The Best Things: The joyous Sunday Times bestseller to hug your heart

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View image in fullscreen Ruth Jones ‘digs her fingernails into decades of complicated family history’. Frank has make a mint but when he suddenly losses everything, their home, savings and their belongings that are worth the bailiffs taking. Fans of The Great British Bake Off, especially fans who have just started to notice how wobbly the show has got without her. These are four complicated, singular women on their own paths and the story comes entirely from watching them rub against each other.

Encouraged, perhaps, by Richard Osman’s successful pivot from quizshow sidekick to bestselling author, in recent times a huge swathe of people off the telly have turned in novels of their own. There are no big literary flourishes, no sense that Osman is reaching for something beyond his grasp. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. Poppy the fairy wishes she could fly as high as all of her friends, but there's just one thing—her wings are very small!I zipped through it with many an accompanying titter, the occasional chortle and the odd unladylike snort. The risk here would be to boil down at least one of the generations to stereotype, but Jones fiercely resists this. When her wish comes true and there's a surprise at the end of the rainbow, Twinkle must get her new baby brother Fizz back home before bedtime.

In interviews, Giedroyc has spoken of her desire to turn The Best Things into a “Leatherhead Trilogy”. Part of Osman’s appeal is how familiar he is willing to be, whether to his readers, viewers or Twitter followers. They meet, walk and talk with Raynor Winn, author of the blockbuster No 1 best-selling novel ‘The Salt Path’ and having worked up a thirst Mel and Martin sample Dorset’s finest cider on a farm overlooking magical Corfe Castle. And that isn’t exactly a niche group: the man is so beloved that, for a while, The Satsuma Complex managed to out-sell the unsinkable Osman.Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins offer you more than your fair share of laughs, songs, and silliness in their imaginatively titled BBC Radio 4 series. There was something else out on the sea by the rocks - something dark that seemed to lurch out of the waves . But if you are a public figure with a large and willing audience, you might be loath to give up all that sweet publishing cash, so what is a celebrity to do? They are also familiar as the hosts of Channel 4's Late Lunch and as the stars of a number of TV commercials.

Now, celebrity autobiographies haven’t gone away completely – two of the most inescapable books this autumn are memoirs by Matthew Perry and Bono – but they are sputtering out.Very entertaining *****''A lovely, warm cuddle of a book''One of the best things I've read this year. As the bailiffs move in and the money runs out, Sally realises that she and her children don’t have a clue about how to survive. It rips along at a decent clip and, even though O’Porter now lives in Los Angeles, does a very good job of depicting the empty aspirational scuzz of the London creative scene. Writing style This is a book about a woman who essentially devolves (or evolves, as it would like us all to think) into an animal, which makes it a slightly less high-minded version of Paula Cocozza’s novel How to Be Human. A nice piece of escapism, so needed at this time ****''Warm, interesting, clever and funny, as well as poignant at times.

Main character The story is told from the perspective of all four characters, although the main one is Grace, a woman approaching her 90th birthday with the same energy that most approach their 30th. The Parker family are a chaotic, loveable bunch''I zipped through it with many an accompanying titter, the occasional chortle and the odd unladylike snort. Durdle Door on the breathtaking Jurassic coast proves challenging for the sea-sick Mel despite Martin’s best efforts at distracting her by reading bursts of Thomas Hardy and they meet, walk and talk with Raynor Winn, author of the blockbuster No 1 best-selling novel ‘The Salt Path’.Browse audiobooks narrated by Mel Giedroyc, listen to samples and when you're ready head over to Audiobooks.