'A magical novel, so uplifting, heartwarming, funny ... Feels as if it was written specifically to give comfort' MARIAN KEYES'Warm and addictive . . . escapism at its finest' i paper'If you're looking for a perfect holiday read, this is it' Red'A slice of sunshine in book form' Good HousekeepingSail to the tropical paradise where secrets don't stay hidden for long ... Zoologist Charlotte Walker has taken up a fellowship on the tiny, remote island of Tuga de Oro to study the endangered gold coin tortoises in the jungle interior. She can claim the best of reasons for this year in paradise - what better motivation than to save a species? - but the reality is more complex. For Charlotte has a secret that connects her to the island and has finally determined to solve the mystery ... A complete and vivid world to escape to, Welcome to Glorious Tuga celebrates a fictional island, and the warm-hearted families who live there. Enchanting, uplifting and very funny, this is a captivating novel about love, belonging, and what it really means to come home. 'A gorgeous book ... brilliantly and thoroughly imagined. I didn't want to go home' NICK HORNBY'Sparkling and sophisticated ... reminded me of the pleasures to be had in reading' JESSIE BURTON'Imagine a modern-day Jane Austen washed up on a fictional island ... Warm, clever, thoughtful, funny, moving and brilliantly written' ELIZABETH DAY
Francesca Segal is an award-winning writer and journalist. She is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, The Innocents (2012) and The Awkward Age (2017), and a memoir of NICU motherhood, Mother Ship (2019). Her writing has won the 2012 Costa First Novel Award, a Betty Trask Award, and been longlisted for the Women's Prize.
Segal says: 'Writing this novel was a deliberate reaching out for joy. The world can feel very bleak, and bringing Tuga to life became my own magical portal to wide beaches, crystal seas, endless sunshine, and most vitally, to a warm, eccentric community of good people mostly just trying to do their best. Tuga de Oro was a refuge for its first settlers, and I hope will offer refuge for readers, too.'