Isn’t one of the joys of reading that there is always a perfect book for how you’re feeling at any given time? Milly Johnson is an author whose books never fail to cheer when I am feeling low, because she writes about women whose lives aren’t perfect but who find a way to cope with whatever life throws at them.

The Woman in the Middle perfectly reflects what it’s like to be the glue in a family – the woman who looks after elderly parents, worries about their children, and keeps on trying to be the wife she thinks her husband wants. Somewhere underneath all that is the real Shay Bastable (our heroine), soldiering on, until a series of events, triggered by the arrival of a big orange skip on the estate where her mother lives, brings the whole edifice tumbling down around her ears.

Long-hidden secrets emerge, old friendships are renewed while others are re-assessed, and through it all, Shay’s warmth and humanity remain in place while she copes with everything that’s thrown at her. She’s just so real, someone I’d love to be friends with, and that’s the joy of this book – and all of Milly’s books – is that she really understands what makes women tick. Warm, witty and wise, this was a delight to read, thoroughly recommended for a day when you need to be reminded that love, in all its forms, wins.