Preloved: A sparklingly witty and relatable debut novel

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I can see myself recommending this book to my fellow charity shop co-workers, and recommending it to people in general! Preloved by Lauren Bravo is a captivating book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. The main character, Gwen, is relatable and likeable, even though she has her own issues that can be frustrating at times. However, this only adds to her character's believability and realism. Although I felt like I didn't get to know her fully, her story was still enjoyable to read. There is a glorious mix of characters that work alongside Gwen in the shop that help her in rediscovering life. Characters such as Nicholas who confuses Gwen as they go on a date to the National Gallery. She finds his boundless enthusiasm appealing and he seems to want to really know about her. Connie who works alongside Gwen is in her early sixties and very outspoken. She becomes a mother-figure for Gwen as she finds them spending more time together.

Lauren Bravo - David Higham Associates Lauren Bravo - David Higham Associates

Just like that once-in-a-lifetime charity shop find, Preloved is a gleaming prize to be treasured.' Caroline O'Donohue, author of Promising Young Woman Preloved is full of sharp observations on life, loss, regret and self-preservation.' Julietta Henderson, author of The Funny Thing about Norman ForemanWith her redundancy money she decides that it will buy her time for a few months whilst she looks for something else. She decides to volunteer at a charity shop.

Lauren Bravo Contact me — Lauren Bravo

What didn't work for me was that it was just too long. And, it alternated between the story and items brought to the charity shop, so the constant stopping and starting made it a little choppy and made it seem even longer. If clothes can get a second chance, why can’t we? Brimming with life, love, and the stories bound up in even the most everyday items, The Second Chance Store is a tale of friendship, loss, and dusting yourself off and starting over—a novel filled with humor and a testament to the enduring power and joy of charity shops. Preloved is, to me, a story of connections, of memories and about how you need to face the past to move into the future.

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I enjoyed getting to know Gwen and seeing how she slowly gained strength and was able to take power from letting go.

Preloved by Lauren Bravo | Goodreads

But life also has another side for things redundant, it is repurposed. Redundant things can be repurposed and find useful and fulfilling lives. The book points out that this is how life works. One man's treasure is another man's junk. One man's ex-wife is the love of another man's life. Particularly when we're living among bleakness and uncertainty, it’s a privilege when somebody chooses to sit down with a book you've written and invested hours of their life with a character; you owe it to them to give that character a satisfactory ending. I've had so many experiences where I've loved a book right up until the 5% and then I want to hurl it across the room!" You just feel cheated. And I couldn't do that to readers.” You have to prioritise work, family commitments, children, potentially partners, potentially ageing parents (over) friendships, and it becomes much harder. There can be a real disconnect between the friendships we imagined we would have and the friendships that we actually have.” As we watch Gwen clamber over familial relationships, potential romances and sex as well as as best friend who seems impossibly far away, Lauren believes “ Preloved is definitely a love story about friendships more than anything else.” Laugh-out-loud funny but also poignant and tender, Preloved is an absorbingly special debut novel. I devoured in equal measure the delicious descriptions of food and the moving vignettes of preloved treasures peppered throughout the book, while the nineties and noughties nostalgia had me gasping with pleasure.

I'm going to quote Marian Keyes, who once said that she thinks that to give people a book that doesn't have a happy ending is just rude, which I agree with! You don't have to tie everything up neatly in a bow, but I needed ( Preloved) to be uplifting and hopeful too. I couldn't have spent a year and a half of my life writing a book that didn't have a hopeful conclusion. A hot water bottle of a novel – in that it’s best enjoyed on the sofa when you’re in need of something warming and comforting Gwen’s life has stalled. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the country and conversations with her parents seem to […] Gwen, mid-thirties, lives alone and only when she's made redundant realises that she is lonely. Like so many, her work has become her life and now she finds herself rudderless. Does she want another job, doing the same? Or will she choose a different path? In the meantime, her redundancy money will let her take some time out to decide, and she opts for volunteering in a local charity shop to fill the time. With tough issues at its core, Preloved is still intimate and joyful. While you’ll find no spoiler alerts here, there is an optimistic finish. GLAMOUR wonders, why do you think people need happy endings?

Preloved by Lauren Bravo | Goodreads Preloved by Lauren Bravo | Goodreads

As someone who is currently volunteering at a charity shop, this was very relatable and gave me a good few laughs. This book also has little chapters in between the ‘main’ chapters telling the history of some items that have ended up on the charity shop shelves, and I really loved that. These tales also ended up weaving in and out of the main storyline. It really makes you pause and reflect on the history of the items that you see, and their possible futures. There was one that detailed the journey of a fast fashion party top, that was particularly significant, and has stayed with me since I read it. Optimistic and engaging… intimate and joyful… We’re waiting for Preloved to be optioned by Reese Witherspoon or at least adapted into a binge-worthy Netflix series… Just like that once-in-a-lifetime charity shop find, Preloved is a gleaming prize to be treasured. Lauren Bravo is witty and thoughtful in her exploration of our relationship with objects and trends, believing that – just as a pair of shoes can have many, many lives – so can the people that wear them.' Caroline O'Donohue, author of Promising Young Woman Gwen is floundering. She is let go from her job and had recently broken things off with her fiancé. Her relationship with her parents is somewhat estranged, and her close friends are all paired off. She decides to clean out her apartment and takes her unwanted items to a second hand store, and while there she decides to volunteer at the store while she lives off of her severance and contemplates what to do as a next step.

This offbeat novel hits the zetgeist notes of "reduce, re-use, recycle" within a charity shop where recently redundant Gwen volunteers after dropping off her own relics. We then follow Gwen as she haphazardly adopts the perhaps/maybe trope and applies the preloved way as to lead her own re-direction. Beautifully considered and wonderfully crafted with characters who feel true to life. Full of witty observations and dazzling retorts and withering reactions... it won't disappoint." - Justin Myers As the author of What Would The Spice Girls Do , How To Break Up With Fast Fashion , and reams of lifestyle magazine articles, Preloved by Lauren Bravo is the writer’s debut novel and TBH, we’re thrilled she’s diversified into fiction. With charity shops, there’s a moral code that if you wouldn’t buy it, you shouldn’t donate it. But sometimes charity shops seem closer to bins than boutiques. It seems people lose their sense of shame when donating, but Lauren disagrees, “I think people are actually trying to retain their moral compass. Donating is potentially a way of appeasing their guilt at having bought a life full of things that are ultimately going to end up in the bin. They think, ‘If I give it to a charity shop, hopefully, they'll be able to do something with it and make some money from it.’ I think it's a way of appeasing their own conscience.” Ok, first of all, HOW DARE YOU, Lauren Bravo?!? How do you have the audacity to write something so utterly relatable and unputdownable as your debut novel? From 8am on the day I sat down intending to just read a few chapters of Preloved to 8pm that evening when I finished, I internally screamed, ‘OMG SAME!’ so many times I lost count.