The UK’s premier Instamum Isabella M Smugge has never met a hashtag she doesn’t like. And with her mother’s wedding to organise, blended families to negotiate and her long-awaited  house renovation – all while potty training a toddler – there are plenty to choose from. What could possibly go wrong?

Our heroine is also beginning to wonder if something – or maybe even someone – could be missing from her single parent life. But what would the new and slightly improved Issy Smugge be looking for in a man?

As she navigates playground politics, freestyle praying and deepening friendships, Issy’s learning about life in a whole new way. But just as everything begins to look #perfect, her dastardly ex-husband arrives with a shocking idea…

The pages of Pride and Prejudice sparkle with household names. Proud Darcy and prejudiced Elizabeth, book-loving Mr Bennet, the snobbish Bingley sisters, predatory Mr Wickham and oily Mr Collins.

But what about all the other people busy cooking, mending, flirting, walking and socialising in the background?

In this entertaining collection of short stories, Ruth Leigh shines a light on the lives of nine characters from the novel. For instance, how is married life at Hunsford for Mr and Mrs Collins? Will mousy Maria Lucas ever find a husband? How does Sally the maid feel about mending Lydia’s worked muslin gown? Which Meryton matron will triumph in luring a respectable and marriageable young man into their parlour? These stories give the reader a window into the worlds of Meryton, Rosings Park, Pemberley and Hunsford as you’ve never seen them before.

THE CONTINUED TIMES OF ISABELLA M SMUGGE

Now in her third year of living the rural dream, starry Instamum Issy Smugge is up against it. A single parent of four with an award-winning brand, a gin-swigging mother convalescing upstairs and a distraught relative craving a shoulder to cry on, her diary and listed Regency home are bursting at the seams!

Of course, she can count on lively support from the colourful playground mums – and then there’s always Tom, the startlingly good-looking vicar, and his angelic wife, Claire.

But as pressure begins to mount, long-buried memories surface and difficult decisions need to be made. How will our heroine cope with painful emotions? (Clue: no filter!) And when the influencer needs influencing, who will show her the way?

The TRIALS of Isabella M Smugge

Life in the country isn’t going as Issy Smugge planned it. However, the woman Gorgeous Home magazine once called ‘Britain’s Most Relatable Mum Designer’ is nothing if not resilient!

With an unexpected baby on the way, a good-for-nothing husband and a mother who never seemed to care but now needs caring for, her hands are full. Her venal agent and creative socials guru keep work fizzing, but how will she cope with the mysterious village snitch and poisonous gossip columnist Lavinia Harcourt?

Discovering others’ problems can be far worse than her own, she confronts bizarre church sub-culture and braces herself to use the NHS, rethinking all she thought she wanted. Could true happiness be just a few hashtags away? 

The Diary of Isabella M Smugge

Meet Isabella Smugge – as in ‘Br-uge-s’, naturally! Instagram influencer, consummate show-off and endearingly self-unaware. With a palatial home, charming husband and three well-mannered children, she is living the Country Life dream.

Newly arrived in the country, Isabella is ready to bring a dash of London glamour to the school gate and gain a whole new set of followers – though getting past the instant coffee, terrible hair and own-brand sausage rolls may be a challenge!

But as her Latvian au pair’s behaviour becomes increasingly bizarre and a national gossip columnist nurses a grudge, Isabella finds herself in need of true friends and begins to wonder if her life really is as picture-perfect as she thought…

Ruth Leigh’s books are available at all the major online and retail outlets. If you can, please support local and buy Ruth’s book from your favourite independent bookstore.