Product Description

Shy, sweet-natured Lucy Collins is used to being pushed around. For the first eighteen years of her life, her widowed mother Judith ruled the roost. Now Lucy's husband, her seven-year-old daughter and even Buster the cat boss her about. But her mother's premature death leaves Lucy an orphan at the age of thirty-five. She's devastated...but she's also free. After a lifetime of being a disappointment to everyone, is it finally time Lucy grew up? As she clears out her mother's rambling house, Lucy discovers a trunk full of memories...her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were all Brown Owls: capable, no-nonsense matriarchs who were the leading lights of the Girl Guide movement. They spent their spare time preparing the next generation for their roles as wives and mothers with a mixture of campfire songs, sew-on badges and reef knots. But could the old values and frontier spirit now hold the key to help Lucy make the changes she needs in her life?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106543 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

HEAT MAGAZINE
'A nostalgic read'

Review
'A nostalgic read' (HEAT MAGAZINE )

'A poignant and funny novel' (SHE )

'Nostalgic' (Fanny Blake WOMAN & HOME )

'A must read' (GUIDING MAGAZINE )

'Cleverly interwoven stories make this an almost instant hook' (BIRMINGHAM MAIL 27.01.07 )

Fanny Blake, WOMAN & HOME
'Nostalgic'

Customer Reviews

A must for all previous Brownies, Guides and Guiders! What fun!
I was on my way back from helping out at a Brownie meeting when I saw this title in Tescos - and, as a former Guider myself, just had to get a copy of it!

Nevertheless, I have to say, I really enjoyed it! In places, it had me laughing and crying almost at the same time! As a Brownie, a guide, a young leader past guider - and the daughter of a former District Commisioner, I could empathise with the key characters - and what fun they had reliving their life as Brownies and revisiting some of the badges that they had achieved together. What a great way to heal the sadness and grief of mourning!

My only disappointment was that, although some of the badges were followed through beautifully and developed to their more adult form, this was not always true; and it would have been lovely to see more of that development in the book. perhaps she will produce a sequel for her many fans!

No. 1 Author Badge Hereby Awarded
All these women seem to have in common is their past membership of the elite group of Pixies in the Troughton Brownie pack circa 1975. But as the story unfolds,and the love lives of a trainee vicar and a sex-toy entrepeneur, amongst others, are revealed, we discover these woman have much in common. A wonderful story that had me laughing out loud and welling up with nostalgia.

Re-earned my Booklover's Badge.
As a former Brownie and a former Brown Owl, I just had to get this book once I saw the title and I wasn't disappointed. A wonderful tale illustrating how life experiences mould the people we become and certainly hits on the neuroses of a thritysomething woman. Once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down. You don't have to have been in the guide movement to enjoy this book but if you have then you can have a laugh with the jog down memory lane that it will no doubt give you of your own experiences in Brownies.