The Anniversary

by Veronica Henry, Fanny Blake, Elizabeth Buchan

Original stories from Fanny Blake, Elizabeth Buchan, Rowan Coleman, Jenny Colgan, Philippa Gregory, Matt Haig, Veronica Henry, Andy McNab, Richard Madeley and John O'Farrell - with special anniversary recipes from The Hairy Bikers.A young woman with memories of D-Day and a life both dangerous and excitingA father and son with a shared birthday and deeply held secretsA single mum taxi driver, whose envy for the rich couple on their way to the Ritz soon changesThe unlikely marriage, born in the depths of warThe Tudor wife receives the ghostly message, 'Never marry a dangerous man'An agoraphobic widower, unable to visit his wife's graveThe Elvis impersonator who finds hope for a new romance with Marilyn MonroeThe ex soldiers burdened with the consequences of one bad decisionThe long-held memories of a wartime tragedyThe anniversary supper which changed the world...THE ANNIVERSARY - a collection of the very best short fiction around.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies

93 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Veronica Henry was a television script writer before turning her hand to fiction. She has published sixteen novels which she describes as realistic escapism - her setting are gorgeous, but her characters have problems and dilemmas everyone can identify with.

Reviews

[Erica⭐ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by various authors. The stories cover quite a variety of different events and emotions

[Liz Fenwick]

A great collection of diverse short stories. Really enjoyed reading writers I knew and discovering news ones.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice quality selection of short stories from some favourite authors.

[Tahieuba Chaudhry · Rating 5 out of 5]

All stories revolve around an anniversary, like birthdays, deaths and reunions. Throughly enjoyed all stories. My favourite stories are by authors like Rowan Coleman, Jenny Colgan and Philippa Gregory. A great way to celebrate 10 years of Quick Reads.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

a really good collection of 10 short stories. Each story easily read in a few minutes. Authors that I would ordinarily ignore. Stories of Love, loss, friendship, hope, grief. Its all there in just 00 pages, and finished off with a few recipes from the Hairy Bikers - whats not to love!

[Denise Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Quick Reads collection of short stories about various anniversaries ending with a few recipes by the Hairy Bikers.

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful selection of authors contributing their short stories to the 10th anniversary celebration of Quick Reads book series.

Something for everyone to enjoy and to discover a new author. Thanks to everyone involved with Quick Reads and Quick Reads authors for making reading accessible to everyone over the last 10 years. Reading really does transform lives.
Here's to the 20th anniversary edition!

[Andrea Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice quick read...although stories were far too short for me.

[T.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several very short stories based around anniversaries. Some emotional subjects well covered in such short reads.

[KL Caley · Rating 5 out of 5]

📖 A collection of short stories which all revolve around an anniversary of some kind (finished off with a few recipes from the Hairy Bikers). This book contains short stories from Fanny Blake, Elizabeth Buchan, Rowan Coleman, Jenny Colgan, Philippa Gregory, Matt Haig, Veronica Henry, Andy McNab, Richard Madeley and John O'Farrell.

✍️I’m pleased to say that the entire collection was enjoyable and featured quite a range of stories, timelines and writing styles. See below a quick summary of a few of them to whet the appetite:

The Other Half by Fanny Blake is about a young single mum who has taken on a taxi job to support her family after her husband ran off with her best friend. It’s a funny, warm, light-hearted story with a great ending.

Moment of Glory by Elizabeth Buchan is a wonderful flash into the second world war. Ellen, now a stay-at-home mother, was working at a top secret signals base. She gives us a little insight into life at the station. It’s a sweet uplifting story, championing motherhood. The type of tale you would expect to find in a people’s friend magazine.

Birthday Secrets by Rowan Coleman is an intriguing little tale giving an insight into families discussing LGBTQ+ within the household and opening up to partners/parents about it. It’s a kind, positive story and handled with a brilliant sense of positive normality.

May Day by Philippa Gregory was my favourite story of the bunch. It follows Henry VIII sixth wife, Katherine Parr but more interestingly it tells of the story of St Tryphine, a woman forced against her will to marry her father’s husband. Exploring her husbands castle, she finds some secret rooms which contain several of the murdered remains of her husband’s previous wives. The two stories are brilliantly woven together. Historical fiction at it’s finest.
💭 Overall View: Needless to say, I liked this book. It is part of the “quick reads” collection which I like to intersperse between larger novels. The idea of this collection is exactly as it says on the tin (or should that be cover), a shorter than normal book by world-leading authors. Well worth the £1 cover price and highly recommended.

👍 Please leave a like if you think my review/feedback of the item was helpful to you. Alternatively, please contact me if you want me to clarify something in my review.

IF YOU WISH TO SEE MORE OF MY BOOK REVIEWS PLEASE VISIT:
BLOG: HTTPS://NEW2WRITING.WORDPRESS.COM/
FACEBOOK: HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/KLCALEY/
INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT: HTTPS://WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/KL.CALEY/

[Richard Kettlewood · Rating 5 out of 5]

RA

It's not very often a collection of short stories is varied enough to contain contributions by Philippa Gregory and Andy McNab. I predicted Andy McNab's contribution would be ex-mercenaries meeting in a former war zone. He's as subtle as a sledgehammer. Philippa Gregory's "facts are only ever part of a story" was an interesting observation on historical fiction - within the fiction. Stories in the collection ranged from witty to deeply moving. Birthday Secrets wins on wit, with a little hundreds and thousands sprinkling of tension. There were a couple of World War II stories. The first, Truth is Stranger than Fiction, was short but powerfully moving. The second, by Richard Madeley, was well written and quite moving; but the first thing anyone would have thought of was a World War II bomb: that's too obvious, and the narrator was a teacher! World War II isn't ancient history. Or is it? My favourite was The Gospel According to Judas. A witty take on the art of writing and how best to spend twenty pieces of silver. A collection worth reading again - in a year's time!

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really lovely collection of short stories to mark the anniversary of the quick reads series.
Anniversaries provide a rough theme for these short stories from authors Fanny Blake, Elizabeth Buchan, Rowan Coleman, Jenny Colgan, Philippa Gregory, Matt Haig, Veronica Henry, Andy McNab, Richard Madeley and John O'Farrell.
The book finishes with recipes from the Hairy Bikers for nibbles, starter, main and dessert for your own anniversary dinner.
With some tales more striking than others this is a really pleasant quick read and a good introduction to well known authors.

[Jas Dosanjh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was full of a mixture of short, but entertaining tales. I like short reads that I can consume in a hour or so and this book fits that bill. Stories about families, loss, grief, mysteries and love -
gives the reader glimpses into the lives of interesting but sometimes strange characters. Would recommend.

[R.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very decent collections of short stories to pass some time, but nothing extraordinary. A common thing linking them is an anniversary of shorts featuring in all of them, but otherwise they are quite diverse in theme and style.Depending on one's mood and reading preferences, some are better than others I guess, but I felt rather neutral towards them.

[Gillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of short stories, all with the theme of anniversary. To finish, for some reason, a few recipes by the hairy bikers. (I didn't get the connection with the stories, but j might try the recipes. The are a few mismatches between the ingredients list and the instructions, but maybe we can work it out.)

[Kirstie Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories .... Some of which I really enjoyed, and a couple that I didn't .
They were much too short for me to say much about to be honest - if they were regular length and in more detail I think I would really enjoy them, but at 10 pages long it was hard to get into them.
Good if you are struggling to concentrate on a regular book.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of short stories. Some were particularly memorable including Jenny Colgan's 'Truth is stranger than fiction' and Phillipa Gregory's historical tale from the perspective of Katherine Parr. Others I found a bit blah...lack of story line or unrealistic plot or characters. A good read for those short on time though and I'm sure most will find a story or two that they enjoy.

[Shahrun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly enjoyable and entertaining collection of short stories, with bonus recipes at the end. I really enjoyed The Truth is Stranger Than Fiction by Jenny Colgan, May Day by Philippa Gregory, The Crater by Richard Madeley and The Gospel According to Judas by John O’Farrell.

[Juliet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not realise this was lots of short stories by different writers. Some stories were good while others suddenly ended and you wanted to read more. A couple did not make no sense at all.

I did enjoy the Jenny Colgan story and Veronica Henry one though

[Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great short read. the stories were a little short for my liking. but I did enjoy all stories except the last one about judas. I didn't find it very humorous

[Nataliec7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice selection of short stories. I enjoyed them all and it was a nice little book to pass the time.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the ten short stories are better than others. There's a good variety of plots.

[Caroline De Ruijter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just what I needed when everyone travelling.

[Marie’s Book Boutique]

Review coming soon

[Doris Raines · Rating 3 out of 5]

NICE BOOK.

[Sarah the reading addict · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great mix of short stories by varying authors. Really enjoyed it.

[Caitlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Found this book quite dull and the last story, ‘The Bible according to Judas’ quite distasteful.

[Emma Dargue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good set of short stories especially enjoyed the ones written by Rowan Coleman and Phillippa Gregory.

[Gail Wylde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely short stories by authors I’m very familiar with.

[Tracey Pearce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good way of getting to read authors never read before. Was really enjoying stories until I got to last one by John O'Farrell which was bad also what was recipe s by hairy bikers doing in it