and class are both significant themes in this book—and in some of your other books as well—and we see Suzanna, Douglas, and others chaffing at their tethers. What is it about issues of class that makes it important to you? At first, the refractions are obvious. Suzanna looks very like her mother, Athene, who died in childbirth and whom she never knew. An old portrait reveals the startling similarities, while snippets of Athene’s stories from the past echo Suzanne’s own behavior in the present. Two devil-may-care women, careless of other people and desperate to find some modicum of personal happiness, drawn to adventure and chaos the way moths are drawn to light. As such a creature, Suzanna’s plans for an emporium seem odd. How can she possibly succeed as a thriving shopkeeper in a Suffolk village called Dere Hampton?While Moyes doesn’t make it easy for us to like the characters, she adds the right amount of subtlety to convince us there is more to her protagonists than first meets the eye. In addition, the characters lives are quite interesting, and Moyes has you wishing you were there in the shop, having an espresso, and watching the story unfold.