• Sapere
  • Published: 2nd December 2019
  • Agent: James Wills

The Warning Bell

Lynne Reid Banks

At each turning point in her life, Maggie heard the warning bells chime…

Scotland, 1950s

Depressed by her rural upbringing, Maggie Robertson dreams of leading the glamorous life of an actress in London. However, her father expects her to stay at home and learn to take care of the family.

When Maggie secretly gets a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, everything changes. And with each step towards adulthood, the warning bell of her conscience chimes.

Are friends and family worth sacrificing for her freedom? Will her own son become disposable on the road to success?

Maggie must decide how far she is willing to go to achieve her dreams…

The Warning Bell is a dramatic and moving saga of one women’s fight to achieve independence in a man’s world – a literary masterpiece that will stay with you long after the pages have turned.

“Lynne Reid Banks knows how to get to her reader: this novel grips like superglue”
The Observor
“Enjoyable… entertaining… it will give a lot of pleasure”
The Scotsman
“Extremely satisfying”
Time Out
“a compelling and lifelike novel”
Library Journal
“Banks has a delicate talent for eulogizing life’s ordinary tragedies, and a knack for painting characters with swift, sure strokes. She has created a strong cast of touching, courageous and decisive characters”
The New York Times Book Review
“A bittersweet tale that examines the innate conflict between familial responsibility and personal fulfillment”
Booklist
“Banks describes Maggie’s arduous maturation with compassion and lyricism; insights into the vagaries of the acting profession add to the book’s veracity”
Publishers Weekly
“This enraptured story of an impulsive Scottish girl burning with ambition would bring tears to the eyes of an iguana… Likely to strike chords in the hearts of many a reader”
Kirkus

Other books by Lynne Reid Banks