'Dear Reader' is a moving, funny and joyous exploration of how books can change the course of your life, packed with recommendations from one reader to another.

For as long as she can remember, Cathy Rentzenbrink has lost and found herself in stories. Growing up she was rarely seen without her nose in a book and read in secret long after lights out. When tragedy struck, books kept her afloat. Eventually they lit the way to a new path, first as a bookseller and then as a writer. No matter what the future holds, reading will always help.

• **

I will be my own doctor and prescribe the best medicine: a course of rereading. I will make piles of my most treasured books and read through them, taking comfort not only in each book itself but also in the reassuring knowledge that there are many more to come. Something shifts in my body. I feel better already, just at the thought of turning off my phone and spending my evenings curled up with a good book. This is what I have always done. When the bite of real life is too brutal, I retreat into made-up worlds and tread well-worn paths. I don't crave the new when I feel like this, but look for solace in the familiar. It is as though in re-encountering my most-loved fictional characters, I can also reconnect with my previous selves and come out feeling less fragmented. Reading built me and always has the power to put me back together again.

• **

Cathy has lived in Cornwall, Yorkshire and London and recently returned to Cornwall, where she lives with her family and works as a writer and journalist. She is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling memoir 'The Last Act of Love', which was shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize and selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club. Cathy's second book, 'A Manual for Heartache', was published in 2017.

The perfect book event for people who love books.

• **

Wednesday 11 November

1. 00 pm | via Zoom video call

Tickets: £5.00 per household

Book Here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/griffinbooks