All the stories died that morning ... until we found the one we'd always known.
When nine-year-old Rose is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, Natalie must use her imagination to keep her daughter alive. They begin dreaming about and seeing a man in a brown suit who feels hauntingly familiar, a man who has something for them. Through the magic of storytelling, Natalie and Rose are transported to the Atlantic Ocean in 1943, to a lifeboat, where an ancestor survived for fifty days before being rescued.
Poignant, beautifully written and tenderly told, How To Be Brave weaves together the contemporary story of a mother battling to save her child's life with an extraordinary true account of bravery and a fight for survival in the Second World War. A simply unforgettable debut that celebrates the power of words, the redemptive energy of a mother's love ... and what it really means to be brave.
'It's a gentle book, full of emotion and it's similar in tone to The Book Thief, a book that Rose reads with a torch under the bedclothes.' The Irish Times
'Moving, engrossing and richly drawn, this is storytelling in its purest form ... mesmerising' Amanda Jennings
'An amazing story of hope and survival ... a love letter to the power of books and stories' Nick Quantrill
'Two family stories of loss and redemption intertwine in a painfully beautiful narrative. This book grabbed me right around my heart and didn't let go' Cassandra Parkin
'Louise Beech is a natural born storyteller and this is a wonderful story' Russ Litten
'Beautifully written, intelligent and moving, this book will stay with you long after you reach the end' Ruth Dugdall

Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Reader's Choice in 2015. The sequel, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for the Not the Booker Prize. Her third book, Maria in the Moon was widely reviewed and critically acclaimed. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise is currently writing her next book. She lives with her husband and children on the outskirts of Hull - the UK's 2017 City of Culture - and loves her job as Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.Follow Louise on Twitter @LouiseWriter and visit her website: louisebeech.co.uk.