Miranda

This is the first book in a series of self-help fiction titles. By reading about the lives of fictional characters, the reader learns much about how to unravel present day problems. The understanding of stresses that began in childhood years casts light on why the characters are struggling with the difficulties that they are having now. Description on the back cover reads as follows: Newly unemployed, Miranda is feeling directionless and dejected. Then she encounters Kate, a former work colleague. Kate is now facing redundancy. Their friendship is rekindled, and as the two women share their problems and dilemmas, they begin to confide about experiences that have affected their lives. Miranda had helped to mother her two younger sisters when they were growing up, but they rarely contact her and she feels puzzled and hurt by this. It emerges that the impact upon Kate of her father's leaving when she was young has many facets. Inspired by memories of her Granny Ann, whose many stories delighted her, Miranda's creative self begins to emerge, and Kate's vision of her own future matures. Miranda and Kate gain confidence and optimism about self-employment, and their personal relationships begin to flourish.