A benefactor with seemingly psychic empathy starts sending Anna Browne, a conscientious and introverted receptionist, luxurious gifts. Predictably, receiving anonymous parcels has mixed blessings and despite initially feeling good about being in the limelight, there are skeletons that Anna would rather leave in the closet.

Early on, and still with about 350 pages to go, most of our reading group had guessed the identity of the mystery philanthropist. We discussed the height of modern reception desks in London’s towering office blocks and agreed that the staff behind them were rarely visible enough that you could spot a new brooch at twenty paces. Anna’s friendly colleagues seem uncharacteristically fascinated by her appearance and each new addition from the parcels.

Most of us felt there were just too many presents and the formulaic plot just became sillier and sillier. Anna’s workmates just seemed to be asking too many questions about the packages to make this realistic.

This was an easy-to-read, unmemorable adult fairy story. We wondered if all this successful author’s books were like this one – harmless ‘chick lit’ where the main character goes from mousey to mouthy in 500 pages.

Average score 4/10

A benefactor with seemingly psychic empathy starts sending Anna Browne, a conscientious and introverted receptionist, luxurious gifts. Predictably, receiving anonymous parcels has mixed blessings and despite initially feeling good about being in the limelight, there are skeletons that Anna would rather leave in the closet.

Early on, and still with about 350 pages to go, some of our reading group had guessed the identity of the mystery philanthropist. We discussed the height of the reception desks in London tower blocks and whether the staff behind them were really visible enough that you could spot a new brooch at twenty paces. Anna’s friendly colleagues seem uncharacteristically enthralled by and attracted to each new addition to her appearance. It was disappointing at the end when the mystery gift giver is revealed but there is no explanation as to why she chose the gifts that so resonated with aspects of Anna’s past life – we felt that perhaps Anna read some special meaning into what were in fact very random presents


This was an easy-to-read, unmemorable adult fairy story. A good holiday read perhaps but on the whole not for our group

Average score 4/10