A haunting, darkly funny and compelling tale of sisterhood that deftly weaves together shades of The Lovely Bones with a pirate romance, The Romance Reader's Guide to Life proves that sometimes the guiltiest of pleasures contain some essential kernels of truth about life. Acclaimed writer Sharon Pywell's brilliant novel is set in the shadow of the Second World War, centred on the lives of sisters Lilly and Neave who could not be more different. Lilly is a beauty who runs through men like water, while Neave is a bookworm escaping reality by reading an illicit copy of The Pirate Lover. When the men return from war and take back their jobs, the sisters are expected to settle down and marry. Instead they set out to create a cosmetics empire, but just as the business is taking off, Lilly disappears. Desperate to find her, Neave discovers a whole new meaning to the ties that bind and truth being stranger than fiction. A must-read!