Below the Big Blue Sky: A heartbreaking, heartwarming, laugh-out-loud novel for fans of Jojo Moyes

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'Well, that was a tearjerker! Anna McPartlin's Below the Big Blue Sky is a MORE than worthy follow-up to The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes' - Marian Keyes

So you want my dead child to wear an AC/DC Highway to Hell tour T-shirt into her grave

There's no family quite like the Hayes, and yet they're just like any other - they love each other, they look out for each other and they drive each other mad. When their youngest, Rabbit, dies tragically at just forty, the Hayes are almost torn apart by their grief.

Without her beloved mum, twelve-year-old Bunny is adrift; without Rabbit, there can be no Bunny. Her Granny is concerned when Bunny insists on being called by her real name, Juliet. Even surrounded by the noise and chaos of the Hayes, Juliet feels lost and alone.

Rabbit's sister, Grace, has something else on her mind. She's got the gene that made her sister ill, and she hasn't told anyone yet. She doesn't know how to share the news that may break her family, but she knows she needs their support, now more than ever.

Despite squabbling over what Rabbit will wear at the wake and their dad burying himself in the past with his diaries, the Hayes family know there's only one way they'll get through this: together.

This huge-hearted novel is about grief, family, the messiness of life and finding humour in the most unexpected of places. Below the Big Blue Sky will make you laugh, cry and fill you with joy.

Reviews

I'm in bits. In BITS. It's been a long time since I've read something that spoke to my soul like this - such a achingly beautiful description of what it is to love and grieve - and in time to learn to laugh at that grief and move on too. When I wasn't reaching for the Kleenex to wipe away a little tear, I was guffawing with laughter - Anna has the gift of being able to make you laugh and sob, and all on a single page. The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes was one of the most amazing books I have ever had the privilege of reading and now this is a worthy successor. Wow. Just wow. I know this will be one of the books of the year for me * Claudia Carroll *
Well, that was a tearjerker! Anna McPartlin's Below the Big Blue Sky is a MORE than worthy follow-up to The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes * Marian Keyes *
I hadn't thought it possible to laugh and cry during one book as much as I had while reading The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes. But I turned the last page of Below The Big Blue Sky broken and elated all at once. Anna McPartlin's novel is brilliant, funny and immensely moving * Catherine Isaac, author of You, Me, Everything *

Author Bio

Anna McPartlin is a novelist and scriptwriter from Dublin, who has written for TV serial dramas featured on BBC UK, RTE Ireland and A&E America. She has been writing adult fiction for over ten years, and also writes for children under the name Bannie McPartlin. She lives with her husband Donal and their four dogs.